Yesterday, the big buzz in the Newsroom surrounded Whitney Houston and her performance on yesterday's episode of "Good Morning America." Houston's run through four songs was equal parts amazing, confusing, cringe-inducing and impressive. It sparked a lot of conversation about Houston's career and the extreme peaks and valleys. As a result, we tapped into the deep MTV Networks tape archive to take a look at some of Houston's television highlights, and we stumbled on an amazing piece of tape: The 1995 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, which Houston hosted. It was an immediate nostalgia trip for most everybody in the office and reminded us of the existence of stars like Taran Noah Smith from "Home Improvement" and the Mowry twins from "Sister, Sister." It also featured some clearly tongue-in-cheek editing, most notably from whoever cut the package that introduced the "Favorite Movie Actress" category. Sally Field was nominated for her role in "Forrest Gump," and what clip did they use during the nomination package? The scene where Field (playing Gump's mother) offers sex to the school principal. You're welcome, kids!

Houston's hosting performance was excitable but totally reasonable, but she was upstaged by a trio of amazing musical performances. A 16-year-old Brandy sang her way through the crowd, Soul for Real crooned their infections hit "Candy Rain" and Montell Jordan brought out a cleaned-up version of "This Is How We Do It." That song — which contains decidedly kid-unfriendly lines like "I reach for my 40/ And I pull it up/ Designated driver take the keys to my truck" — was a gigantic hit for Jordan. He had a great 1995: Not only did he get to perform on the Kids Choice Awards, he was also nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards and was also nominated for a Grammy. And you know what? "This Is How We Do It" holds up.

By Rya Backer

Remember October? Seems like decades ago, right? You didn't know what you were going to be for Halloween, who was going to be elected president or how life was going to go on after "TRL."

Well, it seems like when we sat down with Brandy around that time, she had bigger worries. The songstress was in town to promote her latest album, Human, which dropped today. But there was so much more to talk about than just music.

It's worth noting that the interview was conducted by my trusty co-worker, Jocelyn, whose Jersey-inflected charm might have put Brandy at an uncharted state of ease. Brandy might have also been relaxed because Jocelyn didn't bring up that thing that happened a few years back that ... oh, I won't further drive that point home. Whatever the case may be, here's the point: As good as Brandy is at relaying talking points about her album and its singles, she's equally — if not more — amazing at being pretty hilarious.
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Sometimes, when you interview a celebrity, you just click. When it happens, it can be golden. Take my interview with Brandy last week. Everything was pretty much going by the book, as we discussed her new album, her plans as an actress, etc. — but then we started brainstorming about our own TV show.

Brandy was waxing nostalgic about the end of "TRL." " 'TRL' is the show you dreamed of being on as a kid," she said. "I'll never forget the experiences I had. That's a question I've been thinking about. Like, where are we going to have our pop music? I'm sure something will be figured out. We've got to do something. This is our station. I don't know the answer. Do you?" Read more...

By Dave Harrison

In the chaotic world of the music business, taking a four-year leave of absence is right up there at the top of the list of things you shouldn't do. But after our visit to the set of the video for "Right Here (Departed)," Brandy's first single from her upcoming album Human, it's clear that the R&B songstress is determined to make her comeback in the biggest way possible.

She has enlisted some hip-hop heavyweights, including director Little X (Usher's "Yeah"), for the video and is reuniting with producer Rodney Jerkins for the first time in six years. Brandy insists she and Rodney have moved far beyond any past conflicts, saying, "The chemistry brought Rodney and I back together. It's undeniable, it's magical. ... We are back, and I'm never leaving Rodney again."

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