The Boy Is Mine

“The Boy Is Mine” is the 1998 single from American singers Brandy and Monica, and appeared on both of the singers’ second albums: “Never Say Never” from Brandy and “The Boy Is Mine” by Monica. The track was written by LaShawn Daniels, Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, Japhe Tejeda and Brandy Norwood, with production done by Brandy, Dallas Austin and Darkchild.

“The Boy Is Mine” is a mid-tempo R&B track revolving around both Brandy and Monica fighting over the same man. The track was inspired by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney’s 1982 duet “The Girl Is Mine”. Brandy had originally recorded the track on her own, but wasn’t pleased with the final product. Brandy’s record label Atlantic reached out to Monica at Brandy’s request, who eventually signed onto the project. The song was originally recorded at Record One Studios in North Hollywood, with both Monica and Brandy present. However, the joint recording was deemed to be a failure, so Monica had to re-record her vocals at the DARP Studios in Atlanta. Brandy and Monica repeatedly had to deny that the song reflected any personal rivalries or issues between the two women, as the tabloids at the time kept reporting the opposite. In 2012, Monica spoke up about the truth in terms of her and Brandy’s relationship in an interview with WZMX Radio: “”We were young. We could barely stay in the room with each other. By no means was it jealousy or envy. She and I are polar opposites and instead of embracing that, we used our differences as reasons not to be amongst each other.”

The music video for “The Boy Is Mine” was released in April 1998 and directed by Joseph Kahn, who is a highly well-known and talented director. The video shows Brandy watching the Jerry Springer Show, and uses the radio edit of the song which does not feature the spoken intro. The video also shows Monica and Brandy in separate (but adjacent) rooms with their own friends, explaining their boy troubles – all shown through 90-degree tilts to emphasize drama and rivalry between the two. The video was uploaded to YouTube in September 2019, and as of mid-June 2020, the video has 12 million views and 105 thousand likes.

Release Date: 19th May 1998

Songwriter/s: LaShawn Daniels, Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, Japhe Tejeda & Brandy Norwood

Producer/s: Darkchild, Brandy & Dallas Austin

Label: Atlantic

Music Video Release Date: 22nd April 1998

Music Video Director: Joseph Kahn

Chart Rankings, Certifications, Awards & Accolades: In its year of release, “The Boy Is Mine” charted at #3 on Australia, #6 in Austria, #4 and #2 in Belgium, #1 on various Canadian charts, #3 in Denmark, #2 in France, #5 in Germany, #4 in Greece, #2 in Iceland and in Ireland; #10 in Italy, #1 in the Netherlands, #1 in New Zealand, #2 in Norway, #22 in Scotland, #3 in Sweden and Switzerland, #2 on the UK Singles Charts, #7 on the UK Dance charts, #1 on the UK R&B charts, #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the US Hot Dance Singles chart, #1 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop, #3 on the US Billboard Mainstream Top 40 and finally, #1 on the US Billboard Rhythmic chart. “The Boy Is Mine” is certified Platinum in Australia, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the UK, with 2x Platinum certification in the US, and Gold in Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. “The Boy Is Mine” was awarded the Grammy Award for “Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group” in 1999, as well as winning in 3 different categories at the Billboard Music Awards later that year – one being the “Hot 100 Sales Single of the Year”. “The Boy Is Mine” has been listed on US Billboard’s 2001 list of “Top 100 Singles of the 1990s”, their “The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944-2000” list from 2005 and their “1,0001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die, and 10,001 You Must Download” list from 2010.

The lyrics to “The Boy Is Mine” can be read here: LINK