Depending on who you ask, Brandy Norwood is either an incredibly underrated cultural icon in music and film or she’s just another 90s R&B singer who had her ‘moment’ but failed to achieve sustained success.
Brandy was recently honored at the 2016 Soul Train Awards and her live performance didn’t disappoint. She delivered a medley performance of some of her greatest hits, including “Baby,” “Almost Doesn’t Count,” “Full Moon” and “Sittin’ on Top of the World” with a special appearance by Ma$e.
Unfortunately, Brandy’s moment of glory was quickly overshadowed by what many saw as shade aimed at her long-time musical rival, Monica.
Changing the lyrics to her Kanye West-produced record “Talk About Our Love,” Brandy sang, “Then your whole fan base jumps in, now the whole [Insta]gram’s buzzing.” The one-liner was an obvious reference to recent tension between her and Monica. In August, Brandy clashed with the singer’s loyal following online after she replied “chile bye” to a fan asking her to participate in the “So Gone” Challenge – an Internet craze that had people rapping to the instrumental of Monica’s 2003 hit of the same name.
Brandy’s response reignited rumors that the two songstresses didn’t get along–a saga that dates back to 1998 when the pair recorded their Grammy-winning duet “The Boy is Mine.”
Though the R&B divas both continually denied and downplayed their supposed beef during the 90s, it was not enough to squash the rumors, which included one report of a fist fight during rehearsals for the MTV Video Music Awards. The media-hyped and fan-fueled rivalry was so volatile that neither singer could escape it.
The public often compared their voices and, sadly, their looks. Monica was “Miss Thang,” the homegirl from around the way who had the more traditional voice suitable for ballads. And then there was Brandy, America’s girl next door, whose deep voice and rich tone was more subdued than her counterpart.
Monica was the tall, model-esque beauty, while Brandy had more exotic features–Asian-like eyes, small button nose and full lips–which she was both praised and ridiculed for. Despite how different they were as artists and young women, their careers were constantly pitted against each other for over a decade, and for years, the singers would later admit, they never spoke.
For most, Brandy’s public display of so-called pettiness seemed odd considering the ladies appeared to have buried whatever hatchet existed after they recorded their follow-up duet “It All Belongs To Me” in 2012.
That same year, Brandy and Monica seemed to bond over the loss of their shared mentor and friend, Whitney Houston. Their reunion was quickly embraced as a testament to women putting their differences aside and starting anew, and at one point, there was even talks of a joint tour.
But the sisterhood apparently didn’t last long.
Days after Brandy’s “chile bye” comment made headlines on the blogs, Monica addressed it during an appearance on the daytime talk show The Real:
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