I am a huge fan of Brandy as an artist and the “Vocal Bible” as she is referred to, has been in the industry since she has been a kid. Which means she has been in the headlines a fair number of times for both good and not so good reasons. Given that she is still working and the age requirements for writing memoirs seems to have been lowered, it is no surprise that she had a memoir release that coincided with her long awaited joint tour with Monica (her industry appointed rival) and I was ready to dive into it to see if I would learn anything new about her.
It’s hard to say whether this book checked all the boxes of my requirements for a memoir because Brandy was smart enough to get to the edge and then draw back just when she was being very vulnerable. What I mean is, because she was open about certain things it’s difficult to accuse her of not sharing much. For example, she is open about her struggles with her eating disorder, open about her fallout with producer, Timbaland and her difficult time on the set of her first sitcom, her verbally abusive relationship and how she was responsible for the eye patch of Immature member, Romeo.
There are certain things and headlines that people are most likely looking forward to reading about because you know…it’s a memoir but Brandy starts the topic but then proceeds to skirt around the issue and moves on. She dives headfirst early about the relationship with her brother, Ray J but just heaps a bunch of praise on him and moves on. Granted it is a sensitive topic so this I understand, she skims through the fatal accident she was involved in and when it came to revealing her pregnancy to her parents, we do not get a single glimpse into her parent’s reactions.
“The shame ends here. The silence ends here. I was not a fast girl with a crush. I was not a dramatic teenager who couldn’t handle rejection. I was not an unstable obsessive fan. I was a child. He was an adult. And it’s time the world understood the difference.”
Brandy talks about her relationship with Wanya Morris and it is one of the areas where she goes in detail. I will say that this is one of the times where I could feel her pain as a child star and over the years fame seems to have been a heavy burden on her. I understand her need to share her side of the story and no matter what, she was just 16. I didn’t understand how her parents had no say in this but regardless it was wrong.
Brandy is very effusive about the love she had for Whitney Houston and how much of an impact she had on her career. She talks about their relationship (and no she does not mention if Ray J was in a relationship with Whitney at the time of her death) and how close she was and she does mention a note that Whitney gave her and says that out of respect she will not mention the contents of the note and that irked me because it begs the question then – should you be writing a memoir? One other thing that irked me is how overdescriptive a lot of things were. So many similes that were not needed.
Some may have seen this as Brandy still suffering the after effects of the good girl image she had to maintain because the truth is it still felt like was holding back. I’d recommend the book but just don’t go in expecting full vulnerability.
Taynement
TwoNightStands 