New Music: Brandy - Rather Be

Brandy's got a new album B7 due for release on July 31st. The album's first single Baby Mama featured Chance the Rapper and caught everyone's attention when it came out close to mother's day. For her follow-up, Brandy has released the song Rather Be.

Rather Be has the involvement of a number of people, with the song being written by Brandy, DJ Camper, Victoria Monet, and Antonio Dixon. The song was produced by DJ Camper.

As a whole, the song is... well, not my cup of tea. Lyrically, the track is thin with little content to it. The chorus feels repetitive, and the song is over before it even really begins. Camper's production also feels incredibly intrusive to me. There are so many random sounds that the beat feels more like it's trying to be the song rather than let the song stand out for itself.

On the upside, Brandy's vocals still seem to be there. I don't love this track, but I'm hoping that this means she's going to kill it on the rest of the album.

After an eight year hiatus since her last album, Brandy says that she's more creatively involved in this album. Overall, I'm hoping her creative participation comes out stronger on other tracks on the album. Looking at the track list, I see songs named Borderline, Lucid Dreams, and Bye Bipolar. Given Brandy's dealings with depression in the past, I'm excited to see if these songs are personal and speak to the struggles she's had. Given all the press around Kanye West's recent health issues, seeing Brandy vocalize her own challenges in msuic would be a blessing.