Candy (Foxy Brown song)
"Candy" is a dance-pop and R&B song by American rapper Foxy Brown for her third studio album Broken Silence. Along wth producing the song, the Neptunes duo Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams wrote it with Brown and Juan Manuel Cordova. Brown raps on the verses, while Kelis, a frequent collaborator with the Neptunes, performs the hook. While the song was recorded in Virginia Beach, further production elements, such as audio mixing, occurred in New York City. On August 21, 2001, Def Jam released "Candy" as the third and final single from Broken Silence. After its premiere at the album's listening party, the single was promoted in the music video for "Tables Will Turn".
The song is about cunnilingus, and was described as an "ode to oral sex" by a music critic. This sexually explicit content marked a continuity with Brown's earlier material, but set "Candy" apart from the rest of Broken Silence, which tended toward more introspective subject matters. According to critics, the single has elements of 1980s music, dance music, and new wave music and a more pop sound than Brown's previous albums.
A minor hit in the US, the song received a positive response upon release and in retrospective reviews. Music critics compared it to songs by other artists, specifically Lil' Kim, and academic scholars discussed its representation of black female sexuality. "Candy" was often used in early 2000s soundtracks, being featured in the television series Dark Angel and the films Friday After Next and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Production and release
duo Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams produced two songs—"Candy" and "Gangsta Boogie"—for Foxy Brown's third studio album Broken Silence. Billboards Colin Finan wrote that they had become so prolific in 2001 that they had "laced nearly every R&B/hip-hop hit" that summer, including "Candy". Hugo and Williams co-wrote the single with Juan Manuel Cordova and Brown who is credited under her legal name Inga Marchand. Cordova has writing credits on five other tracks from Broken Silence—"730", "Bout My Paper", "Fallin'", "Hood Scriptures", and "The Letter"."Candy" features vocals by Kelis, a frequent collaborator with the Neptunes. According to music journalist Peter Shapiro, Kelis was the duo's "diva of choice" to sing hooks on other artists' songs. Shapiro noted the diversity of her work, mentioning her contributions to music "for everyone from Foxy Brown to Noreaga". "Candy" was recorded at the Master Sound Recording Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The vocals were handled by David Hummel and Erik Steinert and mixed by Axel Niehaus at Avatar Studios in New York City.
The song debuted at the Broken Silence listening party held in New York City in June 2001. On August 21, 2001, Def Jam released "Candy" in the US as the album's third and final single. and PolyGram promoted it in the UK in 2002. It was issued as a 12-inch single and a CD single; the 12-inch single included the song's radio edit and instrumental and "730" as its b-side. Elektra produced a pink vinyl record in a limited edition. To promote "Candy", Brown performed a portion of it in the music video for her single "Tables Will Turn".
Following its release, "Candy" was often featured on early 2000s soundtracks, appearing in the films Friday After Next and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Along with its inclusion on the 2002 soundtrack for the television show Dark Angel, it was also played in the season two episode "Some Assembly Required". The song was a part of the 2003 compilation album XXX Hip Hop. AllMusic's Tim Sendra wrote that "Candy", as well as Lil' Kim's "Suck My Dick" and Khia's "My Neck, My Back ", represented the "nasty females" on the album.
"Candy" debuted at number 24 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Billboard chart on September 15, 2001. After the single reached number 48 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Billboard chart, The Boomboxs Nadine Graham said it had "struggled its way up" to this position. The song also peaked at number 10 on the Hot Rap Songs Billboard chart in September 2001.
Music and lyrics
In comparison to her previous albums, Brown adopted a "more pop-influenced" sound for "Candy", which HipHopDXs Nomatazele further defined as dance-pop. In MTV News, Shaheem Reid said it was a "sugary party track" that was "Spanish guitar-flavored", while author Anthony J. Fonseca associated its general style with dance music and refrain to pop music. On the other hand, Colin Finan reviewed the song as part of Billboard"Candy" is about cunnilingus, as represented in lyrics like "Let me know when you're ready to eat". Finan wrote that the song was "an ode to oral sex". Due to this content, reviewers have likened the track to a "musical striptease" in which Brown boasts of her "sexual prowess", as well as a "graphic description of her bedroom capabilities". Although Broken Silence has a larger focus on introspective subject matters, such as "The Letter" being about a suicide attempt, critics noted it still featured sexually explicit songs, like "Candy", as had been the case on Brown's past albums. While discussing this change in style, The Guardians Caroline Sullivan clarified: "But the sexually provocative Foxy of old isn't completely extinct."
Throughout the song, Brown boasts that she tastes "just like candy". Multiculturalism professor Nichole A. Guillory wrote that Brown acts as stewardess through her instructions to a man to examine her body. In the lyrics, "Licking my lips / And adjusting my tits and switching my hips", Guillory said the focus is on how Brown seduces a man with her body. Brown invites the anonymous male subject to "imagine me nude, stretched out" and "nipples all out, bent over the sink", but also gives him a warning: "When I lay on my stomach and throw my legs back / Y'all niggaz won't know how to act." In the third verse, Brown takes on more "sexual agency", rapping about her self-worth.
Reception
Critical reception
"Candy" received a positive response from critics, several of whom cited it as a highlight of Broken Silence, including Village Voice critic Robert Christgau, Steve Jones for the Gannett News Service, and the Associated Press Latrice Davis. In a review for The Dallas Morning News, Rob Clark praised the song as "undeniably catchy". Writing for Spin, Joshua Clover described "Candy" as a "strange brew of threatening, hooky, sexy, creepy, and overwhelming" vocals, and wrote that the Neptunes represented Brown's "discreet charm". In Billboard, Colin Finan said the production complimented Brown and Kelis' voices, however, he questioned the song's appeal to some audiences, specifically those of conservative radio stations, due to its sexual content. In a negative review for the Phoenix New Times, Bret McCabe criticized Brown for not having a strong enough voice for R&B and soul music. According to Nadine Graham, "Candy" was poorly received by the public; she wrote that "the streets hated it".Retrospective reviews of "Candy" have been positive. Fuse's Jeff Benjamin included it on his 2014 Spotify playlist of the best female collaborations. In 2019, HipHopDXs Dana Scott praised "Candy" as a "pop-worthy earworm" that helped to brighten the album's mood. The same year, a Tidal contributor named it as one of Brown's best songs, writing that her cadence compliments the synthy production. Although Graham described "Candy" as a "sugary sweet, poppy cut", she criticized it as shallow in comparison to Broken Silence
Reviewers have compared "Candy" to music by other artists, specifically Lil' Kim. Gender studies scholars Jennifer Esposito and Bettina Love likened the song's candy metaphor to Lil' Kim's "Kitty Box" from her 2005 album The Naked Truth. Rob Clark wrote that "Candy" was not as provocative as Lil' Kim's singles. In a review of Macy Gray's 2001 album The Id, The Washington Posts Arion Berger said the track "Harry" had had a "sexual boast as bold" as "Candy", which he described as "supremely nasty". Author Roni Sarig praised the Neptune's production on "Candy", Beyoncé's "Work It Out", and Common's "I Got a Right Ta" as a "combination of classical soul, blues, and pop bundled with twenty-first century digital mayhem".
Scholarly analysis
"Candy" has been the subject of scholarly analysis. Scholar Doyinsola Faluyi cited Brown's appearance on the single's cover as an example of how some black female rappers used their sexuality to promote their image. According to Faluyi, this was a contrast to artists like Da Brat who adopted more masculine styles to conform to "the dominant fashion in male hip-hop culture". The lyrics were discussed by Jennifer Esposito and Bettina Love who believed Brown's boasts about being the dominant sexual partner disproved psychologist Michelle Fine's theories on "sexuality as victimization". Esposito and Love remarked that Brown's demands for oral sex in the song challenge negative attitudes on sexually active women to instead "make it clear that women can desire sex and can ask for pleasure".Some scholars were critical of the single. Nichole A. Guillory criticized "Candy" as a sexual fantasy that objectifies a black woman's body to appeal to a male gaze, writing that its lyrics portray black women as "territories to be penetrated, occupied and ravaged by men". Guillory noted that Brown demonstrates some agency when she brags about being priceless. Although she felt this moment was not strong enough to undo the overall objectification present in the lyrics, she acknowledged it as "an important reminder of the ongoing struggle between black women and men for control of black women's bodies". In another critical analysis of the song, Esposito and Love questioned if Brown was promoting further the stereotype that "bad girls are used sexually by men, while good girls are the ones men want to marry".
Track listing
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Broken Silence:Recording locations
- Recorded in Master Sound Recording Studios in Virginia Beach and Avatar Studios in New York City
- Foxy Brown – writer
- Kelis – featured artist
- Juan Manuel Cordova – writer
- Chad Hugo – writer
- Pharrell Williams – writer
- The Neptunes – producer
- Axel Niehaus – mixing, studio personnel
- David Hummel – recording, studio personnel
- Erik Steinert – vocal recording, studio personnel
Charts
| Chart | Peak position |
| US Bubbling Under Hot 100 | 24 |
| US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | 48 |
| US Hot Rap Songs | 10 |