Afrodisiac

chronology
Afrodisiac
Brandy studio album
Publication ; (s)	2004
Label (s)	Atlantic Records
Format (s)	CD, vinyl, download
Genre (s)	R&B
Title (number)	15th
running time	61:18
occupation	div
production	Warryn Campbell; Big Chuck; Mike City; Ron Feemster; Walter Milsap III; Organized Noize; Timbaland; Kanye West;
Studio (s)	Criteria Hit Factory, Miami ; Corner Store Studios, Los Angeles ; Records Plant, Los Angeles; The Dungeon, Atlanta ;
March 28, 2004	Talk About Our Love
July 27, 2004	Who Is She 2 U
September 24, 2004	Afrodisiac

Afrodisiac ( suitcase word from afro - and English aphrodisiac , aphrodisiac ') is the fourth studio album by the American R&B singer Brandy . It was released on June 28, 2004 by Atlantic Records and, in contrast to previous productions by the singer, is mainly characterized by the signature of the producer Timbaland . Despite mostly positive reviews, the commercial response to the Grammy- nominated record was limited; With a little more than 1 million units sold worldwide, it is considered Brandy's second-selling album to date.

production

Originally, after the birth of her daughter in the summer of 2002, Brandy had already started work on her fourth album together with songwriter Blake English and her partner, producer Robert "Big Bert" Smith. The trio played in the following months numerous demo recordings and for the record the singer, with Smith as executive producer and A & R - Manager earlier Brandys mentor Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins replaced in its function as a musical main responsibility. After the sudden separation of Brandy and Smith, the majority of all composed songs only found their purpose on the albums of their colleagues Toni Braxton ( Selfish ), Kelly Rowland ( Love / Hate ) and Jennifer Lopez ( Ryde or Die ).

Brandy then decided to deepen the work he had started at the same time with Timbaland and to engage the rapper as the main producer of the album, which at the time had the working title B-Rocka and whose release was originally scheduled for December 2003. Together with the songwriters Candice Nelson, Steven "Static" Garrett, Kenisha and Kenneth Pratt as well as co-producer Walter Milsap III, he composed and wrote a total of fifteen songs over the course of the months, nine of which made it onto the album's final track list, including the promotional single Turn It Up .

In addition to individual recordings with Warryn “Baby Dubb” Campbell, Mike City, Organized Noise and Ron Feemster, executive producer Geroid “Gee” Roberson also managed to hire rapper and music producer Kanye West for two more songs in early 2004 . The time they spent together in the studio resulted in Where You Wanna Be , a collaboration with rapper TI , and the later first release, Talk About Our Love .

content

Just like their previous albums, Afrodisiac's thematic focus is primarily on love and interpersonal relationships. At that time she was also fresh with the NBA - basketball player Quentin Richardson engaged. The album contains several references to other artists such as Timbaland, Missy Elliott , and R&B singers such as Aaliyah and Monica . The first title of the album Who I Am , treats her apart previous relationship with Robert Smith while I Tried the British alternative - pop group Coldplay mentioned, and her 2000 song Sparks is sampling and another track which is also British band Iron Maiden . The song Who I Am , contributed by Warryn Campbell , was added to the tracklist in the eleven hours prior to its release. The tenth song on the album, Turn It Up , pays homage to the 1990s, with references to R&B artists such as Donnie Simpson, Kid 'n Play, and Tony! Toni! Toné! . On the final song, the ballad Should I Go , Brandy speaks openly that she was considering quitting the music business. Although Norwood has only one credit as a songwriter on the song Finally , Brandy describes Afrodisiac as the most sincere and honest work of her career to date. The second song, Afrodisiac , the album's title track, was widely received by critics and was moderately successful. Besides Afrodisiac, Who Is She 2 U is another collaboration with Timbaland. Who Is She 2 U was one of the first songs recorded for the album. The title deals with cheating relationship partners . The album is based on autobiographical content.

publication

Afrodisiac received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album and became Brandy's album which received the top critical reviews, with some finding that Timbaland 's exposure to Brandy's music made the album "more mature and challenging" while others did Described the record as "very audible and emotionally resonant". She has been compared to " Janet Jackson at her best". In contrast, the CD became their least successful album to date: Afrodisiac debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 , the US pop music album charts , and at number 4 on the top R&B / hip-hop albums , its counterpart for the music genre R&B. Approximately 132,000 units were sold in the first week. Thus the album lost the fight for number one against Usher's Confessions and Lloyd Banks The Hunger for More , which were respectively number 1 and 2 on the charts at that time. Although sales plummeted quickly and the LP left the top 200 of the charts in week eight, the album earned a gold record for selling over 500,000 copies. In the United Kingdom , brandy received a silver record for over 60,000 units sold there .

While the song I Tried was initially announced as a single, three other songs were eventually released as actual singles: The lead single from the album Talk About Our Love became Norwood's fifth top ten hit in the UK Singles Chart , but barely made it into the top Thirty other countries; in the United States , position 16 on the Billboard Hot R&B / Hip-Hop chart and 13 on the Billboard Hot Dance / Club Play chart were the highest positions. The second release in Eurasia and Australia was called Afrodisiac and had similar successes, with the greatest success at number 9 on the Chinese singles charts; and other top 40 placements in Australia, France , Ireland , Switzerland , and the United Kingdom. The second US single was Who Is She 2 U . The song was almost never played on the radio and thus missed entry into the top 80 of the Billboard Hot 100 . In March 2005, the song received a limited re-release in Europe with the purpose of promoting Brandy's first hit compilation, The Best of Brandy .

illustration

The album cover shows a full body frontal shot of Brandy. The background is blue and brandy sits on a glowing white couch . The interpreter wears blue jeans , stiletto shoes and a white loose top, combined with a bikini top of the same color and is therefore increasingly lascivious and sexy for the first time in the Afrodisiac photo series . In addition, she wears several long to very long gold necklaces and large hanging earrings . On the cover of the CD, Brandy wears golden brown-colored weaves, hair pieces for African-textured hair. The yellow lettering Brandy can be seen in the center; in the shape of her logo, which she has been using since 1994.

marketing

Brandy while performing the song Afrodisiac at a concert in the summer of 2004

The advertising campaign for the album Afrodisiac began with a big media - event in Montego Bay , Jamaica Royal Pavilion of the Half Moon hotel where selected journalists and reporters were allowed to test listen to the album. The promo tour for the long player began on May 23, 2004 by first appearing on US talk shows , including the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on July 13, 2004; July 16 in NBC's The Today Show as part of one of Toyota -sponsored concert series as well as in ABC's The View on 19 July 2004. In addition, Brandy sang in CBS's The Late Late Show and in the radio telecast on air with Ryan Seacrest on July 14, 2004. Outside the United States completed Brandy also guest appearances on Top of the Pops and Anke Late Night , where they together with Anke Engelke a cover of Whitney Houston's one moment in Time in the form of a coffee - Advertising afforded.

In addition, Brandy also worked as a VJane and presenter of TV specials in various music television channels such as BET , MTV , VH1 and Fuse. On the day the album was released, she was the laudator at the 2004 BET Awards and sang the song Talk about Our Love on the pre-show. Brandy also presented her songs live on the MTV show TRL and the Fuse show Daily Download . A week before Afrodisiac was released , the songs could be heard on MTV.com's The Leak . Over a million people streamed the songs on the album in the first week .

Track list

Who I Am (3:35)
Afrodisiac (3:47)
Who Is She 2 U (featuring Timbaland ) (4:43)
Talk About Our Love (featuring Kanye West ) (3:34)
I Tried (4:45)
Where You Wanna Be (featuring TI ) (3:32)
Focus (4:07)
Sadiddy (4:00)
Turn It Up (4:12)
Necessary (3:59)
Say You Will (3:50)
Come As You Are (3:44)
Finally (3:53)
How I Feel (4:41)
Should I Go (4:56)

Re-release bonus tracks

Sirens (featuring Timbaland ) (3:59)
Like It Was Yesterday (3:53)
Nodding Off (4:10)

Recordings from the Afrodisiac sessions that did not make it onto the final album can be found in Brandy's discography .

Chart placements

album

country	carrier	position	Award
Germany	Media Control	44
Switzerland	Media Control	26th
United Kingdom	BPI / The Official UK Charts Company	32	Silver record
United States	Billboard	3	Golden record

Single releases

year	title	Chart placements					annotation
year	title	DE	AT	CH	US	UK	annotation
2004	Talk About Our Love (featuring Kanye West )	89	-	42	36	6th	First published: April 2004 Video: Dave Meyers
2004	Afrodisiac	-	-	36	-	11	First published: June 2004 Video: Matthew Rolston
2005	Who Is She 2 U (featuring Timbaland )	-	-	-	85	50	First published: March 2005 Video: Jake Nava

Singles

Talk About Our Love

Talk About Our Love (too dt . Talking about our love ) is one of Kanye West written and Harold Lilly R & B song can. The song samples thetitle publishedby Mandrill Gilly Hines (composed by Claude Cave II and Carlos, Louis and Ricardo Wilson) from 1978 and was released in April 2004 as the first single from the album. It sometimes reached number 6 in the British singles charts and the top 30 in Australia , Ireland and the Netherlands . Producer Kanye West is also represented as a rapper on the song.

Afrodisiac

Afrodisiac ( aphrodisiac ) is a pop song written by Timbaland , Isaac Phillips and Kenisha and Kenneth Platt . The title was released in October 2004 as the album's second international single and occasionally reached number 9 in the People's Republic of China and the top 30 and top 30 in France , Ireland and Great Britain . The accompanying music video was shot by Matthew Rolston .

Who Is She 2 U

Who Is She 2 U (Engl .: Who Is It For You ) is a written by Timbaland and produced R & B -Track, who in October 2004 as the second from the album in the United States published. Brandy himself described the mid-tempo song, recorded in 2003, as semi-autobiographical . At number 85, the single was the singer's weakest chart successon the US Billboard charts. In 2005 Who Is She 2 U was partially released in Europe and Oceania to promote the compilation album The Best of Brandy . Since Brandy split from their label Atlantic Records in early 2005, the company was forced to use an old track like Who Is She 2 U instead of a new song as a single for the best-of CD.

Awards for music sales

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Japan (RIAJ)	gold	100,000
United States (RIAA)	gold	500,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	silver	60,000
All in all	1 × silver 2 × gold	660,000

Individual evidence

↑ Brandy at Rock on the Net

↑ Steve Jones: "An 'Afrodisiac' toast to Brandy" . In: USAToday . July 15, 2004. Retrieved March 8, 2011.

↑ R&B singer Brandy working on a new album. (No longer available online.) In: Xpress.com. January 18, 2007, formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 18, 2014 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2

^ "Brandy Splits With Husband" . In: Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on December 13, 2007. Retrieved March 8, 2011.

↑ Afrodisiac Album Booklet.

↑ Lynn Norment: Brandy is back with a new baby new album and a new love! In: FindArticles.com. August 2004, archived from the original on July 8, 2012 ; accessed on April 18, 2014 (English).

↑ Afrodisiac of Brandy . Metacritic

↑ Terry Sawyer. Brandy - Afrodisiac (Atlantic) ( Memento from September 22, 2004 in the Internet Archive ). Popmatters

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Brandy Stimulates Top of Charts as AFRODISIAC Debuts at # 3 . In: Market Wire . FindArticles.com. July 1, 2004. Retrieved March 8, 2011.

^ Andy Kellman: Afrodisiac - Album Review. Allmusic

↑ Joe D'Angelo. Brandy Settles for # 3 . MTV.com

↑ Brandy To Release Greatest Hits Album ( Memento August 12, 2011 on the Internet Archive ) Yahoo.com .

↑ Certified Awards Search . In: British Phonographic Industry . September 4, 2004. Retrieved March 8, 2011.

↑ Brandy Sings About Coldplay On Her Upcoming Album ( Memento from May 25, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ). Yahoo! Music .

^ Claudine Housen: Brandy Previews Album At Half-Moon . In: Jamaica Gleaner . April 23, 2004. Archived from the original on August 11, 2011. Retrieved on March 6, 2010.

^ Brandy - Live @ Anke Late Night ("One Moment In Time") . In: SAT.1 . December 20, 2005. Retrieved March 8, 2011.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e International song performance . In: A-Charts.us . Retrieved March 8, 2011.

↑ Talk About Our Love history . In: Swisscharts . Retrieved March 8, 2011.

^ "Brandy's Biography" . In: SoulTracks . Retrieved March 8, 2011.

↑ Award in Japan

↑ Distinction in the United States

↑ Award in the United Kingdom

[rockonthenet-1] Brandy at Rock on the Net

[2] Steve Jones: "An 'Afrodisiac' toast to Brandy" . In: USAToday . July 15, 2004. Retrieved March 8, 2011.