The MAGIC of Full Moon by Brandy

Let's have a Brandy Norwood Summer!

I’ve been feeling deeply uninspired lately. To an aggressive degree. I’m in the stage of my life where I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing, and that lead me into a deep depression a couple of weeks ago. That is not the point of this issue. We will not be unpacking that whatsoever. Instead, we’re here to discuss the one who healed me. Who brought me back up from the rockiest of rock bottoms… Brandy Norwood.

Brandy is an artist that has soundtracked most of my life. I don’t remember a time where she didn’t exist as a pop culture presence. I assume this is due to having millennial siblings. My parents gravitated towards music of their own generation, which was that of the 80s and earlier, meanwhile I spent most of my life being very Of My Time. Brandy has definitively stuck around, but out of her 7 albums, only one of them dropped in my adult life. Yet, I’ve always been aware of exactly who she is, both as an artist and an actress.

As I’m someone with such a nostalgic attachment to her discography, I realized ranking her albums wouldn’t entirely… work. I have no way to articulate my thoughts on why her discography is so special. It just is. Especially to me, but I do believe on a more universal scale, as well. Her albums have been cited as inspiration to some of the most popular artists working today. If you forced me to, obviously I could give a ranking and my preferences between each album… I do have my favorites and least favorites… but I know it’d make for a boring issue. What I can do is discuss my all-time favorite Brandy album at length and come up with a ranking. This just gives me all the excuses to just spend my days streaming Full Moon… it’s for research purposes now!

Full Moon was released in 2002, but sometimes I feel as though Brandy Norwood was in 2102. Yes, she was inspired by many of the acts of the 90s during this era; Aaliyah being cited as a major influence both for tracks on this project and Afrodisiac, as well, this album has a lot of Janet running through it, especially in the little interludes between tracks, as well; still, Brandy had such a grasp on the genre and musicality, it doesn’t feel regressive, it’s truly innovative. You can hear music evolve alongside her. This entire album being one continuous story and concept fully fleshed out, while also being so open for personal interpretation, as all good art should be. This project could be in conversation with Eternal Sunshine, in that regard, since both tell a very similar story if you do read them as the concept albums they were envisioned as.

I’ve fallen more and more in love with this project the most I attempted to rank it. It has always been my favorite Brandy album, but I never could have imagined how difficult the ranking process would become. Don’t consider this a list of best to worst, but best to equally best but slightly lower than the rest of the tracks. I don’t think there is a skip in sight on this album. A project ahead of its time, aging better and better as time goes by. It was a success in its day, but the mark it left on pop culture should not go unacknowledged, but it’s also significant to the journey of Brandy as an artist as well. This project was released when Brandy was 23 years old, 4 years after her previous album, Never Say Never, released when she was 19. This becomes Brandy’s coming-of-age story. Her life had changed so much in that period, and this was her marking adulthood. There’s a free feeling in this project, comparisons to Control have been made. There’s something visionary within each and every track. There’s something cathartic to hearing the storytelling within the track list. But alas, let me get to The Actual Point of this issue.

Before I begin, I am just going to focus on the standard edition. Another Day in Paradise is part of my Full Moon canon, but alas I don’t really need to get into the weeds on editions. Standard is, by design, the most accessible edition. I’m not going to contextualize much outside of my personal feeling towards the music, so this isn’t necessarily written with people who haven’t listened to the album in mind… sorry. I’m not a legitimate music critic.

I started drafting my ranking a few days before Ms. Norwood’s tour with Monica started getting heavily promoted, which makes me feel a bit like a prophet! Though, since I’m publishing this almost a full week after the fact, it’ll seem less impressive. It won’t even be topical by the time I publish this one, I really and truly fumbled this writing process.

ON TO… THE RANKING.

15. Nothing

Picking a “worst track” on this album is impossible. I tweeted about this album a week or two ago, and some of the rhetoric I was seeing in my quotes and replies was along the lines of “wow, it really opens so strong and then falls off” or they would really fixate on the first 8 or so tracks and ignore the rest, but I will come right out and say right now, I am a vehement second half supporter. I think Brandy curated a flawless track list. For context, I think her debut album and Never Say Never are a few tracks too extended, but she struck a perfect chord on this project. Every song contributes to what makes this album great.

Being said, this does just so happen to be one of the last tracks on the album and it also happens to land in last place… and I say that very unfortunately, because I like this song! I love Brandy’s spoken intro, as well as the (sung) outro. As for much of the album, she sounds stunning. I enjoy the dark-dreary instrumental. I’ll talk a lot about bridges, because a bridge is my favorite part of any song and this album is full of bridges that are built and CROSSED, and this one features a great vocal moment for Brandy. There’s nothing about this song that sounds off. I love the “CAN’T BE WITHOUT YA” in the chorus before the bridge. Being said, I don’t think it’s quite as sonically or lyrically compelling as the rest of the album. It did nothing wrong, but the rest of the tracks speak to me in a way this one just simply whispers. It’s true, love IS everything!! Without it, we ARE nothing!! But I had to rank this somewhere.

14. Wow

This is a really nice album closer. A true girl who’s “going to be okay” track. Perhaps I’m not healed enough to appreciate this song to the fullest of my capacity, but it does spark joy into my soul when I hear it closing out the project. It’s perfect for a “Don’t Worry, Be Happy!” playlist. I have very little else to say. It hits, for sure, but it isn’t the heaviest of the hits on this album. If I were to speculate why I feel this way, perhaps because sonically it doesn’t really stand out the most, on an otherwise innovative and very musicality-forward-thinking project. I do appreciate the lyricism and theme, though. I aspire to reach this level of Live Laugh Love one day. This will become my theme song.

13. He Is

I gather a lot of people love this song, partially because of its double meaning being about God. She sounds stunning on the track, and I especially love the second verse, particularly the line: “They could take away the money, my fortune and fame; but as long as you stay here with me, I would be okay.”

Truthfully, this song just doesn’t quite resonate with me on the deeper level it does for many others. I am not Of God. It’s undeniably gorgeous, though. If we were to talk about vocal delivery alone, I think what Brandy did here should be studied and taught in college courses.

12. Can We

I struggled not ranking this higher because I find this song stuck in my head all of the time. I do love the beat. If you were to choose one album track to show someone to give them the overall vibe of the project, this one represents her vision quite well. Within the story of the album, its placement in track sequencing makes a lot of sense. Though, perhaps its placement on the album - track 8 out of 16 - also serves to make this song feel a tiny bit repetitive in the grand scheme of the project, sonically and lyrically. Truly, I don’t mean that as some scathing criticism, but when I’m ranking a project where I love just about every song, I do have to be strict.

11. What About Us?

Let me just say, this marks the start of our every song is a CLASSIC tier. People DIED when this song dropped as the lead single. I mean, I was literally one years old, so I was Not Actually There… but the ramifications last to this day. What a fucking crazy beat. Brilliant single choice to represent this album, as well. It tells the story of the album quite well, both musically and lyrically. This might just be a case of single syndrome. I have known this song longer than I know the rest of the album tracks, so I’m more inclined to go out of my way to stream the rest of the album. What About Us? is the child I start to leave behind. Does that logic track when the album is 23 years old? I don’t know. 11th just feels right, inexplicably.

10. Apart

Originally this was a bit higher, because the chorus goes sooo crazy, and the song as a whole sounds soooo fresh and good. Her vocal delivery is effortless yet ever impressive, as well. There’s so much to love about Apart, it’s addictive. Ultimately, I just am such a bridge stan, I had to average it out to fall a bit more middling. Again, that’s not some low praise whatsoever. Some songs on this album have me ascend once we get to the bridge. Some songs take me to other areas as they go on, whereas this one stays in the same place for me. Said place is a great place to be. I love this place! But she's forced to land at 10th.

9. Love Wouldn’t Count Me Out

I truthfully struggled ranking this track. I’ve considered placing it lower, I’ve argued putting it higher. Nowhere felt quite right until I landed here. If you were to ask me what I considered to be Brandy’s best vocal on the album, I’d be compelled to name this one as the standout. I find the instrumental quite haunting, as well as the vocal production. In the context of the album, it stands out without feeling out of place. It is placed after another slower track, Come a Little Closer, though that has a much breezier and calmer tone to it, yet transitions into the darkness quite well, then this track transitions into Wow in a super seamless and magical way. There’s a finesse present in how this track list is curated, from beginning to end. Masterful sequencing, truly!

8. I Thought

Another crazy beat, with a crazier bridge. I love her vocal delivery in the final chorus, as well as just every single choice made with the vocal production. These factors are what gave this song quite the redemption arc on my ranking. I once had it as a placeholder for last place, but I kept listening and listening… I literally couldn’t believe my own self. It fought its way up here, and deservedly so. I think I was experiencing temporary psychosis.

7. Anybody

This is a song heavily artistically inspired by Aaliyah, and while I could argue their music as being in conversation with each other from their very debuts, I do think that the credited inspiration gives this song a very distinctive tone on this project. Their music had very distinct sounds that differentiated themselves from any their peers, and hearing Brandy’s approach to Thee Aaliyah Sound gave this song a very special feeling on an album otherwise quite distinct in direction. Anybody doesn’t stray too far away from her typical artistic vision, while also directly incorporating elements of her inspirations that helps it stand out. I love Aaliyah, and I’d say it’s hard to miss her influence present in a lot of music right now. This song is a very worthy early preservation of the Aaliyah legacy, while also having Brandy’s distinct touch that makes it definitively Hers.

6. Full Moon

A CLASSIC. This was perfectly commercially successful in its day, but I also don’t know if I’d say it got its dues when you can just listen to it and hear how influential it would become to the future of music. It was ahead of its time for some people. When I say this is a masterpiece, I mean it is a true masterpiece. Through and through. This is one of those songs that I heard at a very young age, and immediately knew Brandy was My One, so admittedly nostalgia is a factor… but is it not also just one of the best songs of all time? Think about it. I don’t care to explain myself, because this is a definitive fan favorite. Coco Jones covered it, after all.

5. When You Touch Me

As soon as the spoken intro begins and transitions into the instrumental… it scratches a part of my brain that I can only compare to seeing Jesus Christ rise. Then we get to THE BRIDGE. I was already ascending from the very start of the song, but the second we get to the bridge… and then we get to her vocalizations in the final chorus… the “DRIIIVIINGG MEEE OUUUUT OF MYYY MIIIIIIIIIIIIINDDD.” And then it closes out and transitions into Like This… it’s just a technical masterpiece on all fronts.

4. Come A Little Closer

I always worry when I rank slower songs higher, people will throw tomatoes at me, because you all HATE ballads for some reason, but don’t even start… this is magnum opus tier shit. Similarly to Anybody, this track sounds more reminiscent of other 90s R&B acts, but not in a way that feels derivative or regressive. This has a tone that feels inspired by ballads of the likes of Janet Jackson, but as soon as Brandy drops her vocals on a track, it becomes one of Hers. This could be my favorite bridge on the album and is one of the tracks rivaling Love Wouldn’t Count Me Out as her best vocal delivery on the project. This is one of her definitive Vocal Bible moments. She’s giving the vocal performance of a lifetime, both in lead vocals and in the vocal layering on full display here.

3. It’s Not Worth It

!!!IT’S NOT EVEN WORTH THIS CONVERSATION RIGHT NOW!!!

Starting with the chorus, going into an interlude, and immediately jumping into the verses - with yet another hotttt and crazy beat… the instrumental STOPPING when verse 2 begins and then jumping back in at full force. Some of her best vocals on the album, as well. There being a bridge, another chorus, and then a break-down before the final chorus and outro... this could be studied. There’s a callback to Angel in Disguise, my favorite track from Never Say Never, as well, which begs me to compare this track to that structurally, as well. When people consider this album a music bible, I believe this track to be a prime example.

2. All in Me

This fucking BRIDGEEEEEE…. this BRIDGE. The best bridge on the album, and you already know how important bridges are to me. I mentioned Janet while discussing Come a Little Closer, but this is the track I personally get the most Janet from, without implying I feel this song is derivative. I don’t think there’s a song from Janet’s catalog this sounds particularly similar to, rather I feel as though Brandy’s influences evolve in the form of her work. I might sound absolutely crazy saying that, but is All in Me not a The Velvet Rope (album) daughter? At the very least in the way they both navigate experimenting within the genre. I feel as though they both have similar musical sensibilities. There’s a conversation to be had here. I’m not here for answers, rather just for starting conversations.

THE BEST SONG ON FULL MOON is… Like This

Like This is a masterclass in musicality. From the very second When You Touch Me transitions into it. In sequence, this flows so seamlessly within the album, while also having such a distinct sound in the album, as well. There’s an effortless quality both in how she sounds on the track, as well as the beat, that builds throughout the song in an equally seamless way, where the final chorus she’s Vocal Bible’ing up and down the track. I don’t think I have the vernacular to articulate how impressive of a feat capturing every aspect of this song in one Lightning in a Bottle track, but I feel as though… just by listening to this song, you get a full experience… but, with having greater foresight, you see how this track serves as a puzzle to the rest of the album. It connects so much. Without Like This, the album would simply feel incomplete. It would feel wrong.

It really has occurred to me that I love discussing albums. I love music… but I hate explaining my thoughts. My feelings on any music project just simply become my truth. You either hear it or you don’t hear it… how can I explain something so subjective? There are so many other albums I want to discuss at length… but will I have anything to say about them? I couldn’t tell you. I could barely come up with a ranking for this! I am an ever-evolving person, and my ear evolves with me. This immediately becomes dated the second I press “Publish,” yet that won’t stop me from doing so.

Full Moon by Brandy is a 5/5 star album. not j*ss seal of approval overwhelmingly granted. Have a nice day.