Songoftheday 7/21/21 - Have you ever had someone steal your heart away? You'd give anything up to make them feel the same...

 

 

"Have You Ever?" - Brandy

from the album Never Say Never (1998)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 22

 

Today's song of the day comes from singer/actress Brandy, who had ruled the summer of 1998 with her catty duet with Monica, "The Boy Is Mine", which spent 13 weeks at #1. Despite that huge success, the follow-up single, "Top Of The World", which even featured then-hot rapper Mase, fell short of the top-40 in the fall of that year (mind you, it wasn't released as a retail single, so that hindered its chances even at radio). For the third release from Brandy's Never Say Never album, she went with a more serene soul ballad, "Have You Ever?". Written by song doctor supreme Diane Warren, and produced by soft rock guru David Foster, the record describes heartbreak in a long series of questions on whether one has done or felt the way she is singing. It's a pretty and different way of relaying the emotion, and people connected to the Boyz II Men done by a lady well. The music video gives a little more color, putting Brandy in the "friend zone"...

"Have You Ever?" became Brandy's second and so far last #1 pop hit in January of 1999. The song spent a full month (four weeks) at #2 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, and crossed over to their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") format list at #25. Internationally, the single topped the chart in New Zealand, and reached the top ten in Iceland (#2), Belgium (#3F), and Australia (#8). It also made the top-40 in the UK (#13), Canada (#13), the Netherlands (#23), and Ireland (#25). Brandy will be back to the series soon.

(7/10)

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Here's Brandy performing "Have You Ever?" at the American Music Awards in 1999, where she has a co-host and was nominated for best Pop/Rock and best R&B Female Artist, losing to Celine Dion and Janet Jackson respectively...

And lastly, on Motown Live....

 

 Up tomorrow: Rock band talks someone down off the ledge.