Brandy and her daughter Sy’Rai are doing what the Norwood family does best. The mother and daughter duo show off their tribe’s signature harmonies on a new record from Disney’s Cheaper by the Dozen reboot starring Gabrielle Union. Sy’Rai has been slowly inching her way into the spotlight after years of hiding due to weight and self-image issues. If she is truly destined to follow in her mom’s footsteps, it seems the teen socialite has been prepping for it, doing some serious work behind the scenes to get her mind and body right. Mother Brandy, who is also in a bit of a career reintroduction, appears to have joined her daughter on this butterfly journey. Let’s catch up with the pair and their physical, mental, and emotional transformations over the years.
Brandy was always slim throughout most of her career. The ’90s beauty rose to fame as one of the key voices of the decade and really set the tone for young women of all shapes and sizes to love and embrace themselves. It makes a lot of sense then for her daughter to have come up with that same type of energy. Early on in her life, as pictures of Sy’Rai hit the net, people began to criticize the pre-teen for being overweight. Sy’Rai revealed how this impacted her and made her feel like a disappointment or that Brandy was embarrassed of her. She told The Real that she would question on why did she look one way and her mother look another way. Eventually, she realized she was projecting her insecurities on her mom and that she really just needed to do the work to feel better about herself.
Brandy would eventually join her daughter on a wellness journey after gaining some weight herself. Fans began to speculate that Brandy was pregnant at one point because of her rounder features and big outfits. At the time, Brandy said she just got tired of all the working out and being disciplined. She stopped for a bit and enjoyed food and life. “I’d been eating clean for like 7-something odd years, in the gym, every day, playing tennis. I’m like, ‘Yo, I’m tired of this crazy discipline. I need something to eat!” The timing couldn’t have been better for the mother-daughter duo because as a young Sy’Rai was trying to shed some weight and find her confidence, her mom was right there by her side for the journey.
Throughout it, all Brandy reminded her daughter that the transformation was less about weight and more about finding your inner confidence. She reshared a video of her daughter in 2018 talking about her struggles and captioned it, “Being who you are should be more important than worrying about what you look like on the outside. Because there can be a beautiful person in a beautiful body, but in the inside, you can be so ugly.”
Both Brandy and Sy’Rai seem to be in the best shape of their lives, both physically and mentally. Brandy has taken her newfound confidence right back to primetime, starring in ABC’s Queens opposite Eve and Naturi Naughton. She is also said to gearing up to star in a Netflix holiday film and working on new music.
Sy’Rai has also used her new strut to follow her famous mom and uncle Ray J into the music industry. After a few of her singing covers went viral online, Sy’Rai told fans she is ready to put out a full EP. She has also become quite the influencer, with her IG now being full of beautiful looks and videos of her flaunting her style and singing. Her cover of Aaliyah’s “At Your Best” got a lot of people’s attention as well. Sy’Rai is reportedly working on her debut with some of the best in the business, from DJ Camper to Rodney Jerkins.
Despite their changes, the two maintain that it is always about being happy first and foremost and being a good person. Sy’Rai has shouted out her family on several occasions for never making her feel bad about her weight and really encouraging her. “I was Ra Ra to them either way,” Sy’Rai said. “I love my whole family. They’re so supportive.” Brandy reposted Sy’Rai’s interview with The Real and gushed about how amazing her daughter was and how much she loves her spirit and smile.
