Earlier this week Verzuz TV paired up R&B superstars Brandy Norwood and Monica Denise Arnold and flashed us back to the 90s. For three whole hours these songstresses serenaded us and gave us ALL the nostalgic feels! As good as it was to see them on stage together, witness their unedited Black Girl Magic and hear the pure instrument of their voices, I couldn't help but recognize something...
True, both Brandy and Monica are R&B singers who have touched many generations with their music. Yes, we have witnessed both women literally grow up in the music industry (Brandy was 14 when her first album dropped and Monica was 12...yes she was SANGIN like that AT TWELVE 😩) Anyway...there's no doubt the two have a lot in common with it comes to their careers.
However.
The type of music and the messages in their music are quite different from each other. A quick scroll through their social media and a Google search can show you that their personal and professional brands are different. So then why would Verzuz put these two together?
Because when these two are put together straight up, REAL magic happens!
For them it all started in 1998, four years after Brandy's self-titled debut album was dropped and only three years after Monica's debut album was released.
The timing couldn't have been better for them. Both were budding R&B legends, but neither had really gained mainstream recognition until they were put together and created straight up, REAL magic with their hit duet The Boy Is Mine.
It's true, both Brandy and Monica were holding their own as young artists just warming up their vocal chops in the music industry. But when these two collaborated and put their skills together: their music and their brands were turbo-charged!
The Boy Is Mine was the lead single on both Brandy and Monica's second album and was the first #1 pop hit for both singers. In the US, the song was the best selling song of the year, broke all kinds of records and is (still) the only song in which both Brandy and Monica have won a Grammy.
Fast forward to Monday, August 31, 2020 at 8:00 PM EST until 11:00 PM EST. Straight up, REAL magic happened! The numbers speak for themselves!
So, what does this have to do with you and YOUR personal brand? One word.
Collaboration.
As evidenced by the careers of both Brandy and Monica collaboration, when executed strategically, turbo-charges your personal brand!
Would these two have been able to achieve what they have in their careers had they not leveraged collaboration 22 years ago? Who knows.
What I can say is that the broadened reach and heightened exposure they experienced through this ONE collaboration, has definitely contributed to their success and grew their personal brands (and their businesses) exponentially.
The same way that Brandy and Monica used collaboration to grow their brands and position themselves to receive awards, break records and raise their prices, you can too!