Afrodisiac is the fourth studio album by American singer Brandy. It was first released on June 25, 2004, by Atlantic Records. The album was recorded primarily in Los Angeles between spring 2003 and early 2004, following several major changes in Brandy's personal and professional life. After giving birth to her daughter and the demise of her relationship with Big Bert, Brandy's team was given an overhaul, including changes in production, management, and A&R. The album marked a departure from her previous work, with Brandy collaborating with producer Timbaland and songwriters Candice Nelson and Walter Millsap III on the majority of the album's composition.
With many of their new relationships being the result of broken ones, Brandy and Timbaland were inspired to experiment with a number of sounds and influences to create a unique, individualized sound that was distinct from other R&B music. The result was an organic, mellow contemporary R&B album that experimented with the New York-based illbient style, which infuses eccentric hip-hop breakbeats, ambient soundscapes, and the unorthodox sampling of indie rock and various film scores. Norwood also continued to experiment with her singing, opting to use more technical applications of counterpoint and multi-track recording toward her vocal arrangements. An autobiographical album, the songs feature intimate lyrics which discuss the singer's personal struggles with codependency, monogamy, misplaced loyalty, and professional anxiety.
Upon release, Afrodisiac was critically acclaimed for its mature lyrics, Brandy's vocalizing, and its overall experimental sound. The album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, selling 131,700 copies in its first week; it was eventually certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Afrodisiac was nominated for several awards, including the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album. The album spawned three singles, including "Talk About Our Love" featuring Kanye West, which reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100; along with "Who Is She 2 U" and "Afrodisiac". Since its release, the album has been retrospectively called a predecessor to alternative R&B, having been cited as an influence by artists such as Rihanna and Solange.
Background In February 2002, Brandy released her third studio album Full Moon, which was preceded by the lead single "What About Us?", a worldwide top-ten hit. However, the album's title track failed to chart or sell noticeably outside the United States and the United Kingdom, where it managed to enter the top twenty. During the production of Full Moon, she became involved romantically with producer Robert "Big Bert" Smith. The couple began a relationship during the summer of 2001, but their relationship did not become known until February 2002, the same month Brandy revealed that she was expecting her first child. However, a year after the birth of their daughter Sy'rai Iman Smith on June 16, 2002, Brandy and Smith officially announced their separation. It was not until 2004 that Smith revealed that the pair had never been legally wed, but that they had only portrayed the notion of nuptials to preserve the singer's public image. By the following year, Brandy had begun a relationship with NBA guard Quentin Richardson. The couple soon became engaged in July 2004 but she eventually ended their 15-month engagement in October 2005.
Recording and production Only weeks after giving birth to her daughter, Brandy entered recording studios to begin work on her then-untitled fourth album with producer Mike City and the child's father, Robert "Big Bert" Smith. Following a fallout with longtime collaborator Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, whom she felt had begun repurposing the distinctive sound they developed on Never Say Never for other artists, while also withholding material she considered commercially strong, Smith assumed the role of executive producer and A&R, effectively replacing Jerkins and his Darkchild team, who had contributed extensively to her previous two albums. Eager to redefine her artistic direction and expand her creative range amid a broader shift in radio toward a more urban sound, Brandy and Smith envisioned a project that was "rawer" and more "street"-oriented than its 2002 predecessor Full Moon, with Brandy seeking a more active role in the songwriting process. By late November 2002, the pair had completed several demo recordings and at least four fully realized tracks, including "Ryde or Die" and Sy'rai-inspired "Sunshine," but although Smith at one point anticipated a spring 2003 release, the couple ended their relationship in mid-2003, resulting in delays to the project and significant changes in its creative personnel.
Brandy ultimately chose to scrap much of the material recorded during these sessions and instead enlisted Timbaland, who had been attached to the project as a contributor and with whom the couple had previously collaborated on Kiley Dean's debut album Simpe Girl, as one of the album's primary creative forces. Although the two had been friends for several years, they had not previously collaborated. Impressed by his vision for the project, Brandy later noted that the collaboration helped her rediscover a sense of musical passion she felt had been overshadowed by the technical emphasis of Full Moon. She described the shift as a deliberate effort to evolve artistically, explore her versatility, and experiment with a new sonic identity, resulting in what she characterized as a more "edgy" and "sassy" sound while retaining emotional depth. With the help of Timbaland protégés such as Candice Nelson, Steve "Static" Garrett, and co-producer Walter Millsap III the pair worked on what was tentatively titled B-Rocka—a nickname actually given to her by Jerkins—and originally planned for a Christmas 2003 release. Their first collaboration, 1990s tribute "Turn It Up," was leaked onto the internet in autumn 2003, and soon released as a promotional buzz track.
Having concluded additional recording sessions with Warryn Campbell, Theron Feemster and Organized Noise, in November 2003, Atlantic Records announced that Brandy was putting the finishing touches on her still-untitled album, at that time scheduled for a release on March 2, 2004, and she would shoot a music video for the "hyper, bass-heavy" banger "Black Pepper" during the second week of December. However, plans for the single were later abandoned, as the Timbaland-produced track was scrapped in favor of a new song, "Talk About Our Love," produced by rapper Kanye West. Both the single and album cut "Where You Wanna Be" were eleventh-hour additions to the album, following encouragement from West's manager, Geroid Roberson, one of the executive producers on Afrodisiac, for Brandy to undertake additional studio sessions with West. Brandy was initially unaware that Atlantic had offered West two placements on the album with the stipulation that one of his tracks would serve as the lead single, a decision made without her consultation and one that significantly altered her original vision for the project. On their collaboration, she commented: "Kanye put the finishing touches on the record. The two tracks we did were just what I needed to tie the whole thing together."
Music and lyrics "It's about passion. It's romantic, and that's where I am in my life right now," Brandy noted during promotional touring in 2004, a time when she was engaged to New York Knicks guard Quentin Richardson. "I'm not trying to be edgy, sassy, romantic, vulnerable or whatever emotions come across, I really am all that", she said. While not a concept record, Afrodisiac features several consistent motifs throughout. It contains several lyrical references to 1990s hip hop and R&B culture figures, including Brandy herself, Timbaland and longtime partner Missy Elliott, her peers Aaliyah and Monica, American music video program Video Soul and its host Donnie Simpson, hip-hop group Kid n' Play and their 1990 film House Party, sketch comedy television series In Living Color, and Tony! Toni! Toné!'s studio album House of Music (1996). Throughout the album, English rock band Coldplay is used in both lyrical and musical concepts. In a 2013 interview, songwriter Candice Nelson discussed that coincidentally, she, Timbaland, and Brandy had all been privately listening to Coldplay's studio album Parachutes (2000).
The general theme of anxiety runs through majority of the songs, with a lyrical focus on being critical of close personal and long-term professional relationships. She references her relationship with Robert Smith ("Who I Am", "I Tried", "Focus"), then-fiancé Quentin Richardson ("Where You Wanna Be", "Say You Will"), friends ("Sadiddy"), family ("Necessary"), career ("Should I Go"), and herself ("Come As You Are", "Finally"). The line "'Cause I don't wanna sound familiar, want a guaranteed single, not an album filler" from "Turn It Up" levels indirect criticism at creative differences with former main producer Jerkins and Atlantic Records staff. On ending track "Should I Go," which interpolates Coldplay's "Clocks", she openly talks about contemplating stepping away from the music business, admitting that she's trying to figure out where she fits in today.
Although Brandy received a sole writing credit on album cut "Finally" only, she noted Afrodisiac the most honest effort of her career yet based on its deeply autobiographical content, commenting: "Everything I do has something to do with what I've gone through in my life [and] I definitely wanted to incorporate that in my art. It makes it more real when you add what's been going on in your life in your music. I've grown and I've gone through some things in my life, and I celebrate that, I honor that." Songwriter Nelson spoke further, saying, "[throughout this album] my thought was 'what's going on in her mind?' I wanted to observe her more than talk to her. First of all, I was starstruck, so I wanted to just watch her, and write from that. She was kind of shocked by what I would write. [Then] I was amazed, because she would take what I wrote and make this rainbow of sounds. She's so brilliant." Soundwise, her collaborator Timbaland spoke of their work on the album in his memoir The Emperor of Sound (2015). In the book, he says: "I always wanted to work with Brandy. She sings like a hummingbird," adding: "She really trusted me and wanted to do whatever I wanted to do. I make something and then play it for her, and she'd go crazy. Then she'd go arrange her vocals and play it for me, and I'd go crazy. That's how we worked."
Opening track "Who I Am", the album's only contribution by Warryn "Baby Dubb" Campbell, was an eleventh-hour addition to the album's final track listing. Built around a pirouetting keyboard melody, the song discusses Brandy's rocky relationship with Smith as well as her public image in open letter form. Second track "Afrodisiac", the album's title track and second international single, was generally well received by critics, and enjoyed moderate success throughout Asia and Europe. Depicting a woman's aphrodisiac affection with a man, it combines elements of pop and dance music, incorporating elements of fellow Timbaland-production "Are You That Somebody?" as performed by Aaliyah. Brandy has declared the song her favorite cut on the record. Alongside "Afrodisiac", third track "Who Is She 2 U" was one of the first songs the singer worked on with Timbaland and his crew. Based around true events, the song describes a woman who is suspicious about her mate's awkward behavior around a seemingly unfamiliar woman. The dramatic up-tempo incorporates chamber pop string melodies and go-go drum programming. An unofficial but prominent duet version of the track featuring vocals by fellow R&B singer Usher was released on various mixtapes in late 2004.