Blige Airs Growing Pains

Mary J. Blige has moved on from empowerment to soulful diva on her first disc in two years, the Boston Globe’s Joan Anderman writes. "A celebration of the artist's hard-won happiness," Growing Pains won Anderman over by "revealing her weaknesses." Blige still urges listeners to stand tall on a joyful "Just Fine," but now sings a slow “I need you to rescue me" on "Feel Like a Woman."

MJB has “lost or just outgrown the brassy urgency of her twenties,” says Rolling Stone’s Robert Christgau—but he salutes her return to hip-hop that informed her early career. The retro style imbues proud proclamations like, “I work this relationship nine to five.” But while her past confessions felt like "painful late-night outbursts," her new tunes "sound more like she's had a lot of therapy." (More Mary J. Blige stories.)