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Review: Brandy -Two Eleven (Deluxe edition) [Album]

RCA // "She has done enough to reestablish herself as a major force to be reckoned with"

by NyW, October 16th, 2012 and has been Read 1608 times.
Last Edited by: Ffion Davies October 17th, 2012.

Brandy is back with her new album Two Eleven named so because it is her birthday, but it also has another poignant meaning as February 11th was also the day her close friend and idol Whitney Houston tragically passed away. Brandy was one of the biggest artists around in the 90s, but her star waned slightly in the mid-2000s and her recent offerings have been less successful.

The albums lead single 'Put It Down' featuring Chris brown was met with a positive response but by the time the video was revealed months later interest had subsided and the album was pushed back to October after being originally set for release in April. This then got pushed back again to August before the final release date in October was set so Brandy has been through some setbacks in order to get this record released.

'Put It Down' is catchy and fun but not strong enough to be a lead single, Chris Brown did not add much to the song with his verse, and it might have benefited from having different artist featured on it as for some reason Brown does not convince as a rapper.

LISTEN // 'Put it Down'

The problem seems to be the choice of singles so far, the next release 'Wildest Dreams' is pleasant enough, and Brandy is in fine voice but it comes across as dated. It would not be out of place on her 2002 album 'Full Moon' and since that was a decade ago you can see the dilemma.

Despite this the albums is in fact, very solid despite the disappointing single choices so far. It takes multiple listens to get into and those willing to stick with it will find that Brandy has produced a well-crafted album that stands up well amongst her previous material.

There are several highlights across the 17 track (deluxe edition) record like the provocative 'Slower', this feels like the type of record she should be making at 33 years old; it’s effortlessly sophisticated and something that she can pull off far better than her chart rivals.

A candidate for next single is the Lykke-li sampling 'Let Me Go' which was produced by Bangladesh it’s a more adventurous effort than the aforementioned 'Put It Down' and should have been the first release from it.

Brandy sings a lot about love on this record and the overall feeling is that she is finally comfortable in her own skin after going through some challenging times; this is not unlike her friend Monica with her 'New Life' album released earlier in the year, however; this succeeds where that fell flat. Brandy has managed to avoid the pitfalls of many RnB artists by remaining true to her sound for the most part despite the odd dated single here and there.

Brandy is often heralded as the vocal bible, and while no one will doubt that she is indeed a very skilled vocalist this might be overreaching; nevertheless she sounds great here especially on ballads like 'Scared Of Beautiful' & 'No Such Thing As Too Late'.

'Can You Hear Me Now' is another standout, although only available on the deluxe edition, its innovative and a good example of the strides Brandy is making to push RnB forward without losing the essence that drew so many to her in the first place.

Two Eleven may seem tepid upon its first few listens but given time it will become clear that it is not. It is the sort of album an artist makes while transitioning from one stage of their career to the next. Brandy might not be able recapture her huge successes of the past, but she helped to pave the way for many artists out there today and will continue to be an influence on up and comers; something that cannot be taken away from her. With this album, she has done enough to re-establish herself as a major force to be reckoned with in her genre with many years of great music ahead of her.