The album marks Mary’s shortest LP ever at just 38 minutes, and she doesn’t waste any time getting down to business. “What’s love these days? We don’t know what to say,” she ponders on the album’s opening cut “No Idea,” which gives you a sense of what’s to follow. The landscape of 2022 Mary J. Blige is still bruised but definitely not broken. Though she’s skeptical at times, she’s resilient as ever and making progress as she trudges onward.

She’s a bit subdued here vocally, reminiscent of Mariah Carey’s vocal approach to her last LP, 2018’s Caution. The focus is more on navigation of this stage of life, with lyrics and production that seamlessly bridge the gap between Mary’s classics and today’s musical landscape. That doesn’t mean that she’s emotionless though. “I’m so goddamn sick of the pain” she exasperatingly vents on the chorus of “Love Without The Heartbreak,” where she muses on a more perfect love and laments her bad luck with relationships. “When will love give me a break?” she ponders, similar to her woeful laments on introspective “Failing In Love” and the effervescent “Love Will Never.” 

Mary’s not all misery though, those days are behind her. The album is titled and sequentially centers around the title track, “Good Morning Gorgeous.” It’s a simmering blues record akin to 2009’s “I Can See In Color” that finds Mary revealing her key to transcending the worst days, she looks in the mirror and says “good morning gorgeous” when she wakes up in the morning. 

A playful side of Mary that appears both in love and in life. She flexes about buying a coast for her man and challenges him to “match that so we can have two” on the sensual, lounge-y “Come See About Me.” She also trades lines with Anderson .Paak, Usher, and Ne-Yo (on the Target edition) about relationship dynamics ranging from what’s “supposed to be” with .Paak on “Here With Me,” to a dependable partner with Usher on “Need Love,” all the way to the inception of an unexpected attraction with Ne-Yo on the Target bonus track “Running.” 

Mary also mixes in a few feel-good records as a reminder just who she is on her best days. For “On Top” she flips the same sample of The Delfonics “Ready Or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide From Love)” utilized on Three-6-Mafia’s “Who Run It?” Thanks to production from Cool & Dre, the Philly soul classic assumes another place in hip hop (it was already cemented into The Fugees’ “Ready Or Not” and Missy Elliott’s “Sock It 2 Me”) and transforms it into a hard-hitting Brooklyn drill record, sealed with a verse from Fivio Foreign. This is classic Mary; seizing a hip hop sound and sweetening it with her R&B sensibility. Moments like this reinforce her title of Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. 

She also wades into reggae/rocksteady territory on the album’s other big feel-good record, “Amazing” featuring surprisingly subdued ad-libs from the ubiquitous DJ Khaled. This one is a grower. It’s like nails on a chalkboard at first, but the infectious hook quells that initial feeling and this track built for the clubs and VIP tables has an effect, just like the music video illustrates. 

 The album’s only regressive moment isn’t even in a song as a whole, just a sample choice. Third single “Rent Money” is a smooth R&B kiss-off to her deadbeat ex, who drained their joint accounts and then won a hefty alimony sum, forcing her to go on tour to pay his alimony. The song utilizes the hook from The Notorious BIG’s “Fuck You Tonight,” which was performed by R.Kelly, who also co-wrote the song. That means this record is putting money into the pocket of a convicted sexual predator currently attempting to overturn his conviction while simultaneously preparing for a trial on additional charges. It’s an unfortunate choice from someone who herself has vulnerably shared her own experiences of surviving sexual assault.

With the exception of that glaring inclusion, Good Morning Gorgeous is a fantastic addition to the Mary J. Blige canon. It shines bright like it’s title. Mary’s life is so closely intertwined with the content of the music, that this is yet another chapter likely to resonate with and help the masses, just as My Life first did in 1994.

Listen to Good Morning Gorgeous

The post Review: ‘Good Morning Gorgeous’ by Mary J. Blige appeared first on THE 97.

1.  “Time” by Mary J. Blige is essentially about the flaws of the world and how counterproductively people use their time.  Mary expresses people for their judgmental nature.  She also touches on the issues of jealousy, murder, and madness.  She sings about how “people nowadays so shady” and “always wanna condemn” and reminds us that “time is not on our side.”  Mary’s message here is simple: value your time to value your life because it could end any minute.  The song is one of the highlights from her 1999 album, Mary.

2.  “Time” by Musiq Soulchild is an ambiguous song.  It appears on the surface that he is addressing “the one that got away,” so to speak, or just someone from his past.  However, a deeper examination of the lyrics finds that he in fact is singing this love song to “time” itself.  The most telling verse is perhaps the last one:

“So for a while now, I’ve kept in mind

Cause what they say is true

That you are of the essence

Down to the very last second

And I’m so glad that I’ve grown to

Respect you”

You know what they say, “time is of the essence.”  Here, Mr. Soulchild gives the metaphor away.

3.  “Time” by Ne-Yo is written from the third person perspective, with Ne-Yo acting as a narrator in a way, assessing a relationship between another man and woman.  Ne-Yo is letting this other man know that he’s lost his woman because he couldn’t ever give the woman the time and devotion she deserved.  This song teaches a lesson that many have to learn the hard way: when it comes down to it, people make time for what really matters to them.  Here, Ne-Yo is letting dude know that he failed at showing the woman know she mattered to him.  The song has always left one question in my mind, though: how does Ne-Yo know?  Where does he fit into this story?  My inclination is that he is writing from the perspective of the “someone who takes the time” that she’s “moved on” to.  A little shady of you, Ne-Yo.  Then again, he’s always been sassy with a pen…

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