What about Us?

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"What about Us?"

Single by Brandy
from the album Full Moon
Released	February 5, 2002
Format	Vinyl single, 7" single, CD single
Recorded	New Jersey; 2001
Genre	R&B
Length	4:10 (album version) 3:57 (radio edit)
Label	Atlantic
Writer(s)	LaShawn Daniels, Rodney Jerkins, Brandy Norwood, Nora Payne, Kenisha Pratt
Producer(s)	Rodney Jerkins
Chart positions
#4 (Philippines, UK) #6 (Australia) #7 (Denmark, U.S., UWC) #8 (Switzerland, New Zealand) #11 (Netherlands, Norway) #13 (Germany) #16 (Canada, Sweden) #17 (Ireland) #18 (Japan)
Brandy singles chronology
"Another Day In Paradise" (2001)	"What Abous Us?" (2002)	"Full Moon" (2002)

"What about Us?" is an R&B song written by American singer-songwriter Brandy, LaShawn Daniels, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Kenisha Pratt, and Nora Payne for Brandy's third studio album, Full Moon (2002). It was produced by Jerkins, and was released as the album's lead single in February 2002. While "What about Us?" managed to enter the top twenty on the majority of the charts it appeared on, it reached the top ten in Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, the UK, and the United States.

1 Song information
2 Music video
3 Chart performance
4 Charts
5 Formats and tracklistings
6 References
7 External link

[edit] Song information

In comparison with previous singles "What About Us" marked the first time Brandy confronted listeners with an edgy up-tempo track. The original version of the single was produced during a studio visit in Los Angeles. After playing it to her, Brandy asked Jerkins to keep "this offbeat, aggressive high-tech track" for her new album and as a result, she ordered her writers Pratt, Payne and Daniels to provide some "sexy and edgy" lyrics to the futuristic arrangement. In the end the single's lyrics dealt with the aftermath of an untrue love, facing would-be Mr. Right with the current point of the one-sided relationship. [1]

With the release of "What About Us," Brandy also showed a completely different vocal colour, singing in a deeper contralto voice instead of soprano after months of hard vocal training. The singer herself declared that the change depended on image alternations, representing herself as a more mature artist and vocalist thenceforwards.

[edit] Music video

Brandy performing atop a pyramid of kneeling men in the video (2002).

The song's music video was directed by Dave Meyers and produced by Ron Mohrhoff. It was filmed in the Ten 9 Fifty Studios in Culver City, California between December 1 and 2, 2001, and primarily features close shots and dance sequences using greenscreen technique.^[1]

The video does not have a substantial plot and, per Brandy's request, focuses on capturing her "moments as a performer," dealing with "different set-ups" and "beauty, fashion, edginess, hip."^[2] It opens with a digitized long shot of the singer standing atop a pyramid of kneeling, taut men, all holding up Brandy on her pedestal. The scene switches into a "futuristic wind tunnel", where she wields a bat against cell phones, two-way pagers, and a flying man, whose sunglasses she grabs off. While the video among intercuts scenes of Brandy performing on a platform with two black-painted men in collars and leashes, it ends with her sitting in the passenger's seat in a lowrider, amid a sea of lowriders. The final scene features a cameo appearance by her brother Ray-J.

"What about Us?" worldpremiered at the end of its Making the Video episode on MTV on January 10, 2002.^[3]

[edit] Chart performance

Expectations were high on "What About Us", the first (solo) single after Brandy's successful sophomore album Never Say Never, its final release "U Don't Know Me" in 1999 and the European #1 hit duet "Another Day in Paradise" in 2001. Despite enormous image and vocal changes and the song's unconventional sound, the track managed to become a major hit all around the globe, reaching the top 10 in several European countries like Denmark, Switzerland and the UK and peaking at number 7 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart. "What About Us?" also reached the top 3 of the European 100 and the official World Singles Top 100 in February 2002.

[edit] Charts

Chart (2002)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	6
Austrian Singles Chart	40
Belgian Singles Chart	20
Brazil Hot 100 Chart	26
Canadian Singles Chart	16
Danish Singles Chart	7
Dutch Singles Chart	11
French Singles Chart	24
German Top 100 Singles Chart	13
Irish Singles Chart	17
Italian Singles Chart	26
Japanese Singles Chart	18
New Zealand Singles Chart	8
Norwegian Singles Chart	11
Philippine Top 40 Singles Chart	4

Chart (2002)	Peak position
Philippine R&B/Soul Top 20 Singles Chart	1
Swedish Singles Chart	16
Swiss Singles Chart	8
UK Singles Chart	4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	7
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay	9
U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	3
U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales	2
U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay	2
Europe Official Top 100	2
United World Chart	7
World Singles Official Top 100	3
World Airplay Official Top 100	3
World R&B Top 30 Singles	3
World Jazz Top 20 Singles	13