Two Eleven
Brandy
2012
Needing to revive her standing in an R&B space that seemed lost as a whole, Brandy set the pace for legends who were on the cusps of being regarded simply as legacy acts– by branching out to a new wave of producers.
Cloudy R&B/Hip Hop Soul
BY HARPSICHORD
FEBRUARY 11, 2024
By the point of the late aughts, Brandy had released four critically acclaimed and well respected studio albums. However, 2008’s Human is one that she often likes to forget. Unlike her four masterpieces, things just simply weren’t clicking in the direction she needed them to. While she found moderate success with singles, “Right Here (Departed)” and “Long Distance,” they didn’t compare to the legacy she spent more than a decade crafting.
Just two years shy of her 20th anniversary as a solo star, Brandy had the chance to make it right again and save her legacy. 2012 had been a crucial year for R&B music because of two key points. First, her idol– and a superstar regarded as the greatest voice of them all– Whitney Houston, passed away on her birthday. Her birthday just so happens to be the name of this album: Two Eleven (2-11) or rather February 11th. The other happened to be the explosion of EDM taking over pop and hip hop. R&B artists found themselves scrambling, as labels were pushing back projects, or advising their artists to create the music that would help them on pop charts. The foundations of R&B seemed to be lost in the sauce.
Brandy is always an artist that is a bit ahead of the curve, even when it seems like that isn’t so. Brandy desperately wanted to work with her two favorite collaborators Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins (who did work on Never Say Never , Full Moon , and Human ) and Timothy “Timbaland” Mosley (Afrodisiac ). However the plans and recordings for that eventually were scrapped because of artistic differences and label controversies. Brandy eventually left her former label, Epic, and signed with RCA– promising fans a new album in 2012.
And that’s exactly what fans received. The first single, “Put It Down” flirted with the growing popularity of trap&B– establishing a new public sound for Brandy. The bass bumping song featured Chris Brown during the height of his resurgence back into a positive light following his own controversy. If anything, “Put It Down” essentially marked new chapters for both artists– ultimately proving that Brandy still had the gusto to provide hit records. “I’mma put it down / you gon' fall in love” repeated the hook, as the song peaked at No. 3 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
The following single– and the first full length track of Two Eleven features Brandy throwing it back to her ‘90s style. Full of ad-libs– particularly at the end– “Wildest Dreams” reminded listeners of the old-school Brandy. Resonating with listeners of contemporary soul, the song took on the subtle movement of hip hop soul, with Brandy singing “Not just the way you love me/You know I'm emotional” in a deeper register. But just like her previous albums, it became her second and final single. And just like 2002’s Full Moon and 2004’s Afrodisiac , Two Eleven became regarded as an R&B classic because of its deep cuts. Ones that proved that Brandy still had the ability to make powerful, fun, and risky records while staying true to her artistic bravery.
Two Eleven finds Brandy being the most frank about her intimate life. What could easily have been a record about depression and lost actually finds her at her most spunkiest, grown, and sexy. Two Eleven expressed a new brand of Brandy’s maturity. There are coyote whistles and quiet storm-abiding synths on “Paint This House,” where Brandy describes making love in every room of the house. Slow building and sensual, she coos “And I want these stairs, those walls/kitchen counters, and those chairs…To remind you of how good it feels,” as she reaches near a climax. “What You Need” contains a click-clack as Brandy seductively suggests “I’ll be in the kitchen, in your favorite position.”
Much of Two Eleven is about a subtle sophistication. At the time, R&B music thrived on orgasmic tones that floated on clouds– as the wave of cloudy R&B became the moment sought after by the likes of Kelly Rowland and Beyoncé. Just like her peers, Brandy worked with the architects of that sound, including Bangladesh, Sean Garrett, and Rico Love. On the album cover, she is seen stretching her hands out to touch two walls and her legs are crossed on the tippy-toed arch of stilettos, as she strikes a smizing-modelesque gaze at the camera. To say the least, she’s giving top model during the rise of Instagram and Twitter.
Although she’s brash and bold throughout Two Eleven , it's the softness and the quietness of the music meeting abrupt clashes that keeps the spirit alive. “So Sick” has a background vocal that repeats “sick, sick, sick” as Brandy discusses the many times she takes someone back even after they do her wrong. Sometimes it stops in its tracks and even trips over itself, with an electric guitar exaggerating the passionate feeling. Parts of “So Sick” ring true to what Kelly Rowland accomplished on her 2011 album, Here I Am .
“Do You Know What You Have?”– which is produced by Mike Will Made-It– finds Brandy experimenting with the popularity of rap-singing. She questions if her lover understands her worth– a continuous theme throughout Two Eleven . A winding loop that sounds like a ray gun aggravates the question as she continues to ask the title before a sassy “here!” takes up room. Musically her vocals see her increasing the speed of her thoughts, as heard on “Let Me Go,” which has a bridge that mentions her mother reacting to her on Twitter (a nod to the drama people witnessed on her Vh1 reality TV show ‘Brandy & Ray J: A Family Business’).
Throughout Two Eleven we experience versatility in the genres Brandy plays around in. “Let Me Go” has this tropical-calypso vibe that models after the quirkiness of Harry Belafonte. “Wish Your Love Away” incorporates the usage of Chinese pan flutes, as Brandy discusses regrets for sticking with a relationship that’s headed south. “Scared of Beautiful” capitalized on the rising popularity of Frank Ocean as a songwriter– with a racing time clock and psychedelic synths– while “Hardly Breathing” also falls in line with that feeling of time running out, with the help of a pounding xylophone. “Can You Hear Me Now?” incorporates an exacerbated vocoder in a stadium driven song for a formula one race, if it were happening in the universe of the Jetsons.
If anything, Two Eleven sounds like quintessential Atlanta-driven R&B. Brandy somehow manages to assert her uniqueness into what would eventually start trending in R&B. If anything, she may have been a little too ahead of her time with a sound that would eventually break into super popularity within the next three years after its release. Still, listeners receive moments that have not been touched yet. From the hypnotic quiet storm and sophisti-pop on “Music” where she personifies the title as a means to express the gratitude it's played in her life. “No Such Thing As Too Late” finds her singing in falsetto over a beat that’s akin to alternative cyberpop meets R&B slow jam (similar to how “I Tried” and “Should I Go” stuck out as outliers on Afrodisiac ).
What makes Two Eleven unique is this crazy thought that if Whitney Houston were around today– or during that time– she would have recorded this album. Whitney’s music contained that reserved spunk that leaped out when it needed to. Look no further than her final studio album, 2009’s ‘I Look To You,’ as the more midtempo bops “Like I Never Left” and “Salute” come to mind. Not only is this album a remembrance of Whitney Houston’s legacy, it’s a channeling of Brandy becoming the second age of the one who best taught her how to be unapologetically witty in her artistic decisions.
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Related Tangents
“Wildest Dreams” for being a powerful ballad that flexes Brandy’s vocal agility– and being reminiscent of her defining sound of the 90s.
“So Sick” for its twist and turns over a song that could have been simplistic otherwise.
“Music” for being a great reflective piece on an artform that we all cherish.
“Without You” for its dramatic finish and raw vulnerable vocals– especially during the bridge.
“No Such Thing As Too Late” for being in the vein of “When You Touch Me” and “I Tried” – there is just something so magical about the Brandy ballads that are slow BPMed that have a basic hip hop flare that allows for Brandy to go for more passionate vocals.
Key Tracks
The first listening experience of this album felt refreshing during a time when people had very little hope for the state of R&B. This album is a no skips project that will be highly regarded amongst R&B fans. It’s often the dark horse in the conversation of being one of Brandy fans’ favorite albums.