Don’t Be Fooled By The Moon: Brandy’s Body Of Work Is Bigger Than The Latest Conversation [Op-Ed]

Brandy’s unreleased music is more legendary than some artists’ entire discographies.

I know how that sounds coming from somebody who would comfortably describe herself as the biggest Brandy fan in the world. “Fooled by the Moon,” the Diane Warren-penned ballad recorded during the Never Say Never era, was never officially released, yet Brandy fans have carried it for years like a classic.

After more than three decades of music, television, film, and culture-shifting representation, people found a way to look directly at Brandy Norwood and miss what was standing in front of them.

Only weeks ago, one of my goals at the ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans was to see Brandy—not only as the child who grew up listening to her, but as the 44-year-old Black trans woman I have become.

I watched Brandy and Monica close the Superdome with a show honoring both their catalogs and the history connecting them. Brandy brought out MC Lyte and Yo-Yo for “I Wanna Be Down,” honored Whitney Houston, and ended the night placing a crown on Monica’s head as Monica crowned her. For two women whose careers were turned into a competition, it was moving to watch them choose reverence instead.

The following day, I watched Brandy receive the Legend Award at the ESSENCE Black Women in Music luncheon. I listened as she spoke about faith, artistry, and the seasons when she wondered whether her voice still mattered.
I stood beside her.

So when photographs from a celebration in McComb, Mississippi, began circulating and people started speculating about her weight and health, I felt disoriented. I had just watched this woman command the Superdome. I had felt the force of her presence and heard the clarity with which she spoke about who she had become.

Then I opened social media and watched people try to erase all of that by deciding they could explain her life through the size of her body.

Brandy eventually addressed the commentary. She admitted that it hurt and asked people to become gentler with one another, because an appearance can be judged in seconds while the life behind it may take years to understand.

Even after that, E! News correspondent Will Marfuggi joined the same conversation she had challenged. During an interview about the body-shaming, he told Brandy that, from several feet away and based on their limited interaction, she looked “pretty good.”

She thanked him.

Then the notorious Aquarius came forward.

“I look more than pretty good. Saying I look pretty good is crazy. I don’t like that.”

It was funny because Brandy’s delivery was funny. But she was not being unserious. She had explained that she did not want to be assessed, and his response was another assessment.

He thought the problem was the harshness of the verdict. Brandy understood that the problem was the public believing it had the authority to issue one. (Baller Alert)

She did not want to be graded.

And “pretty good” is an absurd way to describe Brandy Norwood.

The post Don’t Be Fooled By The Moon: Brandy’s Body Of Work Is Bigger Than The Latest Conversation [Op-Ed] appeared first on Bossip.