A Quote by Brandy Norwood
It'd be negligent to say that I don't want to be at the top of the charts. Of course I do, it's proof that your song is being heard. But I think it's more about the work for me and being proud of what I'm doing in music than what people think about my music. I want to like my music before you like it. I don't want to sell anything that I don't really like. I don't want to sell myself short just to get to the top of the charts. It doesn't feel that great. Feeling proud of your work feels greater than being at the top of the charts.
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I don't care about the charts; I just want to make great music that I enjoy performing on stage and I'm proud of.
I don't really look at the charts at all. If anything, I try to out-do what I've done before. I try to make music that I like and I trust my own judgement with what will work with a wider audience. If you compare yourself to the charts, you lose perspective on what you're doing and why you're doing it.
I mean it's funny, playing music, how of course you want it to do well, you want them to like it, but it's not competitive like an election, it's the Olympics, it's not a Formula 1 race. The Billboard charts are just to show you what people like.
To be fair, when you are really young, you don't think about the future too much. You just want to play with your friends. When you get older, you start to dream about being there, about being at a top team, so of course it's a dream to be at a team like Manchester United.
Ultimately, I love making music more than anything. And I want to do that for ever. I don't want be on the top. I just want to keep doing what I'm doing.
I think Korea is so focused on just the charts, and what's going to chart and what's not, and I'm sure it's like that way in the States as well, to a certain degree. But I enjoy working in the States a little bit more. Because it's more about making music that is the right sound and the right fit to me, not so much just chasing the charts.
You cannot beat the feeling of sitting on top of the charts. I had almost forgotten what it feels like... It feels great! It is really a very exciting time and I am enjoying the ride.
In the mid-1980s to the early 1990s I was writing songs not because I particularly liked what I was doing, but because I was desperately trying to get back into the charts. I really didn't enjoy it. I didn't like the music I was making, I wasn't proud of it, like I have been before or since.
I want to speak for people that may not feel like they're being spoken for at the moment. And I want to make a connection between the world around us and the charts.
I think you have to satisfy yourself first and foremost. There have been records I've been really, really pleased with that haven't connected with people. But I felt good about them. If you're making music, you must want to turn other people on to it, whether you're number one in the charts or number 60. I don't know, that's a commercial thing, but just the fact that other people like you... there's no point in making music, otherwise. Otherwise you might as well make it in your bedroom and leave it there.
What's when you rap and don't appreciate the art?
What's when you sell out just to get a start?
What's when you make bullshit just for the charts?
What's when you rap, but it's not from the heart?
What's when you're hardcore, then you turn pop?
When you steal ideas to get props?
When you sell out to be on top?
What's when you front like you're hard, but you're not?
That's a gimmick.
I feel like I'm doing something in Atlanta that nobody ever did as far as rap. If it happens to end up on the top 40 or the pop charts, it doesn't mean I meant to go pop. It's just where the music took me. It started at the bottom, and it rises.
Social media can sometimes influence the charts, but I think that only great music makes it to the top. The good songs make it.
I'm very blessed, mainly because even though my family is mostly in show business, it's really centered around music. My parents were very successful in many ways, but they weren't necessarily top of the charts. We were never wealthy because of music. We always had to work and we always had to struggle a little bit, and I think at the end of the day that's been very good for me, because I have a sense of it being very ephemeral.
At work, you want to stand out but not in extra-funky ways. At the core, it's about dressing for girls - who are most of my fans - and you want to dress up for them. You just want to feel like you're on top of your game.
If you're going to be an artist, you have to create music that moves you, and to not try to fit in so much with what's happening around you. It's a career choice. I could have done other kinds of songs that got me in the radio or Top 10, but I wouldn't feel proud of the work. I come up short when I create music I don't like, and fans can tell too. The goal isn't to get into it to be famous; the goal is to perfect your craft and create your own sound.
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