Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2014 10:00:25 GMT -5
Mary's my favorite act I've ever seen live. Saw her about 10 years ago. I'd love to see her again. Can't even describe the experience of actually experiencing her live in person.
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Hashtag Pow
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Post by Hashtag Pow on Jul 4, 2014 20:03:36 GMT -5
The set list was:
1. Enough Cryin' 2. The One 3. Love No Limit 4. Mary Jane (All Night Long) 5. Good Woman Down 6. I Can Love You 7. Just Fine 8. Real Love 9. You Remind Me 10. Reminisce 11. Share My World 12. Take Me As I Am 13. Don't Mind 14. Everything 15. My Life 16. Not Gon Cry 17. Mr. Wrong 18. Suitcase 19. I'm Going Down 20. No More Drama 21. Sweet Thing 22. Family Affair Encore 23. A Night To Remember 24. Be Without You
I have the whole show on Youtube. Here are a few of the vids...
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SHOOTER
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Typical of those in power to stay worried about the *wrong* shit.
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Post by SHOOTER on Jul 4, 2014 22:42:47 GMT -5
I saw her again last night. Front row seat. Noel Gourdin was her opening act (yawn). Her flight ended up being delayed, so she was about an hr late coming out...but it was so worth it when she finally did! 1. She is beautiful! She looks so young in person! When she came out, all the people in my surrounding section started raving about her looks. Her body is still tightt! 2. She is such a great entertainer. She's someone you have to experience live. If you are just a casual fan, after seeing her in concert, you will LOVE her. 3. I wish she would have bothered to promote SUITCASE. It is so hot live!! I was able to record the entire show (the people in my section hated me because they were hoping my battery would die or my phone would run outta space so I could sit down. #teamiphone5s). I will upload it to youtube later. So true. My sister (who claimed to be a casual fan) said she wanted to only hear two songs and was on her foot singing along the entire time. The only song we didn't get was BWY. I thought it was weird she excluded it from our show but I guess she was too exhausted for a second encore.
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Kurt
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Post by Kurt on Jul 8, 2014 13:44:09 GMT -5
On HITS Daily Double's Rumor Mill today:
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Post by Live Your Life on Jul 8, 2014 13:54:16 GMT -5
Interesting....
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Sir Benji
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Post by Sir Benji on Jul 8, 2014 15:40:38 GMT -5
Ohhhh. I think Mary pulls off the current "British" sound very well. I'm interested.
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Caviar
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Post by Caviar on Jul 8, 2014 15:45:33 GMT -5
I wonder how is she able to record these albums on different labels? Her contract must be up with Geffen.
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Rican@
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Post by Rican@ on Jul 8, 2014 15:49:49 GMT -5
I'm loving her direction for the later part of her career. She refuses to box herself in and I just love it. I may not have liked everything that she released, but my respect for her artistry is there.
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Dreams
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Post by Dreams on Jul 8, 2014 16:40:49 GMT -5
Hopefully some inspired music comes out of these sessions. I haven't really *loved* anything Mary has put out since My Life II. This last soundtrack album she recorded, I didn't even feel like checking out in full (and that's a first for me with an all new MJB record).
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#LisaRinna
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Post by #LisaRinna on Jul 8, 2014 17:05:32 GMT -5
I'm kinda here for an Adele J. Blige tea.
Take us all back to the eclectic Mary album and the 'Your Child' realness!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 18:07:04 GMT -5
Definitely excited about this. She's really making smart moves in this phase of her career that are going to truly cement her legacy beyond just being the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 18:23:48 GMT -5
That sounds dope and exactly like what she needs. My Life II was a great album but her sound from 2007-2011 was getting a little stale, this will be the perfect way to expand her music.
I wonder when it will be released.
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Post by B****BetterGetNOSL333P on Jul 9, 2014 23:46:40 GMT -5
since she's done the duet with Sam Smith & Naughty Boy overseeing the new album. I think she's signed with Capital. Let's just wait & see.
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Hashtag Pow
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Post by Hashtag Pow on Jul 22, 2014 18:54:15 GMT -5
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2014 19:00:33 GMT -5
This Mary meets London track from 1993 is still one of my favs
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Hashtag Pow
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Post by Hashtag Pow on Jul 22, 2014 19:03:35 GMT -5
You changed my life when you sent me that! I had never heard it. And now it's pretty much the only version of the song I listen to!
Can we change the name of this thread since that soundtrack was only relevant for like 3 days?
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bat1990
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Post by bat1990 on Jul 23, 2014 11:39:27 GMT -5
Reading this thread has inspired me to re-listen to My Life II. I love that album so much, it hits a lot harder for me than SWET, Growing Pains, or The Breakthrough.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2014 20:44:54 GMT -5
You changed my life when you sent me that! I had never heard it. And now it's pretty much the only version of the song I listen to! Worth every second on the 56k. :'(
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Hashtag Pow
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Post by Hashtag Pow on Jul 24, 2014 17:52:52 GMT -5
HAHAHA.
Mary is now signed to Capitol Music Group.
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George
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Post by George on Aug 6, 2014 14:34:49 GMT -5
Monday, Aug 4, 2014 03:59 PM PDT Mary J. Blige’s curse: Why the world ignores one of the best living R&B musicians By Elias Leight Mary J. Blige, a onetime superstar with stacks of Grammies and plenty of hits, now lingers in semi-obscurity — eight of her albums went platinum, but her latest, “Think Like a Man Too,” won’t get near that mark. Meanwhile, Sam Smith gets to No. 1 by relying heavily on the gospel-influenced style that Blige has down pat, though he sounds more old-fashioned than she ever did. While Smith takes the charts, he doesn’t win (critical) hearts — those are controlled by acts like Little Dragon, How to Dress Well or Jessie Ware, who often record for independent labels. The Blige connection is strong here too, as the music of this group is explicitly influenced by mainstream ‘90s R&B, which Blige revolutionized. Even though her fingerprints are everywhere, she is mostly ignored, crowded out by old-school-sounding white belters on one side and the hip indie groups on the other. It’s actually remarkable that Blige is even still making music. Other big names from ’90s R&B — including Janet Jackson, Brandy and Monica — are rarely heard from. Even ladies who had more recent success in the first half of the ‘00s, like Ashanti, Toni Braxton and Kelly Rowland, struggle to make a dent now. (All three put out albums within the last 18 months; none got any attention.) If you are a woman making R&B, especially one older than 40, and your name is not Beyoncé, few people care. Which is crazy, because Blige is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures of R&B’s last 20 years. In Questlove’s memoir, “Mo’ Meta Blues,” which came out last summer, he recalls the first time he heard Blige’s second album. “The day that Mary J. Blige’s ‘My Life’ came out in 1994, we all just sat in the van scratching our heads,” he writes. “We had never heard anyone sing over samples before … We were so caught between rejecting it as untenable and accepting it as vanguard.” Blige also has high-powered admirers outside of R&B and hip-hop. A Pitchfork cover story on the singer Chan Marshall (who performs as Cat Power) noted that Blige’s “2005 album ‘The Breakthrough’ is important” to Marshall — “desert-island important.” Bob Stanley, a journalist and a member of the band Saint Etienne, writes about the way Blige changed the musical landscape in his recently published “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The Story of Pop Music From Bill Haley to Beyoncé.” “Mary J. was also year zero for a crop of new, more glamorous singers waiting in the wings — Aaliyah, Beyoncé and, beyond them, Ashanti and Amerie — all of whom might have plumped for the Whitney/Mariah career model without Mary J.’s breakthrough.” Whenever you hear someone singing over a sample, you have Blige to thank. Her vocal style would have fit in well in the ‘70s, but her backing tracks show hip-hop’s willingness to cannibalize that same source material she channeled. A singer like Smith loves her vocal pyrotechnics; he also misreads her by ignoring the up-to-date aspects of her music. “Think Like a Man Too” is a movie soundtrack containing 13 original Blige songs and credits from star producers like Rodney Jerkins, Pharrell Williams, Terius Nash and Tricky Stewart. The album opens with a thud — a cover of a 1982 disco hit for Shalamar that misreads Blige. She has never been a dance artist. Her lone No. 1 pop hit, the Dr. Dre-produced “Family Affair,” was up-tempo, but it’s not light on its feet; it has the power of a bulldozer. Not only is “Night to Remember” a poor fit for Blige, it sounds out of date (in the same manner as Sam Smith), and the string of songs immediately following it — “Vegas Nights,” “Moment of Love” and “See That Boy Again” — do as well. “Suitcase” and “Power Back,” which appear later on “Think Like a Man Too,” are the tracks that show the breadth of Blige’s abilities, as she takes on contemporary sounds and makes them her own. “Suitcase” revolves around a little piano motif, close to something DJ Mustard uses in any number of his radio hits (take YG’s “Who Do You Love”). The percussion contains both finger snaps, which play an important role for artists from a variety of backgrounds — How to Dress Well, Sevyn Streeter, Lorde — and rhythmic shouts, like the chants of “hey” that pervade the radio from Iggy Azalea on down. Blige picks up speed as she works through the hook, and the beat does the same, building up to a post-dubstep sort of drop. Then comes the punch line: “While you’re tryin’ to explain, I’ll be zippin’ up my suitcase.” In “Power Back,” Blige really asserts herself. She sings to a lover, but it might as well be to the pop world at large. “I think it’s funny all the games you play. But I don’t play with you so why you choose to play with me that way. All I do is treat you with the utmost, I need the same.” She goes on to suggest, “if you’re looking for that ratchet-ness, don’t look my way.” This is funny and powerful — DJ Mustard is the king of radio right now and the king of ratchet; Blige already put a personal twist on his sound in “Suitcase,” and now she adds a little kiss-off a few songs later. “Power Back” has weird and edgy production, a barrage of thin sounds that create a heavy rhythmic bed. Horns enter, imperious, threatening and also of-the-moment, since brass appears in a number of recent songs from Ariana Grande and Jason Derulo. Blige lists the ways she remains in control, relying on the age-old power of call-and-response. “When I stop callin’/ he’s in my palm/ that’s that power back.” It should be no surprise that Blige is capable of this: She made her name as a ground-breaker, and she can still sound exactly on point, if not ahead of the curve. Her big hit of the ’00s, “Be Without You,” fit perfectly into the R&B climate at the time. Earlier this year, Blige appeared on the remix to Disclosure’s “F for You,” showing her smart ear, as well as plenty of business savvy, since Disclosure’s star is rising rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic. The musical climate may be stranger and harsher than ever for a female R&B singer, but Blige isn’t going anywhere.
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Hashtag Pow
3x Platinum Member
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 3,732
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Post by Hashtag Pow on Aug 6, 2014 22:20:37 GMT -5
I think her "curse" is she knows how to stay relevant; it usually involves her not sounding the way people want/expect her to sound.
I'm glad they pointed out how amazing POWER BACK is. It's an anthem.
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Hashtag Pow
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 3,732
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Post by Hashtag Pow on Aug 8, 2014 2:19:30 GMT -5
Smokey Robinson is releasing a duets album, Smokey & Friends. Here is his duet with Mary, a remake of his hit "Being With You."
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stunnedout
7x Platinum Member
I said what I said!
Joined: October 2008
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Post by stunnedout on Aug 8, 2014 2:43:33 GMT -5
Monday, Aug 4, 2014 03:59 PM PDT Mary J. Blige’s curse: Why the world ignores one of the best living R&B musicians By Elias Leight Mary J. Blige, a onetime superstar with stacks of Grammies and plenty of hits, now lingers in semi-obscurity — eight of her albums went platinum, but her latest, “Think Like a Man Too,” won’t get near that mark. Meanwhile, Sam Smith gets to No. 1 by relying heavily on the gospel-influenced style that Blige has down pat, though he sounds more old-fashioned than she ever did. While Smith takes the charts, he doesn’t win (critical) hearts — those are controlled by acts like Little Dragon, How to Dress Well or Jessie Ware, who often record for independent labels. The Blige connection is strong here too, as the music of this group is explicitly influenced by mainstream ‘90s R&B, which Blige revolutionized. Even though her fingerprints are everywhere, she is mostly ignored, crowded out by old-school-sounding white belters on one side and the hip indie groups on the other. It’s actually remarkable that Blige is even still making music. Other big names from ’90s R&B — including Janet Jackson, Brandy and Monica — are rarely heard from. Even ladies who had more recent success in the first half of the ‘00s, like Ashanti, Toni Braxton and Kelly Rowland, struggle to make a dent now. (All three put out albums within the last 18 months; none got any attention.) If you are a woman making R&B, especially one older than 40, and your name is not Beyoncé, few people care. Which is crazy, because Blige is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures of R&B’s last 20 years. In Questlove’s memoir, “Mo’ Meta Blues,” which came out last summer, he recalls the first time he heard Blige’s second album. “The day that Mary J. Blige’s ‘My Life’ came out in 1994, we all just sat in the van scratching our heads,” he writes. “We had never heard anyone sing over samples before … We were so caught between rejecting it as untenable and accepting it as vanguard.” Blige also has high-powered admirers outside of R&B and hip-hop. A Pitchfork cover story on the singer Chan Marshall (who performs as Cat Power) noted that Blige’s “2005 album ‘The Breakthrough’ is important” to Marshall — “desert-island important.” Bob Stanley, a journalist and a member of the band Saint Etienne, writes about the way Blige changed the musical landscape in his recently published “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The Story of Pop Music From Bill Haley to Beyoncé.” “Mary J. was also year zero for a crop of new, more glamorous singers waiting in the wings — Aaliyah, Beyoncé and, beyond them, Ashanti and Amerie — all of whom might have plumped for the Whitney/Mariah career model without Mary J.’s breakthrough.” Whenever you hear someone singing over a sample, you have Blige to thank. Her vocal style would have fit in well in the ‘70s, but her backing tracks show hip-hop’s willingness to cannibalize that same source material she channeled. A singer like Smith loves her vocal pyrotechnics; he also misreads her by ignoring the up-to-date aspects of her music. “Think Like a Man Too” is a movie soundtrack containing 13 original Blige songs and credits from star producers like Rodney Jerkins, Pharrell Williams, Terius Nash and Tricky Stewart. The album opens with a thud — a cover of a 1982 disco hit for Shalamar that misreads Blige. She has never been a dance artist. Her lone No. 1 pop hit, the Dr. Dre-produced “Family Affair,” was up-tempo, but it’s not light on its feet; it has the power of a bulldozer. Not only is “Night to Remember” a poor fit for Blige, it sounds out of date (in the same manner as Sam Smith), and the string of songs immediately following it — “Vegas Nights,” “Moment of Love” and “See That Boy Again” — do as well. “Suitcase” and “Power Back,” which appear later on “Think Like a Man Too,” are the tracks that show the breadth of Blige’s abilities, as she takes on contemporary sounds and makes them her own. “Suitcase” revolves around a little piano motif, close to something DJ Mustard uses in any number of his radio hits (take YG’s “Who Do You Love”). The percussion contains both finger snaps, which play an important role for artists from a variety of backgrounds — How to Dress Well, Sevyn Streeter, Lorde — and rhythmic shouts, like the chants of “hey” that pervade the radio from Iggy Azalea on down. Blige picks up speed as she works through the hook, and the beat does the same, building up to a post-dubstep sort of drop. Then comes the punch line: “While you’re tryin’ to explain, I’ll be zippin’ up my suitcase.” In “Power Back,” Blige really asserts herself. She sings to a lover, but it might as well be to the pop world at large. “I think it’s funny all the games you play. But I don’t play with you so why you choose to play with me that way. All I do is treat you with the utmost, I need the same.” She goes on to suggest, “if you’re looking for that ratchet-ness, don’t look my way.” This is funny and powerful — DJ Mustard is the king of radio right now and the king of ratchet; Blige already put a personal twist on his sound in “Suitcase,” and now she adds a little kiss-off a few songs later. “Power Back” has weird and edgy production, a barrage of thin sounds that create a heavy rhythmic bed. Horns enter, imperious, threatening and also of-the-moment, since brass appears in a number of recent songs from Ariana Grande and Jason Derulo. Blige lists the ways she remains in control, relying on the age-old power of call-and-response. “When I stop callin’/ he’s in my palm/ that’s that power back.” It should be no surprise that Blige is capable of this: She made her name as a ground-breaker, and she can still sound exactly on point, if not ahead of the curve. Her big hit of the ’00s, “Be Without You,” fit perfectly into the R&B climate at the time. Earlier this year, Blige appeared on the remix to Disclosure’s “F for You,” showing her smart ear, as well as plenty of business savvy, since Disclosure’s star is rising rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic. The musical climate may be stranger and harsher than ever for a female R&B singer, but Blige isn’t going anywhere. The whole article is stupid. Her career is in a great place especially with her age. The "Think like a man too" soundtrack got no promo and most people dont even know it existed. The lack of success had little to do with some imaginary "curse" and everything to do with it being a side project that got no real label push. She has consistent sales for her normal studio albums and can still manage R&B hits.
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Post by Resident_Evil on Aug 8, 2014 4:18:57 GMT -5
Smokey Robinson is releasing a duets album, Smokey & Friends. Here is his duet with Mary, a remake of his hit "Being With You." Ugh. That's my favourite Smokey song. Why butcher it? :(
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2014 6:00:29 GMT -5
Smokey sounds like a singing corpse, but this is one of Mary's better vocals on a recent cover. I like that they didn't just copy the original.
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Hashtag Pow
3x Platinum Member
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 3,732
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Post by Hashtag Pow on Aug 17, 2014 9:20:42 GMT -5
"The London Sessions" is pretty close to being done, and is probably dropping before the year is up. She posted a promo vid on instagram last week, and then deleted it a few hours later. From what I remember the video said something like "Capitol Records presents Mary J. Blige - The London Sessions - Coming Soon." And there was a little bop playing in the background.
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2014 9:35:41 GMT -5
I haven't been this excited for a Mary album in a long time, and I love Mary. I feel like she's about to do something amazing.
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#LisaRinna
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#LiteralLegender
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Post by #LisaRinna on Aug 17, 2014 13:35:28 GMT -5
I feel like this will slay a bit. Adele J. Blige is going to have the gerls a little shook. :'(
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Hashtag Pow
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Post by Hashtag Pow on Aug 26, 2014 17:55:30 GMT -5
Announced as a performer at the iTunes Festival on September 25th.
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Caviar
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Post by Caviar on Aug 27, 2014 6:58:16 GMT -5
Yassssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been waiting for this moment for years now! She's gonna kill it.
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