Monica shared why working with Ariana Grande on the remix to her single, “The Boy Is Mine,” was an easy decision for her, and how Grande brought her and Brandy together and helped mend their relationship.
On June 7, Grande teased her “The Boy Is Mine” single, which is the exact name of Brandy and Monica’s 1998 Grammy-winning collab, on Instagram. To everyone’s surprise, she featured the R&B icons in the music video in the first 47 seconds of the visual paying homage to Catwoman. Both women played the role of two news anchors discussing breaking news about a mayor, played by actor Penn Badgley, who Grande was crushing on and wanted all to herself.
After the music video was released, shortly after Grande revealed that Brandy and Monica would feature on the official remix for the song, which dropped on Friday.
Fans were shocked and pleased given that rumors about the drama between Brandy and Monica have lingered for decades at this point. For the song’s release, Monica sat down with ET Online to discuss its concept.
“I’ve always said that the song should not be touched, right? And I said that because I felt that it did not need to be redone in the idea of, let’s say, actually doing it the exact way that it was,” she said. “But Ariana and [producer] Max Martin — as soon as I heard this version, I fell in love with it.”
She added, “What I am so amazed by is her humility, her compassion. On the day that we recorded, I received flowers and a note that was directly from her. Everything has been directly from her chest and, for me, authenticity, humility, all of those things are key.”
The last time Brandy and Monica reunited was in 2020 during their Verzuz show, which saw them performing their biggest hits.
“The process of the new collaboration did a lot of closing the gaps,” Monica said about finding closure with Brandy.
“When you properly communicate, something — you can find not only the resolutions and solutions to problems — but sometimes you find that there weren’t ever problems, just consistent miscommunications,” Monica said. “It made it a lot easier just to talk.”
Monica also shared that she and Brandy have conversed more now than they have in the past 25 years.
“We recognized that the key was to keep other people out of our relationship, both business and personal, and let it be between she and I, and that has changed everything. It’s changed the trajectory of it in its totality,” Monica explained. “My son was in the hospital the other day and she was who I was speaking to while he was there, so I think that is what Ariana has done that she may not even realize.”
“But this time, I thank God for growth and change and just becoming a mom and experiencing a lot of what I have and learning to properly communicate,” she continued.
Grande recently took to Instagram to express her gratitude for both Monica and Brandy.
“i ……… cannot believe this is real (I don’t know if I will even long after it’s out) my deepest and sincerest thank you to Brandy and Monica, not only for joining me for this moment, but for your generosity, your kindness, and for the countless ways in which you have inspired me,” the Wicked star wrote. “It is near impossible to say how much this means to me. this is in celebration of you both and the impact that you have had on every vocalist, vocal producer, musician, artist that is creating today. I loooooove you both so so much. thank you !!!!!!!”
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