Ever since 1992, Mary J. Blige has consistently released a new project every two years (with the one exception being a three year gap between My Life and Share My World). Within her seventeen year career span, she's given us a total of nine studio albums. So how does her latest, Stronger With Each Tear, compare to the rest of her discography?
Well, it's nowhere near as bad as Love & Life, but it doesn't come close to touching a handful of her previous releases. Due to poor sequencing, Stronger just sounds a bit scattered. This is especially disappointing given that her past two projects, The Breakthrough and Growing Pains, flowed effortlessly from song to song.
From "Tonight" to "Good Love", the first four tracks kick off on an upbeat note. They're unfortunately overproduced and littered with forgettable cameos by Drake and T.I., and you're not really sure you're listening to a real Mary album until "I Feel Good" comes around. This mid-tempo track marks one of the rare occasions that Blige pulls off a happier moment without getting too schmaltzy.
Although the album moves on at a decent pace from there, it's embarrassing that they've buried the best song under nine others. On "Kitchen", mega-producers Tricky Stewart and The-Dream deliver a lightly bouncing beat, as Mary sings her heart out on this cautionary tale. It's a shame that this wasn't the album's lead single, and it's an even greater shame that the entire album doesn't sound like this.
– Dewitt
Even if it’s not her best album it’s still better than half the other stuff out there.
I need to check it out
kitchen is not the best song on the album – its just cute and memorable – i think the album flows well and is easy to listen to