Brandy fans are no strangers to waiting, particularly when it comes to releasing new music. It’s why it came as a surprise that the veteran singer took a mere three-year gap between 2020’s “B7” — an album that took eight years to land — and “Christmas with Brandy,” her first holiday record arriving on Friday. “I’ve had seven albums out and I always wanted to do a Christmas project, and my fans have always requested it, so it just seemed like the right time to do it,” Brandy tells PvNew. “I felt that I was in the spirit, I was in the mood and it just came together perfectly. My team thought it was a great idea, so I’m here with a Christmas album. And, it didn’t take me eight years to wait to put out another album, which is great.”
Throughout her decades-long career, the 44-year-old has taken her time refining her endemic Brandy sound, from the hip-hop/soul of her 1994 self-titled debut to 2002’s future-nodding “Full Moon.” There’s a reason she’s often described as “the vocal bible.” From the precise melodic runs to the layered vocals, Brandy’s songs are distinctive and largely influential. To this day, fans love to use social media as a podium to trace the rippling effect that albums like “Full Moon” and “Afrodisiac” have had on contemporary R&B and pop.
“Christmas with Brandy” may be a holiday album, touting a mix of originals and covers, but it also has the versatility that recalls some of the singer’s signature touchstones. Album opener “Feels Different,” for instance, is a traditional Brandy heartache song: “Normally I can take it, I’m not fragile / It’s been so long since you been on my mind / It hurts the worst around Christmas / The loneliness feels different this time.” It’s a tone-setter, for sure, but a red herring. The project is filled with joyous anthems and romantic original ballads including the mushy “Christmas Party for Two,” disco-inflected “Shine Out Your Light” and “Christmas Gift,” a Motown-nodding duet with her daughter Sy’Rai.
Brandy explains that doing a holiday album felt inevitable, and she’s not stopping there. She’s also getting fully into the Christmas spirit with a starring role in the Netflix film “Best. Christmas. Ever!,” arriving Nov. 16. Ahead of the release of “Christmas with Brandy,” she explains why now is the right time to contribute to the festive canon, and why it’s much more than just a Christmas album.
When did you start working on this project, and how did you narrow down the originals and covers throughout this process?
I had a great team that I worked with. I started working on it about four months ago, and I just love the team, I love the take on how we were able to put our own spin on the classics and do some of the originals. It was just a great vibe and I just like the way it turned out. It all flows together nicely.
How do you exactly Brandy-ify classic Christmas songs?
You have to just have your own nuances and your own flavor and try different things, and I think that had a lot to do with working with great producers and coming up with different versions of how you can put your own spin on it.
What was your approach to writing original Christmas songs?
I had really great writers that I worked with. Sebastian Kole is just unbelievably amazing. I worked with another writer, India Carney, and we just put our minds together and tried to come up with a classic way of approaching an original song. I think a lot of the songs sound a little bit R&B, which I love. They don’t just sound like Christmas records. They sound like something you can listen to all year round.
You have the duet with your daughter. What was it like recording with her, and how has it been witnessing her evolution into a singer in her own right?
It was so fun working with her, it doesn’t even feel like work. We just love our bond and how we work together in the studio. We love the song that we recorded. We just thought the melody was so great. I’m just so proud to see her coming into her own and creating her own lane and really putting forth the effort to become the singer that she’s always dreamed to be.
Have you always looked to her for her opinion on records?
Oh of course. I respect her opinion so much, and she’s been such a fan for such a long time. So sometimes, when I get insecure in certain areas or lose my swag here and there, she helps remind me, “Mom, you can do it” and “This is great.” She helps me in that way as well, so we all have our moments. It’s good to have that inspiration and that reminder that you can do it if you put your mind to it.
How’d you go about picking which songs to cover on this album?
I love the songs I chose. I love “Christmas Song,” “Santa Baby,” “Jingle Bells,” those are some of my favorite songs. I just wanted to do something that related to me and that I loved coming up. There’s so many that I could have chosen, but those spoke to me so I wanted to do those.
What’s your go-to Christmas record to put on around the holidays?
I’d have to say Mariah Carey’s entire Christmas album. That’s my favorite Christmas album of all time. Outside of this one.
Last year, you two did the remake of “The Roof,” and she’s the reigning queen of Christmas, we can all agree.
Yeah.
Did you ask or discuss with her about doing a Christmas project at any point to get pointers or direction?
You know what? I didn’t do that. I don’t know why I didn’t, but I just didn’t do it. I just got into my bag and did a Christmas album without asking Mariah for any advice. And I should have, because she’s the queen of it. Maybe I just wanted her to talk me out of doing one. [Laughs]
Are we considering this B8?
This isn’t the B8 album, no. This is “Christmas With Brandy,” this is just my contribution to Christmas and how much Christmas means to me and that’s all it is.
Is there a B8 on the horizon?
I hope so. I’m not going to stop doing music, but I would love to get into some new records in the future. But I just want to really get this out here and see how people feel about this record first.
You recorded “New Moon” for Audible, but have you considered writing an autobiography or a memoir?
I’ve thought about it, absolutely, just over and over thought about it. Maybe that’s something I will get a chance to do in the future, because the Audible “New Moon,” it just felt so natural to tell my story and parts of my story. I would love to maybe one day give a full thing on that. That would be a great opportunity.
How do you plan on celebrating the holidays?
I’m going to be working during the holidays. Hopefully I get Christmas off to do what I normally do, spend Christmas at my home and my mom cooks and we get together and just have that family quality time. Open up gifts. Hopefully that can happen if I’m not working.
You’re performing at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. How do you prepare for something like that?
You just practice over and over and over. You try to get through the nerves before you get there.
You still have nerves at this point?
Of course. Nerves mean that you care, so of course I still have nerves. You want to do great and you want everything to go well and people to love it, you want people to connect with you. So of course nerves come. I would be nervous if I didn’t get nervous.
