This feel-good album cut makes the perfect soundtrack for anyone looking to reflect on everything they have on a beautiful day. Brandy credits gospel group The Clark Sisters (along with Whitney Houston, of course) for inspiring her style on the song, which starts as a typical ‘90s hip-hop track before building up with church-like high notes.
Among the artists she shouts out: Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and brother Ray J.īrandy’s opening track contains the right balance of attitude and pure musicality that makes it the perfect introduction to one of R&B’s newest stars. The first chunk of “I Dedicate” features a conversation between Brandy and producer Jeff “Fuzzy” Young on the last day of the album recording process, and Brandy takes the time to thank all those who have either inspired her or personally helped her along her journey. All three parts of “I Dedicate” were sampled by Drake on “Fire & Desire” from his Views album, but Part II is the most noticeable cameo on Drizzy’s track.īrandy told Billboard that she wished “I Dedicate” was one complete song because she recorded the three different parts at different times, they were kept separate rather than stitched together. The song is a plea to a lover to work on their rocky relationship together: to not fear what comes next, but embrace it.Ĭlocking in at just under a minute, Part II of “I Dedicate” is the shortest snippet of the song (along with the album’s shortest track), with its lyrics pretty much staying in the same dedicatory place as Part III. “As Long As You’re Here” may arguably be the most pop-leaning track on Brandy, with a steady hi-hat and 808 combination that could make the song a natural fit on some of the albums of the late ‘90s bubblegum pop explosion. Part 3 of “I Dedicate” closes out the album and offers little in terms of both dedications and musical variety: Brandy spends most of the track repeatedly cooing “I dedicate” and “I give you my voice / This song’s for you,” presumably speaking to her friend God from previous track “Give Me You.” Sprinkled throughout Brandy’s tracklist are three different interludes comprising one song called “I Dedicate,” in which Brandy takes a minute (literally) to shout out the people who supported her as she went from talented Southern belle to R&B’s newest it girl. Its similarity to a number of other tracks on Brandy, however, relegate the song to filler status. On “Always On My Mind,” Brandy does what she does best: deliver angelic vocals over a midtempo beat that brought a refreshing newness to R&B at the time of its release a quarter century ago. “Give Me You” successfully captures Brandy’s message that “He’ll always be around” and “He’ll never leave you” if you devote yourself to Him, but musically feels like an afterthought when standing next to other tracks. With a chorus of male backup singers, Brandy takes listeners to church on “Give Me You,” a moving ode to God and the love and abundance He brings when you dedicate yourself to Him. While this tribute to love contains many of the makings of a then-contemporary R&B classic, that is unfortunately also its downfall: Brandy’s sultry voice, while strong as usual, doesn’t mesh well with some of the track’s synth production, and almost gives the feel of two different songs stitched together. But in an album packed with similar-sounding tunes, “I’m Yours” fades into the background as the album progresses.Ī 17-year-old Robin Thicke co-wrote this emotionally-charged ballad, much to Brandy’s delight.
It’s possible that Brandy was inspired by the ’80s R&B hitmaker Anita Baker on this heartfelt slow jam, as Baker was praised for her ability to deliver earth-shattering ballads.