On the eve of her 10th CD release, Mary J. Blige is winning.
The 40-year-old singer was long ago anointed the queen of hip-hop soul, and it’s a honor she’s deserved, racking up a score of platinum CDs and inserting herself firmly into the pop culture firmament. But what is it about Blige that makes her endure? So many singers have crashed and burned mentally, spiritually, artistically and commercially since Blige’s debut in 1992 with “What’s the 411.” But despite her own struggles with drugs, alcohol, depression, self-esteem and men, she’s still standing.
This year, Blige was the subject of a new “Behind the Music” on VH1 and appears on the October 2011 cover of Ebony (“I’m 40 and really loving it. Forty feels so, so good,” she told the magazine.). She performed some of her new music as part of “Good Morning America’s” live Summer Concert Series, and her new fragrance “My Life Blossom,” her second collaboration with Carol’s Daughter, is available now. Her upcoming 10 career solo CD, “My Life II (The Journey Continues Act 1), due out this fall, is her first since 2009’s “Stronger With Each Tear.”
Though she’s been on the scene for years, Blige is the kind of artist whose fans grow with her. She’s been brutally honest in sharing her life struggles, both in her life and in her music. From the time she first danced her way into our awareness in the “What’s the 411” video, she’s been a mirror onto the problems many of us face as women overall, and particularly black women.
Many of us can relate to traumatic love relationships, family problems and issues with drug or alcohol abuse. Far too many black women have struggled with self-esteem in a world that often seems abusive and rejecting of our individuality, beauty and inner spirit. Not only did Blige put a celebrity face on those issues; she allowed us to share her journey of overcoming them.
In the beginning of her career, Blige was known for blowing off photo shoots, giving reporters a hard time and arriving late and high to public appearances, concerts and events. Now she’s viewed as a consummate professional who’s appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” several times, has hobnobbed with hip-hop royalty as well as monarchs on the throne, and is one of the most-respected artists and collaborators in the music game. Along the way, she’s tried to educate her fans on the changes she’s made and why and how she made them. For many, that testimony has been as significant as any of her music.
But it is the music that has sustained her career. Mary J. Blige may not be the most vocally talented singer of her peer group, but she sings with the kind of emotion that seems to come directly through her spirit – the very definition of soul music. For those who came up during the hip-hop generation, Blige is its Aretha Franklin. She may have mixed her soul up with hip-hop and added some rappers to her tracks, but its soul just the same, and her fans feel it.
From songs like “Be Happy” to “Not Gon’ Cry” to her big hits like “Real Love,” “No More Drama,” “Just Fine” and so many others, Blige has run the gamut of emotions, from deep despair to intense joy, on record. A Mary J. Blige song seems all hers in a way of which few artists can boast. Her live performances – including memorable ones at the Grammys, BET Awards, Soul Train Music …..
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