Monica once believed that “The Boy Is Mine,” her 1998 collab with Brandy, should never be redone. Ariana Grande helped change her tune.
“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, 43, explained to Entertainment Tonight. “But Ariana and [producer] Max Martin — as soon as I heard this version, I fell in love with it.”
When Grande first started working on a remix of the mega-hit that spent 13 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, she consulted Monica via FaceTime. Ultimately, Grande decided to bring her and Brandy, 45, into the process and give them cameos in the music video.
Earlier this month, Grande, 30, released the video for her remix. Grande praised both of the original artists in a post via Instagram earlier this week, saying she could not “believe this is real.”
“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,” she 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.”
The remix had an effect well outside of the Billboard charts. Monica indicated that it helped quash a long-standing feud between herself and Brandy.
“The process of the new collaboration did a lot of closing the gaps,” Monica said. “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.”
“It made it a lot easier just to talk,” she added.
Whether she knows it or not, Grande played a role in the two repairing their relationship.
“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,” Monica said. “It’s changed the trajectory of it in its totality. 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.”
Monica says Grande – who was only 5 when “The Boy Is Mine” was released – set an example.
“What I am so amazed by is her humility, her compassion,” Monica said. “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.”
