Brandy opens up about 'making historical past' along with her Cinderella position, all because of the one and solely Whitney Houston.
The primary episode of Brandy’s new Audible Phrases + Music undertaking, Brandy — A New Moon, is taking a deep dive into the Grammy winner’s game-changing position in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. In our EXCLUSIVE preview of the undertaking, which premieres December 2, Brandy admits she “didn’t understand” that she was “making historical past” enjoying Cinderella.
“I wasn’t in any respect occupied with what it meant to be the primary Black Disney princess, nor was I occupied with what it will imply for the world to see a Black Cinderella with braids,” she says. “For me, it was, I’m working with Whitney Houston. Only a few years earlier, I used to be crying as a result of I couldn’t meet her and now she’s hand-picked me to be Cinderella. I’m going to be within the studio with Whitney, and he or she’s going to play my Fairy Godmother. Wow. It was the wildest of goals come true.”
Brandy reveals that what “felt revolutionary” to her was “Disney taking a shot at doing one thing monumental by having this huge, multicultural forged that was good, that was sensible, and, frankly, forward of its time.” The TV movie premiered in 1997 on ABC. Whitney co-produced the racially numerous movie that additionally featured Whoopi Goldberg, Paolo Montalban, Jason Alexander, Bernadette Peters, and extra.
Whereas recording the film’s unbelievable music, Brandy obtained the prospect to be within the studio with Whitney. “To listen to her sing and sing along with her was past something I had skilled,” Brandy admits.
She continues, “After I look again now, it’s like, oh my god, I used to be the primary Black Cinderella, and it was due to Whitney that I obtained an opportunity to play such an iconic position. It was due to her that I grew to become the primary Black Disney princess. I couldn’t actually admire it in that second as a result of I used to be targeted on doing the absolute best job I might. However my life had fairly actually turn into a Cinderella story. My goals had come true, besides I didn’t care about discovering a prince as a result of I had met my Fairy Godmother.”
The position of Cinderella is coming full circle for Brandy. She will probably be enjoying Cinderella once more within the upcoming Descendants spinoff film The Pocketwatch.
In Brandy’s Phrases + Music undertaking, she holds nothing again as she traces the non-public experiences, triumphs, and traumas that formed her as a world, generational famous person. Written and conceived by Brandy with Gerrick Kennedy, Brandy’s Phrases + Music is an intimate and bracingly uncooked meditation on energy and function from one of the vital influential singers of all time.