Josh Levi puts Brandy on the deluxe album HYDRAULIC: FUELED UP

Josh Levi has expanded his debut album a year after releasing it, and the headline name on the new material is Brandy. HYDRAULIC: FUELED UP adds five tracks to HYDRAULIC, and the one drawing attention is a remix of SAY IT with a guest verse from her.

The sequencing is the odd part. Most deluxe editions bolt the extras onto the end, where they function as a bonus disc. Levi puts his at the front, which changes what the record is: a listener starting from track one now hears the new songs first and the original album as what follows.

The five additions break down into three new songs and two remixes. SWERVE came out as a single earlier, and it is joined by HOUSTON, featuring the rapper and singer Teezo Touchdown, and SYSTEM OVERLOAD. The remixes are RODEO REMIX with the Houston rapper Kirko Bangz and the Brandy-featuring SAY IT REMIX.

SAY IT was already one of the more talked-about tracks on the original album, and the remix keeps its structure intact: Levi's first verse, the chorus and the instrumental stay, with Brandy stepping in for the second verse. SoulBounce, which covered the release, described the pair as locked in and hoped it would not be their last duet.

Brandy has spent the past few years working with younger R&B acts rather than trading on her catalogue, having recently recorded with Kehlani, CAMPER, Daniel Caesar and her daughter Sy'Rai. Getting her onto a deluxe edition of a debut album is a marker of where Levi now sits in that lineage.

The timing is tied to the road. Levi toured the original album on a sold-out run earlier this year and is currently playing European dates, so the deluxe arrives with the live campaign still going rather than after it has wound down.

HYDRAULIC: FUELED UP is on the release calendar, and more sits on our R&B and soul hub. We covered Levi returning with SWERVE in August, and Brandy singing the theme for Netflix's A Different World sequel the same month.