In that location isn't a defended Hip Hop fan alive who doesn't call up the standout guest vocals from Mary J. Blige on Method Homo'south 1995 boom hit "I'll Exist At that place For You/Yous're All I Demand To Get By." The undeniable air of cool she exuded every bit she sang aslope i of Wu-Tang Clan'southward most infamous members was unforgettable. Twenty-three years later, the Queen of Hip Hop Soul has a litany of classic albums nether her belt, including What's The 411, My Life, Share My World and Mary. Each project played like a deeply emotional, sonic diary she used to purge every raw emotion she was experiencing. From substance abuse and depression to a string of failed relationships, her life circumstances provided enough fuel to sustain her fairly consistent creative output.

While she may accept quelled her drug habit and alcoholism, the Bronx native's 13th studio album, Strength of a Woman, finds her tackling a familiar field of study — the dissolution of another human relationship. This fourth dimension, however, the stakes are much higher. In July 2016, Blige announced she was divorcing her married man of 13 years, Kendu Isaacs, afterwards she discovered he allegedly spent over $400,000 on a mistress and had been unfaithful for years. Her estranged ex and sometime managing director is reportedly seeking spousal support, which could upshot in an ugly court battle in the near future.

Therefore, Strength of a Woman comes at a pivotal fourth dimension in her life, as she learns how to exist alone again for the start fourth dimension in over a decade. Showtime with "Love Yourself" featuring Kanye West, the 14-track confessional swings from feelings of empowerment ("Glow Upwards" featuring DJ Khaled, Missy Elliott and Quavo) to moments of defeat ("Information technology's Me") to just every other emotion in between, including anger.

On "Ready Me Gratis," she sings, "There's a special identify in hell for you/you gonna to pay for what you did to me/I'g gonna tell you/because the truth will ready me complimentary," words that evoke an paradigm of the scorned singer sitting in her studio furiously jotting down the lyrics while she attempts to make sense of her crumbling wedlock. The track likewise offers upward one of the most telling lines of the projection when she says, "And what I constitute out 'bout you was enough to become insane/all this fourth dimension to remember that you were just here for my name," which must have been an excruciating realization that the person she thought would be with her 'til death practise they part was seemingly using her to fulfill his own selfish interests.

Hurting is practically synonymous with art, so it's not surprising Blige has delivered another round of raw, gritty and emotionally transparent songwriting. Penning the album was likely just every bit benign for her as it is for her fans who get to heed to information technology. Musically, "Telling The Truth," produced past Kaytranada and BADBADNOTGOOD, is ane of the about sonically enticing with its stripped downwardly drums and slow, syrupy soul essence. Album closer, the funky "Hi Father," ends the 57-infinitesimal journey on a spiritual note and reveals her means to conservancy — her belief in something greater than herself, which is sometimes the only way to survive such a traumatic event.

Despite the self-empowerment theme of the anthology intro, the aforementioned "Dear Yourself" with 'Ye, it'southward easy to question if she'south truly as potent as she'southward trying to portray. Anyone who's suffered through a humiliating and extremely public breakup presumably spends at least a few nights crying themselves to sleep. For the 46-year-quondam powerhouse, nonetheless, it'south clear music is her catharsis and Strength of a Woman will inadvertently non only help her muster upwards the courage to carry on just will too inspire her fans to practise the same.