Featured Artist: Mary J Blige

By Elizabeth HutzlerDespite allegations of steroid use, Mary J. Blige is standing strong. Mary Jane Blige, famously known as Mary J. Blige, was born on January 11, 1971. Despite her age, Mary J. Blige continues to make strong songs with important messages to her fans. In her brand new album Growing Pains, Mary portrays positive messages to her female fans, such as in “Work That.” Blige exclaims, “cause you’re a pretty woman get your runway stride home.” In her first single off this album, “Just Fine,” Blige states, “can’t let this thing called love get away from you feel free right now, go do what you want to do.” This statement lets her fans know that, yes, breakups and broken hearts will happen, but to go on and live your life the way you want and enjoy it. Also in this song, Blige says, “so I like what I see when I’m looking at me when I’m walking past the mirror,” which means that it’s okay to love yourself for who you are. With love songs like “Feel Like A Woman” and “Stay Down,” and smooth tones and beats from the songs “Fade Away” and “Hurt Down,” Mary J. Blige’s eighth album is a very promising candidate to be a winner with critics. Mary is successfully advertising her album in a great way also; when you visit her official website, (www.mjblige.com), you see a beautiful picture of the queen herself and clips from her first single “Just Fine” and second single “Work That,” (which Mary promotes in her new iTunes commercial), play for you. You can also preview and listen to songs on the new album and view the video for “Just Fine”. Growing Pains was released on December 18th, 2007 and sold 629,000 copies in its first week. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 and at #1 on the Billboard R&B album charts.