Brandy: Never Say Never (2LP) [ATLANTIC]

Why you'll love it

This Atlantic 75 reissue spreads all 16 songs across a 2LP set. The album sold over 16 million copies worldwide, went five times platinum in the US and gave Brandy two Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Atlantic 75 series

About the album

By 1997 Brandy Norwood was a sitcom star, a Disney princess opposite Whitney Houston and the lead in a slasher sequel, and she was half thinking of giving up singing altogether. Then she met a young producer named Rodney Jerkins. His tracks were, in her words, so mean, and suddenly she wanted to be in the studio every day.

Jerkins and his Darkchild team built most of the album, with David Foster adding polish to the ballads. "The Boy Is Mine," her duet with Monica, became one of the biggest songs of the decade and won a Grammy; "Have You Ever?" went to No. 1 too, and "Top of the World" was a global hit. "Almost Doesn't Count" and "Angel in Disguise" show off that husky, layered voice, and she closes with a cover of "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You."

It debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, peaked at No. 2 a week later, and the world tour that followed sold out across three continents. Not bad for someone who'd been seriously considering a quieter life in television.

Also at Kops: more Brandy on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On Atlantic (cat# RCV1 83039), a reissue of the 1998 album.