Many of the low-key experiments in sound - an open airiness, often oddball instrumental quirks, bluesy vibes - remove Blige from the comfort zone of her Capitol label-era albums, and bring fresh life to her not-so-quiet storming soul. The story of deception that is “Love Without Heartbreak” (“I don’t know much more of this I can take,” she moans, with both an icy chill and the heated means to melt it) and Blige’s subtle verbal gymnastics sparkles and kicks with its off-key strings, Fender Rhodes runs and woodblock clicks. “Come See About Me,” too, allows Blige to nestle before a piano’s tinkle and a spare percussive clink, and operate smoothly. (acting gigs in “The Umbrella Academy” and “Lost Ollie” paid off), as many multi-octave Marys converge on the slower “Love Will Never” and its cocktail piano-driven swivel. There are more than a few conversational Blige moments to contend with.
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“Got me feeling like Janet,” rips Blige before doubling up her own voice and hitting a choice chorus of “No, I can’t tell you what to do / I can’t tell you how to move.” (.Paak returns as Blige’s duet partner on the squelchy ballad “Here With Me,” and as co-producer on the dreamy “Love Without the Heartbreak”).
Paak in his current phase as scratchy vintage-soul purveyor (Silk Sonic), rumbles and hums with deep brass, rolling rhythm, and enough space for its heartbroken vocalist to move with real swagger. “No Idea,” written by Blige with Anderson. For all of her sharpness, there is Blige’s naturally regal elegance to contend with on jazzier mid-tempo cuts such as “Rent Money” and “On Top.” Welcoming a Murderers’ Row of producers (Bongo By the Way, D’Mile, Cool & Dre, London on da Track, DJ Khaled, etc.) and letting them loose on her thickest track list since 2014’s “The London Sessions” aids Blige in keeping her razor’s edge. As long as Blige can get in the pocket of a track, and live as intimately within the melody as its lyrics exist within her psyche, we’re cool. Working in accordance with Tina Turner’s dictum of keeping every sound nice-and-rough, Blige still brings rap attitude to her notably emotive vocal flips, and teams that edge, again, with a ruminatively articulated and highly personalized take on the Black Woman Experience. Her reign is undiminished and even furthered, as there’s a huskier edge than usual to “Good Morning Gorgeous,” her first album through 300 Entertainment, a label where Young Thug and Megan Thee Stallion keep house. Blige proves that the shine on her crown as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul goes untarnished. Thirty years since her debut album asked the question “What’s the 411?,” and mere days before appearing as the (lone) female in the Super Bowl LVI halftime show, Mary J.
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