★★★★★
"Obviously I've always wanted to do a Christmas album," Mary J Blige told the Guardian recently, neatly explaining why it's taken her a mere 21 years to get around to doing so. What she didn't mention were her recent difficulties with the tax man, but maybe they had nothing to do with the decision. Allow us to be less charitable with our verdict on the music, though, which fails to deviate from the X Factor formula of dousing festive standards (When You Wish Upon a Star; The First Noel) with...
- www.theguardian.com
2013-12-13
★★★★★
This year's crop of holiday music releases demonstrates anew that the only rule of success in this specialized genre is that there are no rules. Who'd have predicted that the standouts in a year of big name entries would include R&B superstar Mary J. Blige, the erstwhile king of British pub rock (Nick Lowe) and an Indian classical music virtuoso (James Whetzel)...
- www.latimes.com
2013-12-13
★★★★★
Once upon a time, a holiday album was a sign that an artist had truly made it. The luxury of putting together a collection of interpretations of time-honored Christmas carols--and perhaps a few original songs of merriment--was reserved for singers and musicians who had reached commendable artistic heights and succeeded commercially in the process. Over the past decade, the qualifications have changed...
- www.soultracks.com
2013-11-22
★★★★★
The back catalogue of Christmas classics doesn't want for plaintive, depressing yuletide tunes fit to have you hanging yourself from the highest bow, so the prospect of beholding busted angel Mary J. Blige dusting herself off upon a midnight clear actually held more promise than almost any other holiday album in recent memory...
- www.slantmagazine.com
2013-10-16
★★★★★
Mary is the widescreen fourth studio album from , which finds her edging further toward an adult-oriented market. Even its cover, a stark black and white image of her with African jewellery, underlines that Blige is leaving the street and going somewhere deeper, more substantial. Overseen by Blige and Kirk Burrowes, the selection of producers and grooves unite here in a rare way. It is a post-modern composite, and it is, of course, unafraid to parade its bling...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2013-04-23
★★★★★
It is always a challenge facing musicians as they grow older and begin to take on the status of a heritage act: How to stay musically relevant while still retaining credibility? Mary J Blige, who turned 40 this year, does not have to convince anyone of her talents and her legacy is assured but, after a career spanning 20 years, her later albums have often been a case of diminishing returns and have been serviceable at best. It is a welcome relief then that My Life II.....
- www.musicomh.com
2011-12-13
★★★★★
For someone who heard her first hits played on the radio while still living in the projects, hip-hop souls Queen of Pain has rarely repeated herself. Since taking more songwriting control with 1994s My Life, she has chased her wrenchingly emotional autobiography across every R&B; style, cycling through producers like hairdos, often peaking on deep cuts...
- www.spin.com
2011-12-12
★★★★★
When someone's so great for so long it can be easy to take their greatness for granted; after all, when you hear the extraordinary time and time again over the course of 20 years, the extraordinary can start to feel ordinary. Every so often then we need to take a step back and remember the greatness we're looking at. In Mary J. Blige's case, we're looking at a woman who over the course of two decades has won four Grammys, released eight platinum projects and sold over 50 million albums...
- www.djbooth.net
2011-12-07
★★★★★
Mary J. Blige asserts her role as R&B's authoritative life coach on her 10th album, a sequel to her 1994 breakthrough effort. Her pain is less harrowing - she's older now and knows how to cope - so instead of singing only for herself, she's doing it for her listeners, a noble goal but also dull and predictable...
- www.nowtoronto.com
2011-12-05
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