Bobby Brown Returns With Brand New Song ‘Like Bobby’

Bobby Brown has released ‘Like Bobby,’ his first new song since 2012. Released by Interscope, the new track starts out sounding like an early 2000s hit from the rapper Mystikal, full of growly energy that morphs to take into account modern pop trends. When Brown rap-sings over a brassy trap beat, he sounds defiant: “Everybody gonna talk about it, talk about it/ And I don’t really give a f_k about it, f_k about it/ ‘Cause in the end I gotta be real like Bobby B.”

The cover art features a silhouette of Brown during his early years as a solo star, and the track features blaring horns and prominent bass. The fiery track finds the musician shaking off the haters and the gossipers in order to tell everyone why he’s here to stay despite the controversies and stories that follow him. You can listen to the track below.

To realise ‘Like Bobby,’ Brown reconnected with two of the songwriter-producers who helped him become a solo star three decades ago following his departure from New Edition. The first is Babyface, who co-wrote Brown’s breakout single ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ as well as the follow-up hits ‘Roni’ and ‘Every Little Step.’ The second collaborator is Teddy Riley, the King of New Jack Swing, who played keyboards and sang backing vocals on a pair of songs from Brown’s Don’t Be Cruel album, the top-selling US LP of 1989.

After the massive success of Don’t Be Cruel, Brown scored another million-seller with 1992’s Bobby. He also returned to New Edition for 1996’s Home Again. After the 1997 solo album Forever, though, Brown did not release a new LP for over a decade.

Earlier month however, a Bobby Brown biopic aired on US network BET. ‘Like Bobby’ has been released just days after the two-part film’s premiere. According to reports, the movie, which starred Woody McClain as the former New Edition star, garnered a combined total of 6.6 million viewers. It chronicled Brown’s life as a solo sensation, his high-profile and tumultuous marriage to Whitney Houston, and his journey to becoming a better man.

The singer is also currently on tour with another New Edition offshoot, Bell Biv Devoe, through to the end of October.

Format: UK English