5 out of 5 stars
For over a decade, Mary J. Blige’s music was riddled with drama mainly because of the absence of her father and her years on drugs. Her soul-scraping voice mirrored that pain in all her previous songs, even the upbeat ones. It was a perfect blend of an angel’s voice etched with pain and scars along the way. It’s that same voice that set Mary J. Blige apart from every soul singer since and has rightly earned her the name of “Queen of Hip-Hop Soul,” stemming from her hip-hop influenced R&B.
However, on The Breakthrough, Mary has finally found some peace in her life, if not contentment with the way her life has turned out. The Breakthrough is filled with ballads and up-tempo tracks that all have the feel of ’60s-era Aretha Franklin, even the straight-up hip-hop tracks.
Mary benefits greatly from her pick in producers who have figured out the perfect formula: blend Mary’s voice with old-school soul rhythms that can still make the most gangsta rappers, the most country cowboys and the most hardcore rockers sway to the beautiful melodies and classic R&B grooves.
One prime example is on the outstanding opening track “No One Will Do.” Mary praises her husband, backed by an uplifting orchestra about her devotion to their love: “Seen many men in my time/But none of them compare to mine/I ain’t gotta knock on wood/To tell y’all that I got it so good.”
And on the first single “Be Without You,” Mary lets us know that she’s never going to stop loving her man, even though they’ve had some troubled times: “We didn’t build nothing overnight/’Cause a love like this takes some time/People swore it off as a phase/Said we can’t see that/Now from top to bottom/They see that we did that.” Trickling pianos mix with a classic soul melody that’s as infectious as it is heartfelt.
“Gonna Breakthrough” ups the tempo to a steady bass line that filters through the jazzed-up organ and backup choir and puts you directly into a hyped church service about feeling good: “Everybody goes through things sometimes/So let your mind just be free/Anything you wanna be, be.” And on “About You,” the Black-Eyed Peas’ Wil.I.Am brings the old-school percussion to a rhythmic jam about Mary telling her man what she really feels in their relationship: “Boy you got me goin’ crazy/I don’t know what to say anymore/’Cause still I wanna be your lady.”
But on “Baggage,” Mary is telling her man about her problems and begs him to stay around and understand: “I got this baggage with me/Don’t wanna make you pay for what somebody else has done to me/Every time I hurt your feelings it’s what someone’s done to me/I don’t mean to hurt you.” It’s a tough subject to discuss, but with the rolling pianos and dancing beat coursing through the drama, the song almost seems like a celebration.
Blige has plenty of hip-hop on The Breakthrough to keep her street cred intact, thanks to Jay-Z on “Can’t Hide From Luv,” where Mary tests her man’s dedication to her and their love: “I just want to see what you’re made of/Can you handle me are you really tough?/Lovers come and go/So what you gonna do?” And on “MJB da MVP,” Mary reminisces on her career and shines light on her dark past: “With all this fame comes a whole lot of pain/But I’m so glad to be here/And my music’s still sincere,” backed by The Game’s new classic “Hate It or Love It” from 2005.
Mary gets closest to divine intervention on the sweeping ballad “I Found My Everything” produced by neo-soul perfectionist Raphael Saddiq. Elegant pianos, echoing backup singers and a musical breakdown sent from God himself two minutes into the song, elevate “Everything” to classic soul status, a song that would be just as stunning back in the 1950s, where it seems to have come from.
Mary quickly changes course to a soul-ripping ballad about her father not being in her life. She asks her man to fill the void left by her father: “When I was a baby/I didn’t get a hug from daddy/That’s why I need a hug from you.” It’s a painful subject, and Mary’s aching voice makes it all the clearer to see the repercussions that a neglectful father can have on his daughter.
But the real tears fall on “One,” Mary’s rendition of the U2 classic about missing a father’s love. Bono sings a few lines of the song, and the rest of U2 provide the music, but Mary makes the song her own. Her screams of bitter rage will raise your hairs and feel her anguish from the emotional rollercoaster she’s experienced: “You say/Love is a temple/Love is a higher law/You ask for me to enter/But then you make me crawl/And I can’t be holding on/To what you got/’Cause all you got is hurt.” It’s the emotional highlight that will leave you in awe of the power a song can have on its listeners.
On The Breakthrough, Mary J. Blige has managed to do something rare in music today: make an entire album as consistently interesting as the latest hot single on the radio but that also possesses the best melodies and rhythms seen in R&B music in years. Mary is a classic soul singer, and this album proves it with beautiful music backing her gripping voice and bringing her pain to the surface so you can feel its sting. In the title track, Mary tells us “whatever you do, let this music get to you.” Unless you’re made of stone, it will get to you, and you won’t ever want to forget it.