Songoftheday 3/17/23 - Why don't you return my calls? Why you trip out where I be?

 

 

"What About Us?" - Brandy

from the album Full Moon (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 11

 

Today's song comes from singer and actress Brandy (Norwood), whose 1998 album Never Say Never had been her biggest success, scoring two pop #1 singles with "The Boy Is Mine" (with Monica) and "Have You Ever?", as well as another top-40 hit with "Almost Doesn't Count". At the time, she was also starring in her long-running (six seasons) sitcom Moesha, as well as acting in a few movies. 

By 2001, Moesha was ending, and she'd been out of the music scene for a few years. She came back with a collaboration with brother Ray J, a cover of Phil Collins' #1 hit "Another Day In Paradise" for a tribute album to the 80's star that was initially released just in Europe. The single was a big hit overseas, making the top ten in Germany (#2), Switzerland (#3), Sweden (#4), Norway (#4), the United Kingdom (#5), Austria (#5), the Netherlands (#6), Denmark (#6), and Belgium (#7 Wallonia/#9 Flanders). This remake would also appear on the international version of Brandy's upcoming third album Full Moon.

In the U.S., the album would be heralded by the lead single "What About Us?", written by producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, his brother Freddie Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, and Kenisha Pratt. In the song Brandy summarily dismisses a lackluster lover, but in the process asks him a series of questions on the promises he gave at the beginning of the relationship. It's a common theme in Darkchild's work,but the problem is the song is totally disjointed and more about attitude and beats than melody and emotion. Brandy does her best to fit into the character (like an actress would). However it was a risk to release this sassy upbeat hip-hop flavored song, considering her "Top Of The World" from her last album, released as the second single, relatively bombed. Luckily for her, this one did do the trick, and Brandy found herself back in the top tier of the pop chart for her seventh (and so far last) top ten pop hit...

"What About Us?" scored Brandy's tenth top-40 hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in March of 2002, while spending a week at #3 on their R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the song peaked at #17 on the Mainstream Top-40 airplay chart, #4 on the R&B Airplay list, and #5 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single reached the top ten in the United Kingdom (#4), Australia (#6), Denmark (#7), Switzerland (#8), and New Zealand (#8), and made the top-40 in the Netherlands (#11), Norway (#11), Germany (#13), Belgium (#13 Wallonia/#20 Flanders), Canada (#16), Sweden (#16), Ireland (#17), France (#24), Italy (#26), and Austria (#40). The Full Moon album, released in March as the single was cresting, spent a week at #2 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and topped the R&B Albums list for a week, going on to sell over a million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2003, the Full Moon album was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album, losing to singer Ashanti for her self-titled debut album. 

Both Brandy and the Full Moon album will be back to the series.

(4/10)

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Here's Brandy performing the song on the Conan O'Brien show...

SOTD will be back Monday with a singer that's giving up to the evening.