- 7/23/2025
Director: Starr NathanDirector of Photography: Dane BrownEditors: Michael Suyeda, Katie WolfordSenior Producer: Bety DerejeCreative Production Coordinator: Anisa KennarAssociate Producer: Lea DonenbergAssociate Producer, On Set: Jazz PitcairnCamera Operator: Moe LaRenaAssistant Camera: Josh CatubigGaffer: Eddie Harold Jr.Audio: Tony CharlesProduction Assistant: Quinton JohnsonProduction Coordinator: Tanìa JonesProduction Manager: Kristen HelmickLine Producer: Natasha Soto-AlborsAssistant Editor: Justin SymondsPost Production Coordinator: Holly FrewSupervising Editor: Kameron KeyPost Production Supervisor: Alexa DeutschGlobal Entertainment Director: Sergio KletnoyExecutive Producer: Rahel GebreyesSenior Director, Video: Romy van den BroekeSenior Director, Programming: Linda GittlesonVP, Video Programming: Thespena GuatieriImages Courtesy Of: Tony Bowen, Thomas LeijgraaffFilmed On Location: The Times Square EDITION
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PeopleTranscript
00:00Hi, Vogue, I'm Brandi.
00:01And I'm Monica.
00:02And we're about to go through the decades with you.
00:04This is Life & Looks.
00:06Yes.
00:07Come on, Life & Looks.
00:13Yes, I remember this.
00:15My first album cover.
00:17I wanted to be different.
00:19I wanted to showcase my braids.
00:21I love hats at the time,
00:22so I wanted to have that hat swag.
00:25I didn't really know what the boots were doing.
00:27It wasn't my choice,
00:28but I loved everything else.
00:29It just felt effortless.
00:32You know, there are very important things in this photo
00:36that really carried all throughout
00:38the first half of her career.
00:40First of all, the braids.
00:41Wow.
00:42That was the thing.
00:44And anybody that got them thought of you.
00:47So that made it very much a signature moment.
00:51Yes.
00:53So this is my first album cover.
00:56It was shot in New York,
00:58even though I'm from the south side of Atlanta.
01:00I have always been a,
01:03I would say in my younger days, a rebellious soul.
01:06But now I just look at it like I'm very free.
01:08I decide what I want to do.
01:10We had already shot my video and all.
01:14For Don't Take It Personal?
01:15For Don't Take It Personal.
01:17Just one of them days.
01:18We had everything done.
01:19I had long hair.
01:21And I left one day and I told Dallas, I'm like,
01:25Pops, I'm gonna go and just, I want some streets.
01:29And he co-signs the streets.
01:31So your hair was long?
01:32Very long.
01:33And I come back with short blonde hair.
01:36And he's like, you're costing us millions.
01:40Back then you were supposed to like look the same
01:43so people could relate and know who you were.
01:46So he's giving me this speech and I'm sitting there like,
01:49I'm gonna do what I want to do.
01:50And then he said, Monica,
01:53you have not even turned 13 yet.
01:55And now you've cut your hair.
01:56And I still wear over the knee boots,
01:59even though this one doesn't have a heel.
02:00My first album is probably my favorite
02:03because it embodied all things me.
02:06Nobody could tamper with, touch, talk to.
02:10That little girl was so fearless
02:12that I still respect her today at 45 years old.
02:15Oh my God, I'm nervous about the pages.
02:17Yes.
02:19Iconic.
02:21The white shoes.
02:22Come on, shoe.
02:23If I could recall who picked them out,
02:26I would give them a call.
02:27Mo.
02:28Do you understand me when I have no idea?
02:34They got it right until they got to my feet.
02:36Before You Walk Out of My Life
02:39is one of my absolute favorite songs of my own.
02:43Even when I perform this song,
02:45there's a feeling that I get that I can't explain.
02:48And I joke a lot about the white shoe.
02:50You do.
02:50I've seen them.
02:51I do because I really don't care.
02:53Please stop talking about children.
02:56That was a child in those shoes on the curb.
02:58And tell y'all aunties to stop buying them.
03:01They should not still be around in 2025.
03:03I've seen some of y'all aunties down to the stove in these shoes.
03:07Right.
03:08Okay, so when you're laughing at me, you're laughing at your own folks.
03:10At yourself.
03:11At yourself.
03:13Ooh.
03:14Cute.
03:15This was a moment that I remember because I had come of age for my mom
03:20to be open to me having different colors in my brain.
03:27It's like a brown, blonde moment in the front.
03:30Moesha and Brandy were like almost parallel.
03:33Like I didn't really change.
03:36It was like this image of good girl and straight A's and this, that, and the third.
03:42So it wasn't really much different.
03:44It's just that I could sing and she couldn't.
03:46That was really the only difference.
03:49Cinderella.
03:50Didn't know that this would be so impactful on people's lives.
03:55Yeah, it definitely made any young black female feel like I can.
04:02Wow.
04:03That's what I always think of when I think about it.
04:06Wow.
04:07When I think, or even when I see you in this gown in particular, the tiara, the whole.
04:11It's just one of those things that you don't forget.
04:15It's just a level of major that has to be acknowledged.
04:18I was so excited to work with Whitney Houston.
04:24Like I spent most of my childhood trying to get a record deal and trying to meet her.
04:30The fact that she was so supportive and was able to see something in me that I didn't see in myself, like becoming a black princess, that meant everything to me.
04:40But it was all about working with her.
04:42My first time meeting Whitney, I was a mess.
04:46It's actually on YouTube.
04:48It's like I run from her.
04:50I'm crying.
04:51I can't believe she's real.
04:53It's really, it's a lie.
04:55You know me.
04:56I always say God aligns things.
04:59I sang the greatest love of all.
05:01And that's actually the song that was signed for singing that.
05:05That is how and why Whitney and I met.
05:08She saw something in me that made her want to remind me to always be me.
05:15Because I think she felt like she had done a lot of changing for others.
05:19Of course, and probably by herself too.
05:21For sure.
05:21Yeah.
05:22And so she spent a lot of time talking to me about stay the way you are.
05:28That's who she really was.
05:30And people didn't always get a chance to see that and how much she gave of herself.
05:35Yes.
05:37Excuse me.
05:37I'm excited.
05:39The boy is mine.
05:41Yeah.
05:42My daughter makes this exact face.
05:44It's like sassy is in the DNA.
05:46But it was necessary in this moment where we're on the phone.
05:49Oh, you brought this ass in this video.
05:52I remember she had a Jerry Springer obsession.
05:55Absolutely.
05:56I love Jerry Springer.
05:57And there was a part in there where you see him on the screen.
06:00We pay tribute to Jerry Springer's show.
06:03I was able to see this when nobody else could see it.
06:07Like nobody thought that we could do something together and create something together magically.
06:13I didn't know how big the boy's mind was going to be.
06:16But I knew that it would be something special.
06:19I just felt it.
06:20And so to see this with you 27 years later is unbelievable.
06:24It's like.
06:25I can't believe it's 27 years ago.
06:27They're still asking today.
06:29True.
06:29So who got the boy?
06:31Right.
06:31There was no boy.
06:32It's like people really like y'all bought that?
06:35It's a song.
06:36Have fun.
06:36Enjoy.
06:38Yes.
06:38Okay, so as we see at this point, I am married to the bus style.
06:45What'd that mean?
06:46A center partner.
06:47Typically when people say it now, they're talking about a wig, but I definitely didn't have one of those.
06:52Yeah, that ain't no wig.
06:53Nah, I was rocking all me at this point.
06:55Wow.
06:56But what stands out to me most is I did another thing without anyone's permission and got a tattoo.
07:04It was my form of self-expressing.
07:06Yeah.
07:06And.
07:07You're just being yourself.
07:08It ended up being.
07:09Thinking about the image.
07:11An armband.
07:12And then it became a thing where I wore them and we created so many that people started doing it all
07:20the time.
07:21It didn't look like you had a tattoo, like you made it a thing.
07:25Okay, have you ever?
07:27This is a moment where I added hair to my braids.
07:33I loved it.
07:34I felt different.
07:35I felt like I was trying something new and I just wanted to just do something different.
07:42I had a lot of fun this day.
07:44I love the fact that I felt a little bit older.
07:49You know, when you're young, you want to be grown.
07:52I felt a little bit grown in this video.
07:56I felt like I had a little bit more freedom.
07:58I felt like I was doing it.
08:00Yes.
08:00Wow.
08:01As you see here, another smooth straight hair.
08:04Mm-hmm .
08:05This is when I started to wear more of like the vamp colors makeup wise.
08:10i started to have this affection for long skirts and i would pull those every chance i got was
08:20this connected to your um connected yeah so that it wouldn't drag so it was almost like
08:28when you extended your arm it was connected that's the grammys i remember we got out of the car
08:35sees and just locked hands and walked oh damn would have been a great story
08:44i was really excited this day and was excited to like go to the grammys with with you and like
08:53what you looking at i'm looking at okay that's a wrinkle i'm like no i know that's not my
08:59undergarments you see here and here are you undergarments at this age did you absolutely
09:05we 18 you need undergarments right i thought you meant like a spank no back then we would have
09:10had on a slip i didn't try on very much i have always hated trying on clothes which does not go
09:16together yeah you said i love fashion i don't do formal things i'm like oh my god like how do you
09:22know what you're gonna wear well you create relationship and so i can look at something
09:27on the hanger and be like uh-uh i was really a die-hard fashion girl i was in chanel runway
09:37derrick khan was always reminding me like you're built like a model right you can do that
09:45love honey he would just be giving it up okay and this same year i actually went with uh the late
09:51carl lagerfield wow and i was so so honored to be his muse and be there in paris and exploring
10:02the house of chanel and everything that was all around was just next level i'm okay mad that you
10:09didn't take me with you to paris to meet with all of the chanel people i mean come on
10:13a fitting with the carl lagerfield is just something you don't forget yes once in a lifetime
10:20i touch something created by chanel i'm not lying i think of him wow don't laugh at my outfit i think
10:31i don't know where this is okay i don't know where this was i want to say it was the sorcerers i thought
10:38i needed to be a little you know hip-hop and i don't know if i got it right in this moment but
10:45that's my intention was to be a little bit more source of war yeah wow full moon pregnant i'm not
10:56sure if i was trying to hide my brightness i don't think i was at that time it's like you can't but my
11:02clothes were made for the way my body was at that time but i was very happy here this is one of my
11:09favorite songs i love the concept of the video i love the way i felt i had my baby with me i just
11:15felt like it was just a beautiful time probably felt empowered in my life yes very empowered and i felt
11:23beautiful here this is when we getting into the real me getting all the way into it because i am
11:30still wearing short shorts and over the knee boots it is a go-to for me i would i will absolutely still
11:38kick down the door and smack the chick in my not not in real life okay i am retired this song was
11:45created off of a phone call of mine and what happened was missy i told her i needed to take the call and i
11:52thought the mic was off and the mic wasn't off i was reading down i was giving like the mic was off
11:59i was giving young tt a back then and she was like yo the mic was on wow the mic i go to the studio
12:10the next day this is the song so gone wow so this was actually my favorite look from the so gone video
12:16i love the hat oh wow i felt like i was coming back to music at this time i think this was trl
12:26and i was promoting uh the talk about our love song yeah i felt like i had just gotten my body
12:32back and you look great thank you and i felt like i was in a different kind of bag like a sexy kind of
12:38vibe i never felt like i said before you know that wasn't my thing so i was like growing into that
12:46over the knee boot live for die for wow they could even bury me in a pair if need be okay even if you
12:54can't see my feet just know the opening boots are serious for me it was a tribute to a woman that i
13:00absolutely adore i was singing not gonna cry for mary the mary j blige wow i have an affection for her
13:08that is hard to explain she's always really vulnerable with me and we can talk about whatever
13:15and it never leaves one another but we don't talk all the time right so when they asked me to do
13:22this tribute it was an automatic yes i love nothing more than saying i i should have left your ass long
13:28time ago with this dark rouge lip shades on did you keep the shades on the entire time you absolutely
13:36i was committed and 20 years later i can look at this picture and think of all the memories she and i
13:41have this was the grammys and this see this dress it was classy but it was edgy and that's what i loved
13:51about it hence the bat wings on my shoulder there i love the shoulders
13:55for me it was me getting hot and sliding this hat back looking like laura forquois by the time the
14:06verses was over it started in the right place and then it as i got hot it started going in this
14:12direction wow but what we did was we bought multiple fendi trench coats this bustier and the jacket and the
14:21hat were all made from the trench coats i was happy to hear the songs together back and forth like
14:29it was magical i was so happy when you played he is i can't believe you like that song he is is yeah
14:37i never had a he is until now so now it's really in rotation i know my favorite monica song angel
14:45oh my wow that is definitely the sweeter side of me girl you sweet yes i try to tell people that
14:54it's just because you sassy don't mean you're not sweet thank you you gotta say it correctly
15:00boom well damn this is the ariana the boy is mine the remix moment and i love that we walked in
15:10with the same vibe the same gloves we had all black all black to toe i had a challenge we were news
15:18anchors yes so we're giving the news and ariana is out like catwoman but this was for me the moment
15:26when i said you know what we could definitely go on tour we could do this you know and that was the
15:32first time that we were able to just have a real conversation with one another welcome to my dream moment
15:39i don't like that everybody missed the intention of us like working together and coming together and
15:50sonically and creatively being a part of something together i think one of the hardest parts when it
15:56comes to our relationship has always been people having something to say or people telling the story
16:02and they never tell it right right that's the part that drives me crazy the facts don't be facting
16:08and some of the facts that people think are facts they were not facts at all at all they were myths
16:14they were feelings they were untruths and this is where we started to just talk
16:22the evolution the moment what i love about these straight jackets we're wrapped up in microphone chords
16:30yes and headset chords and that's what we've been wrapped up in all of our lives singing working
16:36performing this is something you have to do because you love it and you're willing to sacrifice for it
16:42i'm just happy that it finally happened because this is something that i could just i could see it i
16:54could feel it it was necessary and i think before i left this earth this is something that i wanted to do
17:03and to be able to finally get to do it it's just it's it's mind-blowing this has been a long time
17:10coming we're here in those 27 years later now and being able to just go on the road take our kids and
17:17do our thing is going to be next level and it's not the last thing that we do you heard it here first
17:24on vogue that this will not be the last oh it's not the last thank you guys for being there throughout
17:32the years back then and now we did that we did it come on we're gonna keep doing it yes oh
17:40oh stop reading mine
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