Right Here (Departed)

"Right Here (Departed)" is a song by American singer Brandy, written by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and The Writing Camp members Evan "Kidd" Bogart, Victoria Horn, Erika Nuri, and David "DQ" Quiñones and produced by Jerkins for her fifth studio album Human (2008). Its lyrics chronicle a woman's talks about mutual support with loved ones.

Picked as the album's leading single and Brandy's first release with Epic Records, following her split with Atlantic Records in 2005, the song premiered via Brandy's official webpage on August 13, 2008. Her first release in four years, it was officially serviced to U.S. radios on August 25, 2008. The song has since reached number 23 on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Recording and theme

Penned by Evan "Kidd" Bogart and his fellow Writing Camp members Victoria Horn, Erika Nuri and David Quiñones, "Right Here (Departed)" was not recorded until late into the production of the Human album. It was the first out of several new demo tracks producer Rodney Jerkins presented to Brandy, following the pair's musical reunification in early June 2008. "[It] was the first song I did with him," Brandy said in an interview with MTV News, citing the song as their "reconnect": "It's our first single. So our experience this time has been very magical. Our sound is a little bit different from our old sound, but we are back, and I'm never leaving Rodney again [...]."

Music video

The music video for "Right Here (Departed)," Brandy's first collaboration with Canadian director Little X, was filmed on August 17, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. Shot on-street and in front of a greenscreen, it features cameo appearances by Jerkins and Brandy's younger brother Ray J, also starring actor Cory Hardrict as Brandy's boyfriend. The production of the clip was tracked by BET's Access Granted television series, with the final cut eventually premiering on small screen on September 3, 2008 at the end of its Access Granted episode and online at 3:00 pm PT on Yahoo! Music.

The concept of the video was chosen out of several different ideas. Brandy, who cited the realness of Little X's treatment as its strength, has described the video about being there for a loved one. The concept depicts Brandy as an angel, who is "crossing over to the other side and coming back into my family's life. Just popping up everywhere, just singing to them," she said, also noting its I Am Legend feel. "You can take it like you're talking about a mother and a daughter, a sister, brother, girlfriend, whatever — it's universal in that way [...] sometimes you see me on the street by myself completely, and it's pretty cool. I'm really excited about it [...]." Although the shooting of a scene with Brandy interacting with a young girl was captured by Access Granted, the sequence was not included into the final cut of the video.

As of October 7th, 2008, the video has reached at number 1 on BET's 106 & Park countdown.

Formats and tracklistings

These are the formats and track listings of major single-releases of "Right Here (Departed)."U.S. promo CD

"Right Here (Departed)" (main version) – 3:39
"Right Here (Departed)" (piano intro version) – 3:41
"Right Here (Departed)" (instrumental) – 3:40

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak Position
Bulgarian Singles Chart	10
Canadian Hot 100	95
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	74
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	23
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay	23
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	61

Release history

Region	Format	Date
	Internet leak	August 13, 2008
United States	rhythm/crossover radio	August 25, 2008
	digital download	September 9, 2008
	mainstream radio	September 23, 2008
Austria	digital download	September 12, 2008
Germany
Switzerland