Brandy brings some of the old school flavour back.
Brandy is the poster girl for 90’s R&B. Her music has been sampled by a slew of contemporary producers such as Ta-Ku, Esta, IAMNOBODI and RL Grime. Her sophomore album Never Say Never released in ‘98 won her, her first Grammy. And her style has greatly influenced this new wave of R&B, and hip hop.
2016 is set to be the year of the nostalgic tours with numerous artists of yesteryear touring Australia. Despite the fact her career begun in 1993, 23 years ago, this was also Brandy’s first time to Australia and, Perth. Because of that, there were some old school fans out Friday night at Metro City for the Perth show.
Flanked by two male back up dancers and supported by a drummer and keyboardist, the singer/actress/dancer gave the performance you dream seeing an old school artist. Bursting onto stage with her 2004 Timbaland-produced hit Aphrodisiac lifted the room with its upbeat energy. This was followed by the dance-influenced 2002 hit What About Us? Brandy was here.
2016 is set to be the year of the nostalgic tours with numerous artists of yesteryear touring Australia. Despite the fact her career begun in 1993, 23 years ago, this was also Brandy’s first time to Australia and, Perth. Because of that, there were some old school fans out Friday night at Metro City for the Perth show.
Flanked by two male back up dancers and supported by a drummer and keyboardist, the singer/actress/dancer gave the performance you dream seeing an old school artist. Bursting onto stage with her 2004 Timbaland-produced hit Aphrodisiac lifted the room with its upbeat energy. This was followed by the dance-influenced 2002 hit What About Us? Brandy was here.
Early on in the set, Brandy delved into her 90’s catalogue, much to the crowd’s gratitude. However, because of this, I feel the latter of her set was flat. Baby, Best Friend and I Wanna Be Down from her debut self-titled album were back-to-back, followed by The Boy is Mine, Angel in Disguise, Almost Doesn’t Count and Have You Ever. The Boy is Mine arguably her biggest song felt slightly flippant.
A die-hard fan of Whitney Houston, the latter of Brandy’s set featured a beautiful tribute covering Dance with Somebody and Exhale with Brandy sharing a story on the first time she seen Whitney perform. The humble artist also took a moment to introduce her stage mates including an impressive, unexpected solo vocal performance from back up dancer/singer Matt.
What I always admired about Brandy was her sense of humour and attitude, as evident in her on stage banter and the closing of her set. I would have loved to seen U Don’t Know Me and Talk About Our Love performed with that trademark sass but the fact that she didn’t, is proof of the breadth of her work. Considering there are a few artists of yesteryear hitting our shores soon I hope they reward loyal fans with performances as charismatic as Brandy’s.
Photos: Amanda Aaskter.
A die-hard fan of Whitney Houston, the latter of Brandy’s set featured a beautiful tribute covering Dance with Somebody and Exhale with Brandy sharing a story on the first time she seen Whitney perform. The humble artist also took a moment to introduce her stage mates including an impressive, unexpected solo vocal performance from back up dancer/singer Matt.
What I always admired about Brandy was her sense of humour and attitude, as evident in her on stage banter and the closing of her set. I would have loved to seen U Don’t Know Me and Talk About Our Love performed with that trademark sass but the fact that she didn’t, is proof of the breadth of her work. Considering there are a few artists of yesteryear hitting our shores soon I hope they reward loyal fans with performances as charismatic as Brandy’s.
Photos: Amanda Aaskter.