Harlepolis said:

Mary J. Blige Singing A Different Tune These Days

Far from the truth, I'm afraid.

I decided to cut the umbilical cord from Mary's music after listening to this new album. I'm happy & content with what she already contributed, but since her last album she proved again this time that the days of her reinventing her music instead of following trends are long gone. Good luck with her.

[Edited 11/22/11 10:47am]

Damn. "She just lost one. She just lost one. What a bum bum." (Lauryn Hill - "Lost Ones")

Musicslave said:

Harlepolis said:

Mary J. Blige Singing A Different Tune These Days

Far from the truth, I'm afraid.

I decided to cut the umbilical cord from Mary's music after listening to this new album. I'm happy & content with what she already contributed, but since her last album she proved again this time that the days of her reinventing her music instead of following trends are long gone. Good luck with her.

[Edited 11/22/11 10:47am]

Damn. "She just lost one. She just lost one. What a bum bum." (Lauryn Hill - "Lost Ones")

I just returned from Target with a copy of the deluxe edition.

Musicslave said:

Harlepolis said:

Mary J. Blige Singing A Different Tune These Days

Far from the truth, I'm afraid.

I decided to cut the umbilical cord from Mary's music after listening to this new album. I'm happy & content with what she already contributed, but since her last album she proved again this time that the days of her reinventing her music instead of following trends are long gone. Good luck with her.

[Edited 11/22/11 10:47am]

Damn. "She just lost one. She just lost one. What a bum bum." (Lauryn Hill - "Lost Ones")

[img:$uid]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/Harlepolis/Gifs/a1jpg.gif[/img:$uid]

Yeah, I know it doesn't make any difference, but hey

Harlepolis said:

Musicslave said:

Damn. "She just lost one. She just lost one. What a bum bum." (Lauryn Hill - "Lost Ones")

[img:$uid]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/Harlepolis/Gifs/a1jpg.gif[/img:$uid]

Yeah, I know it doesn't make any difference, but hey

I don't get what this CD even has to do with the My Life album. None of the same producers, no Faith Evans backup vocals, etc. It doesn't even have the same vibe at all. Sequels should have something to do with the original. Keep in mind that I've only heard clips so far though...

Listened to it in the car today. I hit the "SKIP" button thru about 75% of it. Like someone stated earlier, it's just a very trendy album. She has far too many rappers on songs that didn't even require a rapper. I liked the first couple of songs but my ears didn't perk up until I got to the bonus cuts. For me, "You Want This" was the best cut on the disc. Too much of the album is just down-right forgettable to me. Not much on the disc that makes her stand out from all the other girls on the scene today. Unless she comes back with some music for grown folks on her next disc, I may have to cut the cord after this.

Here's what the critics are saying.

Provided you can beat a path through that thicket of numerals and punctuation marks, you’ll notice that the title of Mary J. Blige’s new album bills itself as a sequel to her 1994 effort, My Life. And if you don’t, the R&B star explains the concept in an introductory phone call with the first album’s principal producer, Sean “Diddy” Combs. “It’s not a competitor,” Blige tells Combs of the new disc.

“It’s an extension of how far we’ve come.” Well, OK. The truth is that any of Blige’s albums could’ve been called My Life II; her work always feels as if it’s arriving upon a bed of personal betterment.

She gets away with the dramatics because she makes them so easy to buy: No working soul singer depicts struggle (and its hard-won defeat) more believably than Blige does, even when armed with so-so material, as she often is here.

In “Feel Inside,” she enlivens a threadbare breakup narrative with vocals full of lifelike ambivalence; later, she gives “25/8” the energy required to sell its goofy lyrical conceit. “Twenty-four seven ain’t enough,” she sings, “I got so much love for you, boy.”

In “Love a Woman,” Blige duets with Beyoncé, whose bulletproof veneer contrasts with Blige’s famously unvarnished presentation.

And yet the singers find a credible middle ground dispensing advice on how to satisfy a “real woman.” It’s a topic Blige could probably unpack forever.

Mary J. Blige

My Life II… The Journey Continues (Act 1)

(Matriarch/Geffen)

Two and a half stars (Out of four)

• “Navigating pain has always been her subject…But Blige is admirably unfashionable, staying in her sweet spot of midtempo hip-hop soul. After all these years, she can still make pain pleasurable.” [Jody Rosen, Rolling Stone]

• “As a sequel to “My Life,” “My Life II” may disappoint fans, for no reason other than that Blige is no longer a troubled 20-something willing to lay out her struggles for the world to hear. But viewed as just the latest Mary J. Blige project, it’s a solid album filled with small touches that will recall ’90s-era Blige.” [Sarah Godfrey, Washington Post]

• “As deep from the pit of her heart as in “My Life,” Mary J. Blige sings of the highs and lows of the new state of love and life the singer is in, healthier but still intertwined with harsh reality and heartbreak.” [Erika Ramirez, Billboard]

soultracks.com gave it an Enthusiastically Recommended, which is the first time I've ever seen a reviewer on that site give such a recommendation. I guess this proves that musical greatness is in the ear of the beholder.

http://www.soultracks.com...my-life-ii

The best review that I've seen so far from the guys at Allmusic.com (and it basically sums up mostly everything, except I would give it a lower rating):

Mary J. Blige - My Life II...The Journey Continues (Act 1):

(3 stars): Intro excepted, a devout Mary J. Blige fan could listen to these 70 minutes of music as an untitled album and never think of it as a sequel to 1994's My Life. Technically titled My Life II...The Journey ...es (Act 1) -- yes, it’s the first act of a continuation -- it’s more the successor to Blige’s previous album, Stronger with Each Tear. Blige is in a much different, presumably much better place now than she was when she made the turbulent My Life. That album has one guest who appears during a half-minute interlude; there really isn’t much room for any other voice. My Life II, like Stronger, is more like My Life and Those of Others Who Join Me, as it is it involves a succession of high-profile guests: Nas, Busta Rhymes, Drake, Rick Ross, Beyoncé, Diddy, and Lil Wayne. Those who are hoping for something in the spirit of mid-‘90s Blige might be disappointed and think of the title as a ploy, but those who expect a wide variety of material in terms of style and mood will get precisely that. The first half contains several uplifting, upbeat numbers, including a muscular cover of Rufus & Chaka Khan's “Ain’t Nobody,” where producer Rodney Jerkins seems to have placed the synthesizer bass from René & Angela's “I’ll Be Good” in a deep fryer. Chest-beating pleader “25/8” clearly aims for classic status with a Gamble/Huff sample. The second half is heavy on ballads.

The Charts

November 30, 2011

My Life II: The Journey Continues, Act I debuts at No. 5 with 156,000 units sold. Blige's last set, 2009's Stronger With Each Tear, bowed at No. 2 with 330,000.

(Source: Billboard)

Identity said:

The Charts

November 30, 2011

My Life II: The Journey Continues, Act I debuts at No. 5 with 156,000 units sold. Blige's last set, 2009's Stronger With Each Tear, bowed at No. 2 with 330,000.

(Source: Billboard)

lol HITS had it at 164,070.