"Baby" is a song by American R&B recording artist Brandy, taken from her debut studio album, ''Brandy'' (1994). It was penned by Keith Crouch, Kipper Jones, and

Rahsaan Patterson Rahsaan Patterson (born January 11, 1974) is an American singer and actor, best known for portraying "The Kid" on the 1980s television show '' Kids Incorporated.'' Career 1984: ''Kids Incorporated'' After appearing in a school talent show in 19 ...

and produced by the former. Released as the album's second single on December 24, 1994, in the United States, it reached number four on the '' Billboard'' Hot 100 and spent four weeks atop the ''Billboard''

Hot R&B Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. It also reached number four in New Zealand, number 16 in Australia, and number 68 in Canada. The single sold 1,000,000 copies in 1995 in the United States. A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

was accompanied and directed by

Hype Williams Harold Williams (born August 1, 1970) is an American music video director, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Early life Williams was born in Queens, New York. He is of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Adel ...

. It was photographed in the middle of

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in December 1994 and portrays Norwood and her company dancing in skiing outfits. Met with generally positive reviews from contemporary critics, "Baby" was nominated for a

Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (previously called Best Rhythm and Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female) was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards ...

at the 1996 ceremony.

Background

"Baby" was written by Keith Crouch, Kipper Jones and

in 1993, while production was handled by the former. Conceived within a few days only, the song was created during additional songwriting sessions with Patterson, with whom Crouch had worked on several songs for the ''Brandy'' album. On the production process, Patterson commented in 2011: "I remember going over to his rouch'shouse for two nights in a row and from the first night that he wanted to play the track for me, I heard what I heard, but I kept it to myself because I was pretty much intimidated thinking he would think it was horrible. Then by the third day, he was like “We’ve got to turn this song in by Friday, so whatever you think of, just sing it!” So I sang to him what I had heard instantly when he played it and he was like “Man you’ve been sitting there holding that!”. Most of the background vocals and instruments were recorded in one of Crouch's bedrooms. Upon hearing the demo track, Norwood applauded the song for its "flavor and soul". During recording, she was reportedly inspired by idol

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed " The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston i ...

vocally, "I wanted to be exactly like her musically!".

Critical reception

Larry Flick from '' Billboard'' felt that "Baby" was continuing to position Brandy as a " pop/urban ingenue with charisma to spare". Overall, he thought radio programmers would jump on this song "within seconds", as well as kids who will begin "endlessly chanting the chorus shortly after". Steve Baltin from '' Cash Box'' commented, "Be careful not to slip on this one, as it is slick as a glacier. An extremely well-crafted slow-grinding groove lies behind the teen-age sensation’s throaty vocals. While the same level of success isn’t likely, there is still lots of airplay in the future of this tune." Dave Sholin from the '' Gavin Report'' wrote, "At this rate, Brandy will have a ''Greatest Hits'' album out before she turns 18! Some songs demand to be played a lot, and here's a perfect example." Pan-European magazine '' Music & Media'' deemed Brandy as America's youngest " new jil swinger". They added that "a higher "baby, babe" factor has not been heard since

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She began in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the 1980s and 1990s. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christia ...

." Ralph Tee from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

s ''RM'' Dance Update said, "At a virtually identical pace, the track perhaps lacks the production goose-bump factor that catapulted its predecessor up the charts, but its

jazzy Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major f ...

guitar lick and infectious chorus wrapped up with an impressive vocal and plenty of dancefloor appeal should see this go places."

Music video

An accompanying

for "Baby" was directed by

and filmed in the middle of

in December 1994. Choreography was handled by

Fatima Robinson Fatima Robinson (born August 29, 1971) is an American dancer, music video director and choreographer. Career Robinson has choreographed dance routines (for live performances and music videos) for several musical and pop artists, notably for th ...

. A performance video, it portrays Norwood and her company dancing at " The Great White Way" in Midtown Manhattan, wearing skiing outfits. Norwood wears a big white jacket and thin, white leggings complete with a white hat and black shades. The back up dancers are dressed in white too. The next cuts show Norwood wearing pink in a pink room, while singing into a microphone in a dull coloured room. She is later seen dancing with people in the same room, with the rest of the video containing similar cuts. Norwood commented on filming, "all these people were passing by and were like ‘Who’s this girl on stage in the middle of Times Square?’ I had a great time shooting the video. I could just feel myself really starting to open up, really come out of my shell and find myself as a young artist." At the

1995 MTV Video Music Awards The 1995 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 7, 1995, honoring the best music videos from June 16, 1994, to June 15, 1995. The show was hosted by Dennis Miller at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. David Sandlin was commissioned to ...

, Fatima Robinson was nominated for Best Choreography but lost to LaVelle Smith Jnr,

Tina Landon Tina Landon (born January 6, 1963) is an American choreographer based in Los Angeles who has worked with Prince, Anastacia, Mýa, Pink, Jay-Z, Marc Anthony, Kristi Yamaguchi, Aerosmith, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, Janet Jack ...

Travis Payne Travis Payne (born July 5, 1971) is an American choreographer, director and producer. He was the choreographer for Michael Jackson's This Is It until Jackson's death. Payne also served as the associate producer for '' This Is It'' and along ...

and

Sean Cheesman Sean Cheesman is a Canadian dancer and choreographer, best known as a judge and choreographer for television dance competitions such as ''So You Think You Can Dance'', ''So You Think You Can Dance Canada'' and '' Dirty Dancing: The Time of Your Lif ...

for their work on the video for the Michael and Janet Jackson duet "

Scream Scream may refer to: *Screaming, a loud vocalization Amusement rides * Scream (Heide Park), a gyro drop tower in Soltau, Germany * Scream! (ride), a tower ride at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags New England * Scream! (roller coaster), at ...

" (1995).

Track listing

Notes * signifies an additional producer

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Brandy''. * Keith Crouch – producer, recording, writer *

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...

– mastering *Booker T. Jones – mixing *Kipper Jones – writer *Glenn McKinney –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

Brandy Norwood Brandy Rayana Norwood (born February 11, 1979), better known by her mononym Brandy, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and model. She is known for her distinctive sound, characterized by her peculiar timbre, voice-layer ...

– backing vocals, lead vocals *

– backing vocals, writer *Sherree Ford-Payne – backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

ForeverBrandy.com
— official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Baby (Brandy Norwood Song) 1994 songs 1995 singles Brandy Norwood songs Songs written by Keith Crouch Songs written by Rahsaan Patterson Songs written by Kipper Jones Funk songs Music videos directed by Hype Williams Atlantic Records singles