Fans might be preoccupied with Monica’s misunderstandings with Brandy while watching Verzuz on Monday night, but the Grammy Award–winning singer, philanthropist and reality star is ready to move on by finally revealing what caused their beef.
Monica took responsibility for her part in the beef, telling Entertainment Tonight that the lasting feud started shortly after the release of their hit 1998 duet, “The Boy Is Mine.”
“It was not something that I would say was anyone’s fault,” said Monica, “We all added to it and after a while it became real.”
The R&B singer admitted that the public tension eventually became a nuisance as she grew up in the industry.
“It gets a little bit frustrating for both she and I when it becomes…‘No, I like her better. Well, I like her better,’ ” she said referring to when fans pick their favorite singer. “We don’t have to do that.”
Fragments of legendary arguments between the two have escaped the loose lips of producers and assistants throughout the years, but neither performer has ever set the record straight about what actually caused their riff.
Monica plans on changing that soon. She said she will be revealing the details of what happened at their upcoming Verzuz battle, set for Monday at 8 p.m. ET, so that she and Brandy can prevent others from making their mistakes. The singer said she hopes revealing the details will allow the singers to impart some lessons to the artists in the audience.
“We’ve long removed ourselves from the dramatics of it, but we’re gonna have a very in-depth conversation that may possibly be shared even with the audience because there’s a lot that happens. The fans have no idea what really took place, what really caused the initial friction,” she said.
Monica said she wants their transparency to promote unity between artists going forward.
“Hopefully, we can help some of the younger artists avoid doing the same thing because we did a whole lot more together than we did apart,” she added.