Full Moon is the third studio album by American R&B/pop singer Brandy, released by Atlantic Records on February 25, 2002 outside North America, and on March 5, 2002 (see 2002 in music) in Canada and the United States. Brandy primarily worked with Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins on the majority of the album's production.

History

Production and title

After a lengthy hiatus that saw the end of the Moesha television series, and a flurry of tabloid headlines discussing her bout with "dehydration", Brandy eventually entered recording studios in mid-2000 to start work on her then-untitled third album with producer Rodney Jerkins, and his Darkchild crew, among Fred Jerkins III, Nora Payne, and LaShawn Daniels. While Jerkins contributed most to the album and moreover served as its executive producer, Norwood also worked with producers Keith Crouch, Mike City, Warryn Campbell, and Robert "Big Bert" Smith. In addition, she also recorded with Babyface, Soulshock & Karlin, The Neptunes, and rapper Ja Rule, but none of the songs written with them made the final tracklisting.

Although the singer revealed that the album's "focus was very much on the technical", and "about how it sounded, Brandy regarded Full Moon as a pure concept album based on the development of a male-female relationship: "It's definitely the concept for the album--me falling in love, then going through some turbulence, and then, at the end, I find the person that I really want to be with--so it's a great concept and it's a great experience that I had. In an interview with MTV News Norwood told, that she entitled the album Full Moon, because she had done a "complete circle" and felt "whole": "All of that's reflected in the music. It's autobiographical. Everything that I've gone through in the last three years is reflected. The album was originally set to be released on November 20 2001, but plans were scrapped.

Release and reception

Although Full Moon was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary R&B Album", media reception for the album was generally mixed. While most professional reviewers saw comparisons to Michael Jackson's 2001 studio album Invincible, the album was praised for Brandy and Jerkins' idea of "forward-thinking musical maturity" and the growth of Norwood's "now scratchy, evocative edge" in her voice. By contrast, Rolling Stone Magazine declared Full Moon as "frantic, faceless, fake-sexy R&B", and Andy Kellman from Allmusic cited the album "more mature and consistent" but "too lengthy." However, Brandy's third album became a global success: Full Moon debuted on top of the U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart, and at number two on the Billboard 200, approximately 160,000 copies in its first week of release. Sales declined soon but uniformly continuous, and the album eventually received a platinum certification by the RIAA for more than one million copies shipped to stores. While the album entered the top twenty on the majority of the charts it appeared on oustide the United States, it also reached the top ten in Switzerland, Germany, Canada, and the UK.

Track listing

#	Title
1.	"B-Rocka Intro"	1:19
2.	"Full Moon"	4:08
3.	"I Thought"	4:29
4.	"When You Touch Me"	5:42
5.	"Like This"	4:32
6.	"All in Me"	4:00
7.	"Apart"	4:27
8.	"Can We"	4:43
9.	"What About Us?"	4:12
10.	"Anybody"	4:50
11.	"Nothing"	4:48
12.	"It's Not Worth It"	4:23
13.	"He Is"	4:21
14.	"Come a Little Closer"	4:32
15.	"Love Wouldn't Count Me Out"	4:19
16.	"WOW"	4:12

Bonus tracks

17.	"Die Without You" (with Ray-J) [U.S./Japan bonus]	3:56
18.	"Another Day in Paradise" (with Ray-J) [EU bonus]	4:12
19.	"I Wanna Fall in Love" [Japanese bonus]	3:52

Credits and personnel

• Lori Andrews - strings
• Larry Gold - cello
• Edward Green - strings
• Gerald Heyward - drums
• Jubu - guitar
• Suzie Katayama - conductor
• Lila Kazakova - strings
• Kimbo - violin
• Eugene Mechtovich - strings
• Patrick Morgan - strings

• Michele Nardone - strings
• Isaac Phillips - guitar
• Robin Ross - strings
• Marston Smith - strings
• Thomas Tally - strings
• Charles Veal, Jr. - strings
• Zheng Wang - strings
• Joe "Flip" Wilson - piano
• Tibor Zelig - strings
• Yihuaw Zhao - strings
• Michael Jackson - Backing vocals

Production

• Executive producers: Craig Kallmann, Brandy Norwood, Ron Shapiro
• Vocal producer: Brandy
• Vocal assistance: Ray-J, Joe Lewis Thomas Michael Jackson
• Engineers: Jim Bottari, Stuart Brawley, Reginald Dozier, Jan Fairchild, Thor Laewe, Michael "Wolf" Reaves
• Assistant engineers: J.D. Andrew, Kenneth B. Hertz, Michael Huff, Marc Stephen Lee, Steve Robillard, Javier Valverde
• Mixing: Jon Gass, Brad Gilderman, Manny Marroquin, Dave Pensado, Dexter Simmons
• Mastering: Tom Coyne
• A&R: Andrew Feigenbaum, Craig Kallman, Brandy Norwood
• Design: Thomas Bricker
• Art Direction: Thomas Bricker
• Photography: Marc Baptiste

Charts and certification

Chart (2002)	Provider	Peak position	Certification	Sales
Australian Albums Chart	ARIA	13
Austrian Albums Chart	Media Control	54
Belgian Albums Chart	Ultratop/Nielsen	26
Canadian Top 50	CRIA/Nielsen SoundScan	8	Gold	50,000+
Dutch Albums Chart	Nielsen	23
French Albums Chart	SNEP/IFOP	12
German Albums Chart	Media Control	8
Japanese Albums Chart	Oricon	15
New Zealand Albums Chart	RIANZ	14
Norwegian Albums Chart	VG Nett	24
Swedish Albums Chart	GLF	20
Swiss Albums Chart	Media Control	7
UK Top 75 Albums	BPI/The Official UK Charts Company	9	Gold	100,000+
U.S. Billboard 200	Billboard	2	Platinum	1,250,000+
U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums		1
U.S. Billboard Top Internet Albums		2

References