The duo reconnected on Ariana Grande’s reimagining of their 1998 hit
Following years of an alleged rift between Brandy and Monica, the “So Gone” singer said that reconnecting on “The Boy Is Mine” with Ariana Grande helped the R&B powerhouses close some gaps in their relationship.
“The process of the new collaboration did a lot of closing the gaps,” Monica told Entertainment Tonight. “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.”
She added, “It made it a lot easier just to talk.”
The original 1998 “The Boy Is Mine” by Brandy and Monica spent 13 weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 following its release. The pair reunited this year to work with Grande on the pop singer’s own song of the same name.
“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,” Monica told ET. “But Ariana and Max Martin — as soon as I heard this version, I fell in love with it.”
About Grande, Monica said she was “amazed” by Grande’s humility and compassion. “Everything has been directly from her chest and, for me, authenticity, humility, all of those things are key,” Monica explained.
Grande shared her excitement for the collaboration in an Instagram post ahead of its release, writing “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.”