Brandy‘s latest album, Christmas With Brandy, arrived just in time for the holiday season on Nov. 10. Featuring soulful takes on holiday classics — “Jingle Bells,” “Deck the Halls” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” — and a teamup with her 21-year-old daughter, Sy’Rai, the Moesha star sat down with Billboard News to talk about the latest addition to her discography.
“I love Christmas, and I love Christmas carols and so I can’t believe it’s my first [Christmas album],” she tells Gail Mitchell, Billboard‘s executive director, R&B/hip-hop. “I had a great team of people to work with me, producers … one of the writers is Sebastian Cole, Tatiana Clark, India Carney. They helped me put my own spin on the classics and help me put together some originals that I’m really proud of.”
The albums contains 12 tracks, but according to Brandy, there’s some material that didn’t make the cut that could lend well to another project. “There will be songs left on the table for sure that can be part of a regular album that doesn’t necessarily have to be a Christmas album,” she explains.
Brandy’s daughter Sy’Rai makes a cameo on the record in “Christmas Gift,” a song that the 44-year-old feels proud of, as her daughter wants to follow in her footsteps. “I love the melody and I just thought our voices would sound great together,” she gushes. “And I just love working with her. I love seeing her blossom into this beautiful flower, this beautiful artist and just someone that really loves music.”
Speaking of her daughter’s musical aspirations, Brandy notes that she feels “so complete just knowing [Sy’Rai’s] doing something she loves, and she has so much passion. Music is her life, and I’ve never met that in anyone else like that but myself. It means everything to her, just like how much it meant to me.” It helps having a recording artist for a mother to glean advice from, and in the interview, Brandy says she’s advised Sy’Rai to not follow anyone — “she has her own path, her own destiny created for her by the most high, and she just needs to follow that.”
As for her follow up to 2020’s B7, Brandy says that she’s looking to get started on her next project sometime soon. “I would love to start working on B8, that’s in the plan for sure,” she shares.
Watch Brandy’s full interview with Billboard News above.
