Album Review: Stronger WithEach Tear - Mary J. Blige

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Times change, and sometimes even the greatest artists need to reinvent themselves. Mary J. Blige is a prime example. As the queen of hiphop and R&B in the 90s, she presided over a musical landscape where the popular beats featured soul samples and the now-defunct New Jack Swing. Today, the mainstays on the top 40 feature polished dance beats made from computer programs and advanced electronic equipment. That said, you run into trouble when you start mass-producing your beats, and all your songs start sounding way too similar, or just plain dull.

In other words, picking beats to match your characteristics as a singer is like picking the right clothes - it takes time, and you need to try a lot of combinations before you get it right. Stronger WithEach Tear is Mary J. Blige’s latest album, and it’s clear that her fashion sense has gotten better over the past decade.

Two tracks stand out to me in particular:


Tonight has a delayed handclap, a shimmering bass that quietly pounds in your head, and a whooshing undertow that reminds me of the Beastie Boys’ Paul Revere. In addition, Said and Done is melodically rich, like biting into a Hershey bar. Ryan Leslie is an underrated producer, and he paints a mysterious, but compelling soundscape that you can dance to, drive to, or chill to. And as she often does, Mary rides the beat like a pro.

The rest of the album isn’t quite as noteworthy, but it isn’t weak either. Some of it gets a little syrupy sweet and monotonous, but that’s probably more about giving a shoutout to her female fans who nod their heads in understanding at her love ballads and lighter, slower tracks. Not that those songs can’t appeal to everyone, but she just isn’t in mid 90s form anymore.

Overall, I give Stronger WithEach Tear a 3.75 out of 5. It’s not her best, but certainly not her worst, and it shows that she’s one of the few artists who’s successfully bridged the gap from one millennium to the next.

Listen to samples and download the MP3 album: