Brandy says it took more than wrapping up an album after a three-year hiatus

to gain a sense of fulfillment. She had to make sure she was getting the

most out of her personal life, so she moved out on her own, spent some time

soul searching and possibly got engaged (she doesn't floss a ring, but she

says "maybe" when asked if she's reached that relationship milestone).

"That's why I entitled [my album] Full Moon," she told MTV

News on Wednesday, "because I have done a complete circle and I feel

whole. All of that's reflected in the music. It's a concept album, it's

autobiographical. Everything that I've gone through in the last three years

is reflected."

Although she says she's madly in love now, Brandy croons about heartache on

the album's first single, the Rodney Jerkins-produced "What About Us?"

"Rodney was working on it when we were in L.A.," she said. "It was this

offbeat track, this high-tech track. I was like 'Oh my God, Rodney, this is

it. This is exactly what the industry needs. We can maybe change the game

with this.' He said, 'Yeah, this is what I'm going for.'

"I got with some of the writers on the project and told them what I wanted

to talk about. 'This is an aggressive record — it's edgy, it's sexy. I

wanna sing about something that's sexy and edgy.' I revisited my past in my

mind and kind of told them what I wanna talk about."

On Full Moon, due March 5, Brandy mostly focuses on relationships.

She cuts off a zero and gains independence on "I Thought," she refuses to

break up with her baby boo on "It's Not Worth It," and she testifies about

getting caught up in the rapture of love on "He Is" and "Full Moon."

The title track was written by Mike City (Babyface, Ruff Ryders). "He really

challenged himself," she said. "If you listen to it, it's different from what

he's already done in the past. It's ghetto, but it's pop and R&B at the same

time. That record has a lot of elements to it. Anything can happen on a full

moon. On that particular [song], I'm actually falling in love with somebody

I'm just meeting. I hope that's the second single, because it's different.

I've never heard anything like it."

You won't hear too many guests alongside the singer, who'll be celebrating

her 23rd birthday three days shy of Valentine's Day. Brandy has a duet with

Ray J, her brother, on "I'd Die Without You," a remake of PM Dawn's 1993

hit, and Michael Jackson's vocals are used on "It's Not Worth It."

"It's a sample that Rodney used," she said of M.J.'s appearance. "It's a

sample that no one's ever heard before."

The singer said that although listeners could hardly hear the background

vocals she lent to Jackson's "Unbreakable," on last year's

Invincible, she was happy to get down with Mike.

"You couldn't even hear me on the track," she said, laughing. "If I could

just breathe on his project [that would have been OK.] I cried, I was so

overwhelmed to meet Michael Jackson."