Last Sunday, Mary J. Blige performed in front of 112 million viewers and seemed to leave part of her soul onstage. Blige’s brief segment during this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, where she sang “Family Affair” and “No More Drama” dressed like a glamorous, leopard-print mirrorball, reflects the R&B and hip-hop icon’s current place in pop culture. Capable of reducing listeners to tears with a single vocal run since the 1990s, Blige is an unimpeachable talent who’s now evolving into a legacy act. That’s not a knock—her stage presence is unmatched. By the time she finished “No More Drama,” she had collapsed to the floor, arms and legs outstretched, a dramatically triumphant moment captured in a swooping aerial shot.
Blige’s appearance at the halftime show coincides with the release of Good Morning Gorgeous, the singer’s 14th studio album. Though it’s easy to peg as a commercial tie-in, Blige’s latest LP stands on its own as a celebratory record that mixes uplifting, soulful affirmations with exercises in contemporary rap and R&B. Blige succeeds in the former category, with plenty of pathos and technical bravado. But her collaborations with a wide cast of stars, including DJ Khaled, Fivio Foreign, and Anderson .Paak, come across as scattered, an unfortunate side effect that hinders the album’s invigorating self-empowerment.
Good Morning Gorgeous picks up on the other side of Blige’s divorce, a seismic life event the singer used as a conduit for self-discovery on 2017’s stellar Strength of a Woman. Now she’s ready to get back in the saddle. The title track, a torchy cut co-produced by H.E.R. and longtime Blige collaborator D’Mile, is quintessential Mary: an anthem of self-love to lift yourself out of the darkness, gilded with fingersnaps, leisurely guitar melodies, and dynamic backing vocals. The song recasts a personal low as a vulnerable, revitalizing pep talk to herself and thus everyone else: “All the times that I should’ve been careful with me,” she laments, “Why did I hate myself?” Opener “No Idea” is another standout, with a thick bassline, energetic drum patterns, and one of her best lines in years: “I ain’t never been the type to talk about some shit I never really been through,” she sings, laying out her ethos as an artist in one fabulous swoop.
The album’s assorted collaborations range from solid to baffling. For every strong team-up, like the silky throwback R&B she whips up with Usher on “Need Love,” there’s something like “Amazing,” a DJ Khaled production that blows up a sample of Dawn Penn’s “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)” to garish proportions. When Blige dabbles in drill, the effect is similarly awkward: “On Top” is a boastful victory lap at its core, but the staid production makes both Blige and Fivio Foreign sound bored by the time it’s over.
Nonetheless, Blige draws poignancy from Good Morning Gorgeous’ highlights. The sexy grit she adds to “Come See About Me,” the way she casually finds the pocket on the sumptuous “Love Without the Heartbreak,” the full minute and a half when she simply riffs over drums and cinematic strings during the title track’s climax—the sheer strength and breadth of her voice is like comfort food. Even with a side of arena-sized bombast, it remains a pleasure to hear Blige effortlessly rise above the drama.
Buy: Rough Trade
