The moment “Verzuz” fans have been waiting for has finally arrived. Over the weekend, it was announced that Brandy and Monica would be facing off in the next music competition slated for Monday, Aug. 31, on IG Live and Apple Music.
“Get ready for the queens! @Brandy and @MonicaDenise on #VERZUZ! Monday, August 31st, 8 PM EST on our IG and Apple Music,” the caption read on the official Verzuztv IG page. They added, “Drink by Ciroc.”
For those still unfamiliar with the Verzuz competition, the rules are as followed: Each artist gets to play 20 songs from their respective catalogs, which usually includes hits but sometimes can include features. In the end, and often during, fans decide who’s the winner. The musical battle was founded by super producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to keep fans stuck at home entertained. Both men went against each other in the first battle. Their showdown was then followed by different lineups like Snoop Dogg and DMZ, John Legend versus Alicia Keys, and T-Pain versus Lil Jon.
Fans appear to be extremely excited about the battle. Reactions to the news on social media were nothing short of hilarious, including Tyree BP, who tweeted, “When Brandy and Monica have to sing ‘Boy is Mine’ on #Verzuz” and accompanied a video of two Instagram comedians going back and forth in a singoff.
However, it didn’t take long before fans started to take sides. The two songstresses had long been pitted against each other since their debut in the early ’90s. And despite the fan-created and personally created drama, their careers almost mirror each other when it comes down to the numbers. Monica has had three number-one hits, but the “Moesha” star trailed right behind her with two number-one hits of her own. When you look at more recent figures, according to a poll done by music streaming platform Spotify, Brandy’s all-time streaming numbers of 111,586, 564 aren’t too far ahead of Monica whose all-time streaming numbers are at 104,740,051.
One user on Twitter took their stance, writing, “Brandy and Monica are the same as Beyoncé and Rihanna.” They added, “Brandy and Beyoncé have given us hit albums back to back. Monica and Rihanna have given us hit songs. But at the end of the day the impact Brand and Beyoncé have in music is far beyond a hit song. #Verzuz.”
Another user commented, “idk what brand and monica y’all listening to but I’m EASILY taking monica over brandy i’m tired of y’all disrespecting my good sis.”
Lately, to minimize the commotion, these musical competitions have followed the flow of more like a celebration of legends because who wants to choose between Jill Scott or Erykah Badu — that’s so not cool.
