"Brave" is a song recorded by American recording artist

Kelis Kelis Rogers (; born August 21, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and chef. She attended Manhattan, New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she played saxophone and was selected for the Girls Ch ...

for her fifth studio album, ''

Flesh Tone ''Flesh Tone'' is the fifth studio album by American singer Kelis, released on May 14, 2010, by the will.i.am Music Group and Interscope Records. Recorded while the singer was unsigned and pregnant with her first child, the album is an ode to m ...

'' (2010). She co-wrote the song with Jean Baptiste,

James Fauntleroy James Edward Fauntleroy II (born May 16, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Inglewood, California. He is best known for his songwriting work and guest performances on songs by high-profile artists including Travis ...

, while production was handled by

Benny Benassi Marco "Benny" Benassi (; born 13 July 1967) is an Italian DJ and music producer. He is widely seen as a pioneer of electro house, a genre brought into the mainstream by his 2002 summer club hit " Satisfaction". He started his career as DJ alon ...

, and his cousin

Alle Benassi Alessandro "Alle" Benassi is an Italian DJ, songwriter and record producer, best known as a member of Benassi Bros. and as a co-writer of several hits for Chris Brown. Career Benassi and his cousin Benny Benassi began DJing in their home town ...

(known together as the Benassi Bros.). It premiered on January 6, 2011, by Will.i.am Music Group and

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as the fourth and final single from the album. Musically, "Brave" is a mid-tempo

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

song, influenced by heavy elements of

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

. The song opens with a slow-pace, until it progresses with electronic dance music. Throughout the song, Kelis' vocals are heavily processed with

autotune Auto-Tune is audio processor software released on September 19, 1997, by the American company Antares Audio Technologies. It uses a proprietary device to measure and correct pitch in music. It operates on different principles from the vocoder ...

and

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

post-production tools. Lyrically, the song is a

self-empowerment Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming strong ...

anthem that discusses several phases of her personal life, including marriage/divorce, self-discovery, and the birth of her son. The song received universal acclaim from critics, who praised its composition and production. Several critics highlighted the song as one of her most personal efforts, and selected it as an album standout. Despite this, "Brave" charted poorly in selected record charts. It reached number 29 on Belgium's

Ultratip Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created in 1995 on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organiza ...

chart, and number 123 on the UK Singles Chart. It became Kelis' second single to chart outside the top 100 in the latter country, and is one of her worst performing singles there. A music video was directed by British photographer Rankin, which was released online on November 19, 2010. The video features Kelis in front of a white background, with constant vibrations affecting the camera. "Brave" was performed exclusively at the Cherry Live Lounge, and was eventually included on her 2010 Vevo Summer Sets concert.

Background and release

"Brave" was the final song recorded for the album. It was written by Kelis, with Jean Baptiste,

, and

Will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "will I am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the frontman of the musical group Black Eyed Peas, which he ...

, while production was handled by

, and his cousin

(known together as the Benassi Bros.); Will.i.am is the song's co-producer. This was Kelis' second collaboration with the Benassi Bros., the other being her track "Emancipate" from the single's parent album, ''

'' (2010). For the tracks instrumentation, Alain Whyte played the acoustic guitar, and the Benassi Bros. played the keyboards and synthesizers. In an interview with Kelis for the

Vevo Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

Webisodes of the album, she said that it was a "good choice to record it as the last song, because its kind of a nice resolution," of several emotions she was feeling whilst recording the album. It was selected as the fourth and final single from ''Flesh Tone'', and was released on January 6, 2011, by Will.i.am Music Group and

. It served as the third single in the

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, following " Acapella" and " 4th of July (Fireworks)". The promotional CD only contains the single. It was released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

as a promotional single only. A digital extended play (EP) was released on January 9 that same year, including the single, plus remixes of the track by Arveene & Misk, Marc Spence, Gemini, Dark Sky, and Third Party. The CD and digital cover sleeve has a portrait of Kelis, photographed by British photographer Rankin. She is seen holding down the collar of her shirt. "Brave" is featured in the PC Game The Sims 3: Late Night, re-recorded in the game's fictional language of Simlish.

Composition

"Brave" was recorded in 2010 at Casa de Kelis studios in

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California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Robert Orton mixed the track, whilst Ryan Buendia recorded it. Orton had arranged and edited the

and

post-production tools. Kelis' edited vocals are delivered during the first verse, between 30 and 34 seconds of the song. Musically, "Brave" is a mid-tempo

song, influenced by heavy elements of

. ''

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'' editor Gavin Haynes labelled it a dance track that incorporated " DFA1979 distorted crash cymbals". Alex Young from Consequence of Sound noted elements of

tribal house Tribal house is a subgenre of house music combined with world music rhythms. It is broadly characterized by elements of indigenous musical percussions (typically conga drums or its synthesized derivative). History By the late 1980s, house w ...

and

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music, "that reinforces some of the good impact nostalgia has on today's musical landscape". Writing for ''

BBC Music BBC Music is the arm of the BBC responsible for the music played across its services. The current director of music is Lorna Clarke. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio operational division; however, its remit also includes music used i ...

'', Sarah Bee said it was the most "

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

-esque track here". Writing for the online music blog MuuMuse, Bradley Stern said that the song "finds Kelis taking on her divorce, pregnancy, and various other inner demons in a rave-happy, carnal explosion of noisy synthesizers and grinding electronica." Ken Capobianco from ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' identified elements of

eurodisco Eurodisco (also spelled as Euro disco) is a genre of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the middle 1970s, incorporating elements of pop music, pop and rock music, rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco ...

in the songs' compositions. A reviewer from Urb.com believed that, although the track was influenced by

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

, it "isn't forced or calculated". Lyrically, the song is a

anthem, discussing several aspects of Kelis' personal life. One of the first themes is her marriage and divorce to American rapper

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air (S ...

. In an interview with

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, Kelis' said about the song's "therapeutic" delivery; "After the split, everyone was like 'You are going through a rough time, you should write something personal.' I wear my feelings on my sleeve. The hardest decisions are the best ones and for me that was really the case..." The lyrics "I'm not ashamed of winning / but it wasn't that way in the beginning," "tells her side of the story in her divorce from her husband..." She references the word "Braveheart" in the lyrics, which is a recording group formed by her ex-husband Nas and his brother. Another lyrical theme is

self-discovery A "journey of self-discovery" refers to a travel, pilgrimage, or series of events whereby a person attempts to determine how they feel, personally, about spiritual issues or priorities, The third and final aspect, as analysed by music critics, is the birth and living of Kelis' and Nas' son, Knight. Bee found that the discussion of her son was the most "explicit" element to the song. Writing for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'', Jessica Hopper stated "In recent interviews, Kelis has insisted that she returned to the studio and made ''Flesh Tone'' to support herself and her son. That determination is significant—and audible—throughout. On 'Brave,' she credits her baby for saving her." The song starts with soft electronic music, until it progresses by the second verse. According to

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blogger Allan Riable, he analysed the song; "An electronic effect is evident on her voice, but it's subtle enough not to draw attention away from the track's focus. Such an effect is more of a sonic decoration than a vocal fix." During the third chorus, the electronic synths are replaced with an

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

. During this section, Kelis' vocals are not edited with autotune or vocoder. The final chorus goes back to electronic music, and it ends with an interlude track that leads directly into the following album track, "Song for the Baby". The interlude track is included on the iTunes Store version of ''Flesh Tone''.

Critical response

The song received universal acclaim from most music critics. Sal Cinquemani from ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'' had highlighted the "clever" lines and hooks in the song. Writing for ''

'', Sarah Bee positively said that Kelis' "husky" vocals and "explicit" songwriting were highlights to songs like "Brave". Caroline Sullivan from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' highlighted the song as one of the best tracks from the album; she labelled its production, lyrical, and vocal deliveries as "striking". Similarly, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' writer Margaret Wappler felt "Brave" was one of the album tracks that demonstrated a "new niche for Kelis". A reviewer from Art Nouveau magazine also highlighted the song as one of the best tracks from the album. Dan Paridalis from 411Mania felt it was one of the better tracks from the album that delivered "revealing" lyrics. Bradley Stern from MuuMuse selected the song as the best track, labelling it a "true triumph". He stated, "An immediate favorite from the get-go, 'Brave' is truly what brings ''Flesh Tone'' from greatness to the upper echelons of incredible." Similarly, Talia Soghomonian from

MusicOMH ''MusicOMH'' (stylized as ''musicOMH'') is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History ''MusicOMH'' was founded an ...

felt that "Brave" was one of the "paramount moments on the album with its sharp synths and fuzzy electronics". Allan Riable, writing for the

blog, reviewed the album track "Emancipate" as an "unfortunate weak spot". In follow-up, he reviewed "Brave", the following track on the album, and said it "works better, returning her to more of an electro-clash realm." He also commended its "acoustic section". Writing for ''Ur Chicago Magazine'', Neil Miller Jr. also believed it was the album's "stand out" moment.

Commercial performance

Commercially, the single underperformed in selected record charts. In the Flemish region of Belgium, it debuted at number 48 on their

chart during the week of February 12, 2011. The following week of February 19, it reached number 38, and rose again to number 31 in its third week of February 26. It reached its final peak position of number 29, during the charting week of March 5. It was its last charting week before falling out completely. It debuted at number 48 on their Ultratop Dance Singles Chart during the week of February 12, 2011. After seven weeks in that chart, it reached its final peak position of number 31 during the week of April 2. The song lasted 10 weeks in the chart, with a final charting position at number 39.

Music video and reception

A music video, directed by Rankin, for the single was uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

on November 19, 2010. The video shows a still camera of Kelis, wearing a white top with a white background behind her. Throughout the entire video, the camera shots jitter and move in different directions. Overall, the music video received positive reviews from music critics. An author of Homorazzi.com was positive towards the music video; He said, "Instead of all the special effects, colors, and futuristic feel, she went simple. Very, very simple." He carried on saying, "He's a smart guy and definitely knows how to make her look good... The style certainly matches the personal lyrics that come from Kelis on this track..." A reviewer from Rap-Up labelled the visuals as "minimalistic". In an extended review of the single's music video,

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staff member's said;

"Kelis looks stunning, wearing white against white, with a classy blonde ‘do and bright red lipstick that provides a splash of color in this otherwise muted video. Surely not every performer could get away with doing one long unbroken take for a whole video, but Kelis owns every frame with her emotive delivery and a sense of gravitas —she's able to command the screen with just her emotive expressions and minimal movement. The shot remains fixed on her, though Kelis and Rankin do shake things up a bit by having the camera pulse to the beat — a nifty effect that livens up the video just enough... This video is just Kelis, and she owns it. True to the song's title, this less-is-more approach was courageous, and "Brave" delivers."

However, a reviewer from That Grape Juice online was particularly negative towards the video in their review. The writer felt it was "underwhelming" by saying, "this concept-based clip was somewhat pre-disposed to underwhelming me. This only heightened by the fact that, believe it or not, the London based shoot was very expensive – hence in reality could have seen more effort put into it creatively." Although the writer felt the close-ups were "boring", they praised Kelis' look in the visual. The reviewer opened a poll whether the song's music video was good or bad; 65.93% of the votes felt it was good, whilst 34.07% voted otherwise.

Live performances

The song has been included on several concert performances by Kelis. In promotion of ''Flesh Tone'', she performed "Brave", alongside several other album tracks, at a concert in

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in May 2010. During her

All Hearts Tour The All Hearts Tour was a joint concert tour by American R&B singer Kelis and Swedish pop singer Robyn in support of their albums ''Flesh Tone'' and ''Body Talk Pt. 1'', respectively. The announcement for the tour was unique in that the duo annou ...

, a collaborative concert tour with Swedish recording artist

Robyn Robin Miriam Carlsson (; born 12 June 1979), known professionally as Robyn (), is a Swedish singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. Her 1995 debut album ''Robyn Is Here'' produced two Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 10 single ...

, she performed the single at Music Box Theatre on July 23, 2010. She performed the song again at the September 2010 Vevo Summer Set concert. Through the performance, Kelis wore a glittery wig and a silver mini-skirt. Three days after the single's release, she sang an acoustic version of the track at the Cherrytree Live Lounge. She performed the song at the annual 2011 Demo Fest at the Kastel Fortress in

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, the second largest city in

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. She performed the track at the Bristol Gay Pride event in 2011.

Track listings and formats

*Promotional CD # "Brave" – 3:33 *Digital download # "Brave" (Arveene & Misk Remix) – 4:03 # "Brave" (Marc Spence Remix) – 5:53 # "Brave" (

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Remix) – 4:54 # "Brave" (Dark Sky Remix) – 5:20 # "Brave" (

Third Party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a veh ...

Remix) – 7:16

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the ''Flesh Tone'' album. *

– vocals, background vocals, songwriting *Jean Baptiste – songwriting *

– songwriting *

– songwriting, co-producing *

– composition, producing, keyboards, synthesizers *

– composition, producing, keyboards, synthesizers * Robert Orton – mixing *Ryan Buendia – recording *Alain Whyte – acoustic guitar *Recorded at Casa de Kelis studios in

(2010).

Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2011 singles Kelis songs Songs written by Kelis Songs written by Jean-Baptiste (songwriter) Songs written by James Fauntleroy Songs written by will.i.am Song recordings produced by Benny Benassi Song recordings produced by Alle Benassi 2010 songs