Grade: 80/100
If you forget about Mary J. Blige’s opening track, “Therapy,” her newest album, “The London Sessions” isn’t a bad release.
Blige has added some new elements to her sound with this album, a positive because her work was starting to feel old and repetitive. It may be because Blige relies a lot on other artists’ influence to create tracks that feel new and fresh.
Sam Smith co-wrote four of the album’s tracks, Disclosure is featured on one song and a collaboration with Emeli Sandé is also included. Blige made a smart choice relying on artists who have recently been successful in what they’ve been putting out. It adds an edge to her album that without it would just be boring.
This record does the trick of focusing on Blige’s soulful, gospel roots. Some very R&B tracks are “Whole Damn Year”, which does a good job of tapping into Blige’s difficult, distrustful past and “Not Loving You” which shows a difficult, one-sided relationship.
The album also adds some dance tracks to liven up the general listening. Some tracks include “My Loving” which is fun and positive and “Follow” which features Disclosure.
“The London Sessions” is a pivotal album for the artist who hasn’t produced anything that feels new or different since the early 00’s.
Another cool thing about this record is the speaking aspects on some of the tracks.
At the end of certain songs like “Doubt” and “Not Loving You,” Blige includes her speaking, or another person speaking to add background to the track. Why did she record this? Why do listeners want to hear about her struggles? These are just some of the questions the speaking aspects answer.
The album title, “The London Sessions” comes full circle with this “in studio” feel.
It feels personal between Blige and her fans, who it seems wanted to create something that was a touching album and not just a few recorded tracks, like past releases.