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	• Growing Pains Mary J. Blige Geffen Records, 2007 average customer review:based on 136 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Jason and Maggie ain't got nothing on this

Mary J. Blige - Growing Pains (Geffen, 2007)

Whenever you release a big album (be it classic, certified platinum or both), expectations are always gonna be high for your follow-up. How do you exactly follow an album like Mary J. Blige's 2005 hit, The Breakthrough? Well, she must not have worried about it, as Growing Pains is another great album.

Although her first single, "Just Fine", wasn't exactly the smash that "Be Without You" was, it showed her on a more fun and upbeat track than usual. But for everyone who says that she sounds best on tracks about drama, "Hurt Again" and "Talk to Me" are right up your alley. The only problem is that after 16 years of albums, some of these topics can start to sound redundant. That's why that tracks like the NE-YO/StarGate-produced "Fade Away" and "Come to Me (Peace)" are a nice change of pace. Even the duet with Usher, "Shake Down", while only a fair song, adds a little bit of love into the mix.

You can still rely on Mary J. Blige to deliver that great R&B in a time where R&B is losing the battle with hip-hop and country music as the leading genres. The only question is how Mary will follow up this album. -EJR

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Growing Pains

I am really enjoying this cd. It is Mary J Bliges' best cd. I listen to it everyday. My coworkers have it too. It is well worth the money.

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Crossover Appeal

I am a huge Mary fan and this is the best one yet. Mary has definitely kept up with the times and her listening audience has expanded. I am digging her diverse style, and the musical arrangement and beats are a hit!

Growing Pains

I think this CD was pretty goood, the music flowed from one song to another.

A Fine Addition To The Musical Catalog...

Mary J. Blige took me to another place on her last album, The Breakthrough. I saw her, both musically and image-wise, in the bloom of her womanhood. She returned after releasing the greatest hits package, "Reflections...", with the unexpected bass-driven "Just Fine". That track was a jewel, in my opinion eclipsing her feel good songs of earlier because she had a lot of fun singing the song. However, it is not a full representation of the album "Growing Pains".

"Growing Pains" is what the title says, a buffet of different emotions, and whether or purpose or not, the sequence of the songs feels a bit spontaneous. Never the less, Mary croons, screams, cries and does all of the things a woman does. Really taking this into account will help people understand the unconventional feel of the album flow.

The album opens with a womanly pride anthem, "Work That" making it alright for every woman to love her body and essence regardless of what society says. For the most part, the winners on the disc helps you to forgive the small missteps made here. It is in the middle of the disc that the jewels exist. "Hurt Again" is a beautiful plee with falling in love after heart break; "If You Love Me?" proves that actions speak louder than words; "Fade Away" calls to the need we all have to want to run away from problems; "Roses" is a firey demand for understanding playing to the tough time in love(almost scary how serious Mary sounds on this song); "Till The Morning" is fun and sassy and "Work In Progress" is one of the greatest and most sincere songs Mary has ever recorded, stripping her of celebrity and going to her human vulnerabilities. "Work In Progress" clearly should have been the last song to close this album out. However, most listeners will have gripes about the sequence of songs.

There aren't any terrible songs on the collection, but there are a couple of guest appearances that should have been shelved. "Shake Down" feat Usher is a misnomer, full of almost laughable analogies ("We gonna work this out like fitness") and the chemistry for that track just isn't there. Also, the Ludacris donned opening of "Grown Woman" and his overall presence on the track is unecessary and is evidence that this track should have been reworked or just been pulled altogether.

At the close of the album after several songs that flowed in mood, the muscial landscape of the album completely shifts to a rather odd alternative style with "Come To Me (Peace)" and "Smoke" At this point in the album, neither of these songs was necessary. Now while "Come to Me" is a decent song, it belonged somewhere earlier in the album and "Smoke" truthfully doesn't fit at all.

Aside from the odd sequence and pointless guest apperances, "Growing Pains" is an album worthy of sitting aside the works that we love Mary for to this day.

My favorite songs in order:

1. Just Fine
2. Work In Progress
3. Hurt Again
4. Fade Away
5. If You Love Me?
6. Till The Morning
7. Work That
8. Roses
9. What Love Is
10. Stay Down

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Geffen Records superstar and hit-making songwriter Mary J. Blige, is set to follow-up the most successful album of her career, the triple platinum The Breakthrough, with her eighth (8th) studio CD Growing Pains.

Growing Pains includes the single "Just Fine" which has become an instant favorite on radio and on MTV, BET and VH-1. The second single from Growing Pains, "Work That," is currently featured in an Apple I-Pod commercial.

After selling over 40 million CDs and garnering six Grammy Awards during her phenomenal 15-year career, Mary is confident that her fans will not be disappointed with Growing Pains. "They're going to get a sense of what my state of mind is and how I view the world," she says. "And hopefully, most of all, they're going to hear just the sincere honesty and love that I have for them." She adds, "Growing Pains represents accepting that there's pain that goes along with growing and change. No pain, no gain."

Growing Pains, with Mary co-writing most of the songs on the album, features guest appearances by Ludacris and Usher and production by The Neptunes, Jazze Pha, Johnta Austin, Neyo, Stargate, Bryan-Michael Cox, Dre and Vidal, Tricky, Dream, and Sean Garrett.

Mary makes her message loud, clear and seriously funky on the first release "Just Fine" produced by Jazze Pha and Tricky and co-written by Mary and Dream. A celebration of life, "Just Fine" gives you Mary fierce, and as the video shows, glamorous. The song's vibe? "Sometimes it feels like you're having this miserable time, like all 365 days of the year are tough. But then, you get one of those days; maybe when your hair is great, or you're not stuck in traffic; where it's a `just fine' day. At some point," Mary laughs, "You've got have one or two of those."

The party and positivity keeps on keeping on with the rump shaking second single "Work That." Mary comments, "When I meet a woman who doesn't know what to do about her weight or her hair I always say - `whatever it is that you have, make that work for you, Work what you got.'"

After releasing her bestselling anthology Reflections last year, Growing Pains is Mary's first CD of new material since The Breakthrough debuted at #1 in 2005, selling over 700,000 copies its first week -- the best opening week for a solo R&B female artist in SoundScan history. The album's first single, "Be Without You," also made chart history by holding down the #1 spot on the Billboard R&B charts for a record breaking 16 straight weeks; making it the longest-running No. 1 song on the R&B chart in over 40 years. Mary led all artists with eight 2007 Grammy nominations for the landmark album, and she took home honors for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song (both for "Be Without You"), and Best R&B Album. After earning three Grammy Awards, she continued her award show domination by winning nine Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards, two BET Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, and a Soul Train Award. The Breakthrough lived up to its name selling over seven million copies worldwide.