Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Mary Kathleen Sloan, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Darhyl "DJ" Camper Jr., ProducerĮric Dawkins, ComposerLyricist - Mark Cargill, Violin, Contracting With, AssociatedPerformer - Teddy Riley, Producer, Additional Producer - Benjamin Wright, Conductor, String Arranger, Horn Arranger, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Jon Nettlesbey, Asst. Sullivan, ComposerLyricist - CHRIS WOODS, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Gerry "The Gov" Brown, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Conductor, String Arranger, Viola, Strings Conductor, AssociatedPerformer - Ina Veli, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Jennifer Takamatsu, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Thomas Lea, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Paul Cartwright, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Robert Campbell, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Peter Jacobson, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Alison Bjorkedal, Harp, AssociatedPerformer - Dexter Story, Contracting With - Marshall Bryant, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Hotae Alexander Jang, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Elizabeth Isik, Unknown, Other - Eddie Fourcell, A&R - Darhyl "DJ" Camper, ComposerLyricist - Nicole Ranalli, Asst. Blige, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - Caroline Buckman, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Leah Katz, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Marisa Kuney, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Jazmine Sullivan, Producer, Additional Producer, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Timothy Loo, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Songa Lee, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - J. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Vanessa Freebairn-Smith, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Daphne Chen, Violin, Concertmaster, AssociatedPerformer - Eric Gorfain, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Lucia Micarelli, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Raphael Saadiq, Conductor - Mary J. It contains one of the hour's best grooves, provided by Hit-Boy, and is all devotional finesse.ĭexter Randall, Asst. Instead, extra punctuation is provided by "Hello Father," another gem. Just beneath that is the title track, a theatrical empowerment anthem that would likely close just about any other album.
Brightest of all is "Find the Love," pure early-'80s boogie throwback. A few songs do depart from expressing pain and the documentation of recovery. A clinking Kaytranada collaboration ("Telling the Truth"), a back-stabbed weeper that bares Sullivan's unmistakable touch ("Thank You"), and a machine-soul ballad worthy of an extended 12" mix ("U + Me ") likewise could not have been made at any other point in Blige's career. Take "Set Me Free," where a swanky, winding backdrop supports stinging "hmph" lines like "You musta lost it - n*gga, you won't get a dime," followed by "There's a special place in hell for you" in dismissive high register.
Clearly the time wasn't right for Blige to record a bunch of feel-good jams, but in the listener's favor, the anguish has also inspired the singer and her co-writers and producers - Brandon Hodge, Darhyl Camper, Jr., Prince Charlez, and Jazmine Sullivan, along with many others - to illustrate these ballads of confrontation and perseverance with enough specifics to distinguish them from the past work.
There are self-help platitudes such as "You gotta love yourself before you love someone else," along with timeworn redemptive declarations like "I was lost but now I'm found" and "Now I'm finally free to be me." In fairness, the stock phrases are delivered with conviction, understandably weighed with a sense of "Not this bull again." The alleged extramarital antics that dragged Blige back into this darkness, after all, are as clichéd as it gets. A significant fraction of this set's sentiments are clichéd. Blige covers a lot of lyrical ground familiar to anyone who has heard her 11 previous studio albums.
Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.