Brandy – Human :review

Download: Long Distance, Camouflage

The former teenage phenomenon that was Brandy is finding a hard time finding her footing as an adult performer these days, what with artists like Rihanna, Beyonce and Alicia Keys so admirably holding onto the chart numbers. The once platinum-selling Brandy (Never Say Never, The Boy Is Mine, a TV show called Moesha), is less marketable now that she's become tabloid fodder due to a messy divorce and car accident — never mind the fact that it's been about four years since she released an album. There's little here to get fans juiced up about a comeback, save for a well-orchestrated and big-sounding ballad called Long Distance, on which her mature, slightly husky voice has clearly become a more powerful and emotive instrument. A close second is Camouflage, an easy listening little tune built upon a soft beat, clangy keyboard and the standard-issue synth. Elsewhere, the sound is a tad too predictable, a little rote, as if Brandy hasn't been getting out much these days and hasn't kept up with the latest club sounds that have made her genre-sisters such in-demand superstars. She's reunited with producer Darkchild, but the squiggly, old-sounding synth is overwrought and almost noisy when it starts to swallow up Brandy's vocals on the mostly tepid buffet of tunes offered here.