June 04, 2004 @ 10:28 am

Cover Story: Brandy - Not That Innocent

She exed her husband, dropped her former A-list producer, and enlisted a superstar manager. As the new BRANDY gets comfortable in her own flesh, CHEO HODARI COKER finds that she’s not afraid to push the envelope.

Photographs by Michelangelo Di Battista

I’m not trying to

Photographs by Michelangelo Di Battista I'm not trying to be safe or difficult, but I don't want to look like Christina Aguilera," Brandy says, arms folded. "I just want to be sexy, but tasteful at the same time. Beyoncé is sexy, but she's tasteful." She's talking to Frank Gatson Jr. and LaVelle Smith Jr., the two VMA Award-winning choreographers who have been charged with helping Brandy get her groove back. "Well, Beyoncé didn't want to do this," Gatson says, dropping his hands to his sides, arching his back, and backing his ass up, duplicating that Beyoncé booty dance from "Crazy in Love" with alarming dexterity for a man who's tall and built like a linebacker. "But we put professionals around her," he continues. "And we're not gonna play you." The 25-year-old R&B princess has never been known for sensual dance steps, but shaking things up is the whole point of her new sound. In the past, an exchange like this one would have been the domain of Brandy's mother, Sonja Norwood. "I have to say, that's one thing my mom was always afraid of," Brandy later says. "She didn't want anybody to change me into something else." The choreographed steps were to be seen in the video for the hyper, bass-heavy, Timbaland banger "Black Pepper," which has since been scrapped for the more organic Kanye West-produced "Talk About Our Love." But the same way Brandy is learning to be comfortable with her feet, she's also learning to be at ease with revealing a more provocative side of herself. And if there are any changes to make these days, Brandy will be the sole architect. To take on management duties, she's drafted Benny Medina, who has famously guided the career of Jennifer Lopez to superstardom. Brandy has also split with her husband and has dropped production maven Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins in favor of Timbaland's exotic syncopated masterpieces. Added to the mix: motherhood and a new take on spirituality. But by striking out on her own, the grown woman with the girlish face attempts the riskiest balancing act of all: She's trying to poke holes in that innocent image without destroying the success that it brought. "I just feel my sexuality is private. I'm very shy about being sexy," she says. "That part of me has been so closed to the public eye. I've sold millions of records with my clothes on." The recording booth is the place where Brandy can be herself at all times. Here in Amerycan Studios-the place where Wu-Tang Clan contemplated Forever, House of Pain first had the urge to "Jump Around," and Pink confronted her M!ssundaztood side-Brandy stands inside the recording booth, eyes closed, deep inside her song "Hush." Sometimes she cups her hands against the earphones as she moves closer to the microphone. Other times she balls up her small fists, punching the air for emphasis. She's found a new sound-one that's just as much hers as it is any of the producer's she's been working with. To Read The Rest Of This Story, Get This Issue At Your Local Newsstand Now! ClickHere! To Receive a Full Year of VIBE for $11.95!

Article tags: Cover, Story, Brandy, Not, Innocent 

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