A New Moon

Brandy's Cinderella is, and always has been, my absolute FAVORITE version of Cinderella. I watched it over and over and over and over as a girl. We had it on a VHS tape with no cover; identified only by the name “Brandy” written in black marker on a single white strip of masking tape. I'll never forget the day that the VHS unraveled...never to be watched again. I was devastated.

Listening to Brandy's story as a rising star and achieving her dreams over the years took me back to when I first saw her in Cinderella. She was such an inspiration to me then and still is to me now. Her audiobook is definitely worth listening to as she describes what it was like growing up as a child star, battling the self-competition of releasing even better albums than her hits, and dealing with public scrutiny of the constant judgment that comes with being in the limelight. The following quote is a bit on the longer side, but it just warmed my heart way too much to not include in the review:

“My God. I was the first black Disney Cinderella! And it was because of Whitney that I got to play such an iconic role. It was because of her that I became the first black Disney princess. I couldn't really appreciate it in that moment because I was so focused on doing the best possible job I could. But my life had literally become a Cinderella story. My dreams had come true; except I didn't care about finding a prince...because I had met my fairy godmother.”