1998: Brandy, Never Say Never
By DeAsia Paige
By the time Never Say Never was released in June of 1998, Brandy was at the height of her career. The third season of her hit UPN show Moesha ended the month before and nearly a year before that, she made her film debut in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, becoming the first Black actress to portray Cinderella. Brandy was handpicked by Whitney Houston to play the role. So, the release of Never Say Never, her second album, was just the icing on the cake. Brandy was approaching superstardom.
But, prior to the release of Never Say Never, public perception of Brandy as solely a teen sensation stunted that development.
Brandy graced the ears of future fans with the release of her eponymous debut album in 1994. The album, which dropped when Brandy was only 15, embraced age-appropriate themes such as having a teenage crush (“I Wanna Be Down”), appreciating a best friend’s support (“Best Friend,” who, in her case, was her brother) and thanking her family and influences for her success (“I Dedicate”- parts 1, 2 and 3). Moesha Mitchell, the beloved protagonist of Moesha, was the sentient form of Brandy’s debut album. The show, which premiered in 1996, depicted Mitchell as a California teenager who juggled often complicated relationships with her parents, friends and romantic interests.
Brandy’s debut album and her role in Moesha set the tone for her to have a conservative image, which made Brandy an outlier among her contemporaries like Monica, Usher and Aaliyah, who were also teens at the time but their music was catered to a more mature audience. Black teen musicians in the 90’s were often hypersexualized. Monica was only 14 when she sang about becoming intimate with a partner for the first time (“I want to/ We ought to be sure/But if we can’t prove our love/Like this and like that, I’m gonna move along”) on “Like This and Like That”. Usher was just three months shy of his 16th birthday when he sang about the same thing on “Can U Get Wit It” (“Can you get with it, it’s like that/It’s only a sexual thing”) and Aaliyah was 15 when her debut album Age Ain’t Nothin but a Number dropped. That theme wasn’t at all the fault of any of the aforementioned artists but the fault of a society, including the adults surrounding those artists at the time, that leaves Black teens, especially Black girls, unprotected and forcing them to grow up before they should.
Although Brandy escaped that trend, Never Say Never proved that she was more than just a teen star. She was able to sing about more mature topics, but on her terms. The teenage naiveté that was pervasive on her debut album seamlessly evolved into themes of intense yet often unrequited love on Never Say Never, which was helped by the late songwriter LaShawn Daniels. Brandy was an adult. The first half of the album includes songs like “Learn the Hard Way” and “Almost Doesn’t Count” that see the singer venting about not receiving the respect she deserves in a relationship (“Can’t keep on tryin’ if you’re looking for more/Than all that I could give you,” she sings on the chorus of the latter). Ballads like “Truthfully” and “Put That on Everything” and the chart-topping “Have You Ever?” toward the end of the album juxtapose the record’s earlier songs by plainly depicting a young adult who is deeply in love, regardless of what anyone else thinks. How straightforward can one be about their love for someone than the highly relatable chorus on “Have You Ever?”
Have you ever loved somebody/So much it makes you cry.
We’ve all been there.
Elsewhere on the album, Brandy tackles the complexities of becoming on “Top of the World” at such a young age, a refrain from the album’s love songs. With Bad Boys star Mase, Brandy apprises listeners on how fame has influenced how she’s perceived by those around her. Contrary to the song’s title, Brandy’s just “tryna be me, doing what I gotta do.” But the song, of course, isn’t the only notable collaboration on the album. “The Boy is Mine,” which features R&B star and Brandy’s friend-turned-rival-turned-friend Monica, is the ultimate battle royale of budding R&B divas. Although vying for a man’s attention is a fruitless endeavor, Brandy and Monica make it a groovy, sonically-pleasing competition of their voices.
Never Say Never doesn’t only stand out for its more adult themes, though. The album is also a testament to Brandy’s growth as a vocalist. It was the first time listeners were introduced to Brandy’s impressive vocal stacking, a technique that would become a mainstay in Brandy’s music and influence the sound of future R&B music. While it’s hard to pinpoint a song on the album that best represents the technique—-Never Say Never is deluged with vocal stacking—- “Learn the Hard Way” is a delightful example. Brandy’s vocal stacking is a domineering force throughout almost every aspect of the nearly five minute track. The technique is introduced to listeners within seconds, (just listen closely to the song's chorus and be prepared to become stunned with the rich texture of Brandy’s lower register) instantly becoming a highlight on the song.
“Angel in Disguise,” which features background vocals from Joe, is another prominent example of Brandy’s vocal stacking. Heard throughout the song’s chorus, the technique can make listeners easily describe Brandy’s voice as a choir in which all three parts are equally heard. The vocal stacking on Never Say Never adds a dazzling complexity and depth to Brandy’s voice that wasn’t heard on her previous work Although Brandy’s runs were impressive on her debut, listeners didn’t know that her voice could do that until Never Say Never. The “that” is what makes her vocal bible. On Never Say Never, Brandy employed styles that could make her signature lower register sound just as powerful as indelible high notes from artists like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.
The production on Never Say Never significantly contributed to that feat. The album marked the musical marriage of Brandy’s voice and the production of Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins. “Angel in Disguise,” the album’s opening track, is the epitome of that. The song has a piercing bass line and synth that makes the song sounds as heavenly as it is futuristic. The song’s production and Brandy’s harmony perfectly matches its lyrical content. It’s dreamy, but it also sounds lightyears ahead of Brandy’s previous music. The production on the song welcomes a new era for the singer, setting the tone for the rest of the album (and, by extension, her career). The album’s title track has the same effect. “Never Say Never” opens with a dribbling six-count beat that gives the song a funky vibe. The song is followed by “Truthfully,” a ballad that’s backed by a beat that sounds like something that would’ve been heard on an 80’s funk album. On Never Say Never, Brandy and Jerkins, using elements of pop and funk, mastered the art of creating a R&B album that could easily transcend genres.
Never Say Never is Brandy’s apex. It’s a career-defining record that proved she could transition from simply being a teen idol to a full-fledged superstar who knew what she wanted to do next. Peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard chart and selling over 16 million copies worldwide, Never Say Never is Brandy’s best-selling album to date. It also gave Brandy her first (and, criminally, her only) Grammy award. The album set the tone for her crossover appeal and her ability to experiment with different genres, as seen on its followup, the futuristic (and Brandy’s riskiest album to date) Full Moon.
On Never Say Never, Brandy cemented her position as an R&B star while giving listeners a hint at what was to come—- a decades-long career, albeit not free from controversy, of head-spinning vocals that laid the foundation for contemporary R&B.
DeAsia Paige is a journalist based in St. Louis, Missouri, whose work covers music, culture and identity. She's been published in outlets like VICE, The Nation and Bitch Media. She's also the author of The College Diaries: How a Budding Black Feminist Found Her Voice. You can find her on Twitter: @deasia_paige