Afrodisiac

Afrodisiac is the fourth studio album by American singer Brandy, released by Atlantic Records on June 28, 2004 outside North America and on June 29, 2004 (see 2004 in music) in Canada and the United States. A departure from her previous work with Rodney Jerkins and his Darkchild camp, Brandy worked with Timbaland and his protégé Walter Millsap III on the majority of the production of the album, with additional help from Warryn Campbell, Organized Noise, Ron Feemster, Big Chuck, and Kanye West.

The album debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200, eventually selling 416,000 copies as of April 2008, but saw minor international success, missing the top thirty on the majority of the charts it appeared on outside the United States. The critical response to Afrodisiac was generally positive, garnering Brandy her strongest reception yet, with AllMusic comparing it to "Janet Jackson at her best. In 2005, it received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album.

History

Production

Following the birth to her first daughter Sy'rai in June 2002, Norwood soon entered recording studios to insensify work on her then-untitled fourth album with producers Mike City, Chris Ballard, Andy Murray, and companion Robert "Big Bert" Smith. As the singer wanted the longplayer to sound "much rawer" and more "street" than its predecessor Full Moon, Smith quckily emerged as the album's executive producer and A&R manager, replacing longtime producer and mentor Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, who Brandy felt was "not going in the same direction creatively" after all. The couple eventually finished several demo tapes and at least four full songs until late November 2002, including "Ryde or Die" (re-recorded by Jennifer Lopez for her 2005 studio album Rebirth), and Sy'rai inspired "Sunshine; and although Smith expected the album to drop by spring 2003 at one time or another, Brandy and Big Bert ended their relationship in fall 2002, resulting into the album's delay.

As a result Norwood decided to scrap most of the project, and instead enlisted Timbaland as the album's main contributor: "Timbaland really brought the fire to this album," she said. "The music actually tells a story in itself, even without my vocals on it, so I let myself be driven by it. To be able to put a melody on a track that already had a life, that just blew me away. It's great, passionate music. With the help of songwriters Candice Nelson, Steve "Static" Garrett, and co-producer Walter Millsap III the pair worked on what was tentatively titled B-Rocka and actually planned for a Christmas 2003 release. Their first collaboration, "Turn It Up", was leaked onto the internet in autumn 2003, and soon released as a promotional single on vinyl.

In November 2003, Atlantic Records announced that Brandy was finishing touches on her still-untitled album (which was at that time scheduled for a release on March 2, 2004), and she was slated to shoot a video for "hyper, bass-heavy" banger "Black Pepper" during the second week of December. However, plans fell through as the Timbaland-produced track was scrapped in favor of a new record: Kanye West-produced "Talk About Our Love." Both, the single and the album cut "Where You Wanna Be", were eleventh-hour additions to the album, commissioned by executive producer Geroid Roberson after West's success in 2004 with tracks by artists such as Twista, Alicia Keys, and himself.

Release and reception

Afrodisiac received a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Contemporary R&B Album", and became Brandy's most critically acclaimed album to date, with some citing the "more consistently mature and challenging" effect of Timbaland on Brandy's music, and others calling it "very listenable and emotionally resonant", comparing it to "Janet Jackson at her best". Nevertheless it became the least successful album of Brandy's career: Afrodisiac debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 and at number four on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart, selling more than 131,700 copies in its first week. Though sales soon declined and the album fell off the top one hundred of the Billboard 200 quickly in its eighth week, the album eventually received a Gold certification for more than 500,000 copies shipped to stores. While Afrodisiac reached the top ten on a composite United World Chart it failed to enter the top thirty on the majority of the charts it appeared on oustide the United States.

Though "I Tried" was considered to be released as a single at times, Afrodisiac spawned three singles only: The album's lead single, "Talk Abour Our Love", became Norwood's fifth non-consecutive top ten hit on the UK Singles Chart, but barely made it to top thirty elsewhere; in the United States, however, the song peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The second single in Eurasia and Australia, "Afrodisiac", saw similar success but reached the top 10 in China; it also became a top 40 success in Australia, France, Ireland, Switzerland, and the UK. The second North American single was "Who Is She 2 U" but due to a lack of radio airplay the song never made it out of the lower half of the Billboard Hot 100. In March 2005, the single also received limited release in Europe to promote the release of Brandy's first single collection, The Best of Brandy; but it failed to chart or sell noticeably.

Track listing

1. "Who I Am" (Warryn Campbell, Jeffrey Campbell) – 3:35
2. "Afrodisiac" (Kenisha Pratt, Kenneth Pratt, Tim Mosley) – 3:47
3. "Who Is She 2 U" (Walter Millsap III, Candice Nelson, T. Mosley, Leon Ware, Jacqueline Hilliard) – 4:43 ¹
4. "Talk About Our Love" (featuring Kanye West) (K. West, Harold Lilly, Carlos Wilson, Louis Wilson, Ricardo Wilson, Claude Cave II) – 3:34 ²
5. "I Tried" (W. Millsap III, C. Nelson, T. Mosley, Will Champion, Steve Harris, Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Johnny Buckland) – 4:45 ³
6. "Where You Wanna Be" (featuring T.I.) (K. West, H. Lilly) – 3:32 ⁴
7. "Focus" (W. Millsap III, C. Nelson, T. Mosley) – 4:07
8. "Sadiddy" (K. Pratt, K. Pratt, T. Mosley) – 4:00
9. "Turn It Up" (W. Millsap III, C. Nelson, T. Mosley) – 4:12
10. "Necessary" (Rico Wade, Patrick Brown, Ray Murray, Cee-Lo Green) – 3:59
11. "Say You Will" (Theron Feemster) – 3:50
12. "Come As You Are" (Steve "Static" Garrett, T. Mosley) – 3:44
13. "Finally" (W. Millsap III, C. Nelson, T. Mosley, B. Norwood, Hans Zimmer, Nick Glennie-Smith, S. Stern, Darryl Harper) – 3:53 ⁵
14. "How I Feel" (W. Millsap III, C. Nelson, Erick Walls) – 4:41
15. "Should I Go" (W. Millsap III, C. Nelson, G. Berryman, J. Buckland, W. Champion, C. Martin, T. Mosley) – 4:56 ⁶

Limited Reissue

16. "Sirens" (S. Garrett, T. Mosley) – 3:59
17. "Like It Was Yesterday" (Mike City) – 3:53
18. "Nodding Off" (W. Millsap III, C. Nelson, T. Mosley) – 4:10 ⁷

¹Contains a sample of Jacqueline Hilliard's "Instant Love" (1968)
²Contains a sample of Mandrill's "Gilly Hines" (1978) from the album New Worlds
³Contains a sample of Iron Maiden's "The Clansman" (1998), and Coldplay's "Sparks" (2000)
⁴Contains a sample of Janis Ian's "Jesse" (1974)
⁵Contains a sample of "Rock House Jail" from The Rock soundtrack (1996)
⁶Contains a sample of Coldplay's "Clocks" (2002)
⁷Contains a sample of the Beetab soundtrack (1993)

Credits and personnel

• Miri Ben-Ari — violin
• Shorty B. — bass guitar
• Parris Bowens — keyboards
• Bruce Fowler — conductor
• Larry Gold — conductor
• Don Harper — conductor
• Mike Hartnett — guitar
• Keenan "Kee Note" Holloway — bass
• Glenn S. Jeffrey — guitar
• George "Spanky" McCurdy - percussion
• Nick Glennie-Smith — conductor
• DeMonica Plummer — conductor
• Ervin Pope — keyboards
• Dave Robbins - keyboards
• Thaddeus T. Tribbett — bass
• Eric Walls — guitar

Production

• Executive producers: Kyambo Joshua, Craig Kallman, Brandy Norwood, Gee Roberson
• Vocal producers: Brandy Norwood, Kenny Hicks
• Vocal assistance: Jo Ann Campbell, Steve "Static" Garrett, Tim Mosley, Kenisha Pratt, Kenneth Pratt
• Engineers: Bruce Beuchner, Sean Davis, Jimmy Douglas, Blake English, Jun Ishizeki, Cha Cha Jones, Eugene Toale
• Assistant engineers: Demacio Castellon, Ricky Chao, Jermeal Hicks, Halsey Quemere
• Mixing: Jimmy Douglass, Dave Lopez, Manny Marroquin, Peter Mokran, Tim "Timbaland" Mosley
• Mastering: Brian Gardner, Chris Gehringer
• A&R: Kyambo Joshua & Geroid Roberson
• Design: Julian Peploe
• Art Direction: Liz Barrett
• Photography: Roger Ericson

Leftover tracks

• "About Brandy (Intro)"
• "Adios" (featuring Sean Paul) (written by Timbaland, Walter Milsap III, Candice Nelson, Sean Paul)
• "Black Pepper"
• "Gone From Me" (written by Christian Ballard, Lindy Benson, Andrew Murray)
• "Hush"
• "I've Seen Your Kind Before" (written by Jason Boyd, Brandy Norwood, Robert Smith)
• "Leave" (written by B. Norwood, R. Smith, Blake English, Nora Payne)
• "Ryde or Die" (written by B. Norwood, R. Smith, B. English) (re-recorded version appeared on Jennifer Lopez' Rebirth)
• "Sunshine" (produced by Robert "Big Bert" Smith)
• "The Game Up" (written by Timbaland, Harold Lilly)

Release history

Region	Date
Europe	June 28, 2004
United States	June 29, 2004
Canada

Charts and certification

• These are the peak positions and certifications from chart providers.

Chart (2004)	Provider	Peak position	Certification
Canada Top 50 Albums	CRIA/Nielsen SoundScan	34
Chinese Albums Chart	IFPI	9
Dutch Albums Chart	MegaCharts	45
French Albums Chart	SNEP/IFOP	57
German Albums Chart	Media Control	44
Japanese Foreign Albums Chart	Oricon	10
Norwegian Albums Chart	VG Nett	34
Swedish Albums Chart	GLF	45
Swiss Albums Chart	Media Control	26
UK Albums Chart	BPI/The Official UK Charts Company	32	Silver
U.S. Billboard 200	Billboard	3	Gold
U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums		4
United World Chart	Media Traffic	6

References

External links

• ForeverBrandy.com — official site