90s R&B legend Brandy Norwood, famous for her Grammy-winning collaboration with Monica “The Boy is Mine”, released her seventh studio album and first LP in eight years, B7, in late July to much fanfare.
The album sees Brandy returning to the rhythmic soul sounds that popularised her all those years ago, with her trademark sultry vocal delivery being a mainstay of the fifteen-piece track listing. Featuring collaborations with acclaimed artists such as Chance the Rapper and Daniel Caesar, as well as her own daughter Sy’rai on the hip-hop-influenced “High Heels”, this album sees Norwood returning in full force to the world of R&B.
The record has a clear personal touch as Brandy co-wrote and co-produced the vast majority of the album’s tracks, and many of the songs contain autobiographical lyricism relating to her own struggles throughout her life and career. Sonically it’s an eclectic mix of modern and classic R&B held together by her distinctive vocals, and while the smooth production could use some more tempo in places to balance out the slower balladry, B7’s cohesion is what makes it truly shine.
The songwriting is dynamic with relationship-centric tracks ranging in topic from stressful love triangles to unfortunate soured romances; something that I find interesting about Brandy’s lyrics is that often they don’t rhyme conventionally as she swaps catchiness in her songs for more genuine accounts of her past problems. I have no experience of her past works to tell whether this is a new technique or something she has utilised before, but either way it gives the writing that little extra edge that allows the listener to connect with her even more.
When it comes to specific tracks, there are admittedly a few misses but enough hits to make up for them; my personal favourite is the record’s big closer “Bye BiPolar”, an emotive piano ballad about how Norwood’s past mental health issues have been exacerbated over time by toxic and damaging relationships. The chorus is a little repetitive for my taste, but she subtly changes the lyrics from one hook to the next to showcase her progression from letting go of the relationship to beginning the healing process and improving her mental state. It feels heart-breaking as she beautifully croons about how the brutal experience turned her “into a stone-cold monster”, and its placement at the very end of the tracklist allows it to leave a lasting impression on the listener.
The album’s second single “Borderline” describes the darker side of relationships where after a while emotional loneliness and jealousy can overtake the romance that was once present during the honeymoon phase. Her signature breathy and silky vocals work perfectly here to express the worry that the romance is dead, accentuated by lyrics such as “heart drops to the floor ‘cause there’s no you and I, maybe in another lifetime”. It’s unsurprising to discover that this song was the first crafted for the LP as it epitomises the key messages of being open about your problems and past transgressions and assuring yourself and others alike that mistakes do not make you who you are.
“Lucid Dreams”, as the name suggests, is less straightforward in its execution and takes on a more adventurous production style with interweaving elements that match the strange tone created by the track’s lyrics discussing a doomed relationship seen as perfect through the rose-tinted glasses of a mirage mid-dream. The song is also about guilt and might be making a sly reference to a car crash that Brandy was involved in that she said changed her outlook on life (“I’ve been here before, ain’t no secret, guilt dealt me tragedy inside, ate me alive”). The watery effects afforded to the instrumentation complement the haze-like feeling of the dreams slipping away as Brandy returns to reality and realises there is no hope for this love in an unfortunately relatable moment.
To conclude, B7 is by no stretch of the imagination a perfect record, but it signifies a rebirth of Brandy’s music career the way she wants us to experience it, released via her own label Brand Nu. There are times when I wish it would pick up the pace a little, but it shows clear promise and represents the start of a new chapter of Norwood’s life free from regrets of the past and toxic environments.
7/10
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