Ed Bradley was interviewing Mary J. Blige last Sunday. In his introduction, her compared her to Billie Holliday, Aretha Franklin, and Tina Turner.
Now, I admit I’m not much for rap, hip-hop, or the house sound, and I never heard her perform before, but when they showed clips of her various performances (at the Grammys and in concert), I was disgusted that Ed-Fucking-Bradley considered her qualified to even “roadie” for Billie, Aretha, or Tina. There is just no comparison. In my estimation, all she did was whine in every song she wrote. Her life sucked, men suck, pms sucks, blah, blah, blah. It will be difficult for me to ever listen to Ed Bradley again and attach any sort of significance to anything he says about music.
Yeah, yeah, I sound like a geezer. Did anyone else get the distinct impression Ed had never listened to her before he interviewed her?
I think the comparisons are well-deserved. I don’t know what clips they used, but if you can find an MP3 of “I Used to Love Him,” by Lauren Hill and Mary J. Blige you might see what they were talking about. They sound like angels on that song. I looked, but I’m terrible at finding stuff like that.
Really, Mary’s stuff is worth checking out before you decide she’s not fit to be a roadie for the greats.
All I saw was a lot of her bending over and screaming (not “wailing”) at the audience. In fact, I noticed almost no actual singing. Why they would choose that over something “angelic” is beyond me.
Agreed. I kept wondering if they were ever going to show a decent clip of her singing. I have seen and heard plenty from her and she’s a great singer but boy those clips were god awful. However, it’s a bit early to put her up there with the greats. She may get there, but it’s early.
Well, I’ll give her another chance. But she’s going to have to rise about a gazillion points before I’ll even whisper her name in the same sentence with Billie’s, Aretha’s or Tina’s.
I would really recommend you listen to any artist before judging them based on a 10-minute segment on 60 Minutes. This goes without saying, but I’m saying it.
Mary J. Blige has had a huge impact on contemporary R&B. There isn’t another singer in her genre that masters the scene like she does. This alone makes her an “Aretha”. I’m not a huge fan of her style of music, but I wouldn’t call her a hack. She’s got the pipes and the hits, and she’s a hundred times more talented than the Ashanti’s and Beyounce’s mugging the spotlight.
It’s unfair to compare her to Tina, who’s got a more mainstream following. Mary may or may not be as talented as Tina (I’m leaning towards “may”), but she’s automatically at a disadvantage in that comparison since she only enjoys a fraction of the fame Tina has. But for my generation? Mary J. Blige is bigger than Tina, since she speaks to things affecting us.