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The Internet is still buzzing over Brandy‘s new song “Beggin & Pleadin,” a bluesy track produced by Pop & Oak. While promoting her new BET series Zoe Ever After, the singer tells ABC Radio what inspired her unexpected release, which she describes the track as a “Ray Charles, Tina Turner-ish” throwback.
“Actually, was watching the Ray Charles movie, like I’ve seen it a million times, it’s one of my favorite movies, and there was a scene where he was doing the song where the woman was going ‘Baby!’ And she was going crazy,” Brandy says referring to Charles’ classic “Night Time Is The Right Time.” She adds, “I just love that sound and I wanted to see if I could do something like that, I was inspired by that and we did. Oak & Pop, the producers, we just decided to try it and see how it sounded and I liked the way it felt and it felt so good that I wanted to get it mixed and mastered.”
Brandy adds that she felt she owed it to her longtime fans to give them fresh material. “They’ve been waiting so long and I think its just so unfair for them to have to wait this long for music because of my being a perfectionist. It’s like, le’ts go,” she says.
Brandy posted the song on SoundCloud instead of iTunes, and the singer says she believes that giving free music is a great option. “I think it’s so powerful that I can do that now and that we can all do that now,” Brandy says. “We can share our music, we can share our thoughts with each other. I’m glad that I can do that because you didn’t do that back in the day.”
So what’s the status of her next album? “Well, I’m working on that. This is the start,” she says. “I think this has just sparked a new thing in me, you know the song, and it sparked a new sound because the people are really responding to it, like super well, and I’m like, ‘Well, sheesh should I go back to the situation or what?!’ You know, so I’m excited.”
Brandy’s next album will mark her first studio effort since 2012’s Two Eleven, which spawned “Put It Down”featuring Chris Brown.
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