Brandy - "Two Eleven" (2012)

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

Brandy's sixth studio album. Released on October 12, 2012, it was her first release with Chameleon Entertainment and RCA Records after departing from Epic Records soon after releasing her previous album, Human (2008). The album's title is taken from Brandy's birthday; it is also the day on which her idol and friend, Whitney Houston, died eight months prior to Two Eleven's release.

Two Eleven is the first album from Brandy to include a diverse roster of collaborators including songwriting credits from Frank Ocean, Chris Brown and Sean Garrett. Production comes courtesy of the likes of Bangladesh and Rico Love, amongst others. The first single, "Put It Down", features Chris Brown and was released from May 2012. It peaked in the top-five of the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming Norwood's tenth top ten single on the chart and her first in a decade. "Wildest Dreams" was released as the second and final single in August 2012.

Two Eleven became Brandy's most critically acclaimed album to date. At Metacritic, which assigns a rated mean out of 100 from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 77, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

Two Eleven debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 with first week sales of 65,000 copies, becoming Brandy's fourth top ten and her first in eight years. It also debuted on top of on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, her second album to do so.

I thought Two Eleven was a good album. I like it much better than "Human".

What are your favorite tracks from the album?

Put It Down ft. Chris Brown: #65 Hot 100, #3 R&B

Wildest Dreams: #68 R&B

[jenglisbe]

My favorites are "Do You Know What You Have?" and "Scared of Beautiful." I remember liking "Paint This House" but haven't listened to it in a long time.

[Live Your Life]

This and Human are easily her worst albums to date. Her projects are usually a lot more adventurous sonically and vocally than those albums presented. But I was happy to see her get her (most likely) last urban radio hit with "Put It Down." I do like "Do You Know What You Have?," and "Wish Your Love Away" is gorgeous. That's about all I ever revisit from it.

[vithor]

To this day I still don't know why Wildest Dreams didn't smash.

[Deleted]

It had a handful of great songs (I love "Wildest Dreams"), but I'm not a fan of her last two albums. They don't come close to her first four.

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

Jun 17, 2020 8:04:06 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

It had a handful of great songs (I love "Wildest Dreams"), but I'm not a fan of her last two albums. They don't come close to her first four.

Totally agreed.

[B-Boy]

I love “Wildest Dreams” for the 90s nostalgia factor. It’s a shame that song flopped. I’m obsessed with “Do You Know What You Have” at the moment. It should’ve been the follow up to “Put It Down” since Mike Will Made It was the it-producer around that time. “Slower” is another song I enjoy.

[back2blk]

Put It Down excited me because it did seem more out of the box for her, and for what was happening in R&B during this time; but the rest of the album didn't live up and was really lacking in the vocal delivery and production.

[elementd5]

This is one of my favorite Brandy albums for sure. I played it constantly that first year in came out!

[Ling-Ling]

I've never understood the kinda/sorta indifference to this album. I especially don't understand any criticisms about vocals and production not being as adventurous as her prior albums. Whether it reaches the highs of her big hits is an argument that can be made, but overall, this bodied Human and it's way more consistent than most of the albums people deem as her classics. And I love that you get those adventurous/bolder moments, but it's balanced out perfectly with the more classic R&B material like "NSTATL," "WY," and "WD." And totally agree that "Do You Know What You Have?" should have been the second single.

"Slower," "Can You Hear Me Now?" and "Hardly Breathing" are some of my favorite Brandy deep cuts.

[divasummer]

I purchased this the day of release.
I believe I got the deluxe which came out the same day.
I loved first single “Put It Down” and really liked “Wildest Dreams”.
However I was a bit disappointed with the rest of it.
“Let Me Go” was pretty good and I was into “Wish Your Love Away” some.
The rest of it was a tad too midtempo/slow for my liking.
I didn’t mind the tracks on the deluxe.
They were almost there for me, but still to midtempo I guess.
I have a feeling I would appreciate more tracks from it today.