“I grew up on Roy Ayers,” explained Blige after My Life transformed Ayers’ blissful Everbody Loves the Sunshine into a sombre, affecting meditation on surviving her tough upbringing and her struggles with depression and drug addiction: “Down and out, crying every day.” 7 Just Fine (2007)īlige in gleeful party-starting mode, complete with opening get-on-the-dancefloor monologue. 9 Not Gon’ Cry (1996)Ī divorce drama set to slow-motion beats and subtle fragments of psychedelic guitar, Not Gon’ Cry’s lyrics are more despondent than the title suggests – “11 years out of my life / Besides the kids, I have nothing to show” – but Blige injects just enough steel into them to suggest the protagonist will be OK.
Beautifully understated until 2min 40sec, where Blige’s multitracked vocals erupt. 10 All That I Can Say (1999)īlige appeared on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’s I Used to Love Him and here Hill returns the favour, writing and producing the first single from 1999’s Mary, a glorious homage to early 70s Stevie Wonder. Whatever the inspiration, it is a ferocious, thrilling outpouring of anger and bitterness, complete with an appearance by Blige’s rapping alter ego Brook Lynn: “Shoulda Marc Jacob Fe Fe bagged me when you had me.” 11 U + Me (Love Lesson) (2017)īlige’s albums got spottier as the millennium wore on – there was a Christmas collection and collaborations with Disclosure and Sam Smith – but 2017’s Strength of a Woman boasted a no-further-questions classic in U + Me, a heartbroken ballad on which the hazy, stoned summer afternoon sound only emphasised the power of her voice. The video for Enough Cryin suggests the song is rooted in memories of Blige’s turbulent relationship with the Jodeci vocalist K-Ci. Even here, delivering a buoyant paean to lasting romance, there is a raw power and attitude to her voice that sets her apart. 13 Love Is All We Need (1997)Ī booming, dense production by Jam & Lewis, a feature from Nas in his imperial phase – his guest verse is genuinely imaginative – a killer hook, Blige on commanding form. Beats swiped from an old Biz Markie track, a beautifully controlled but emotive vocal, a nod to old soul in its chorus borrowed from Patrice Rushen: musical traditions rearranged and reconfigured into something new.
The influential hybrid “hip-hop soul” sound of Blige’s debut album, What’s The 411?, in a nutshell. It is not a love song so much as a song pleading for love. The title track of Blige’s third album – a noticeably lighter affair than its predecessor – boasts a fabulous Rodney Jerkins production in which disco-era syndrums ricochet around glossy synths, the smooth mood disrupted by the noticeable ache in Blige’s voice. Take Me As I Am is simultaneously laid-back (the music is based on Lonnie Liston Smith’s Garden of Peace) and steely the beat is harder than you might expect from a ballad, the lyrics defiant. Photograph: Kevin C Cox/Getty Imagesīy the time of 2005’s The Breakthrough, Blige was a master at alchemising her troubles into potent material. Performing during the Super Bowl halftime show in February.
0 kommentar(er)
