Now that the ink has dried on her new deal with RCA/Chameleon Records, Brandy is moving full steam ahead with her next album. The singer is returning to her “classic R&B” roots with some help from hitmaker Rico Love.

“I’m excited about the records I’ve done with her so far. I think we need to make it classic, just the music that people love,” the Division1 CEO told staging-rapup.kinsta.cloud. “There’s no real formula to it. I just believe in a strong melody and a strong concept. You add a great singer, especially a singer that has had the success that Brandy’s had, and a hit song is a no-brainer.”

While Brandy has dabbled in rap before with her alter-ego Bran’Nu, she’s sticking to what she does best this time around. “That’s what I’m going for, just classic R&B. Great concepts, great vocals,” added Love, who’s recently been in the studio with Mary J. Blige and Usher.

“I push her to the limit vocally, same way I push Mary, same way I push Usher, same way I push Mario, Kelly. I just push people. If I know how great they can sing, I’m gonna push them that much harder. It’s like a coach who has the best player, you just want to make sure you run him to death in practice, so that they can perform to the best of their ability when it’s game time.”

In addition to Love, Chris Brown and Frank Ocean are contributing to Brandy’s sixth album, due in early 2012.