No More Drama

Mary J. Blige has always commanded the respect of her peers, and as usual the album features an abundance of movers and shakers like Missy Elliot and Dr Dre on production. I’ve never really understood what all the fuss is about – Blige has quite a limited vocal range which never lives up to the skills of her talented collaborators, and her fifth album is no exception.

The opening tracks here are tense and highly-strung, Mary’s voice coiling and flexing dangerously around beats which are often a bit too brittle to be particularly funky, although she excels on club-oriented dance anthems like the Dre-produced ‘Family Affair’. Song’s like ‘Keep it Moving’ and ‘Dance For Me’ also have a tough and hard-bitten groove that works.

The title track ‘No More Drama’ features an inspired sample from the theme to TV soap The Young And The Restless, and as old habits die hard, there is plenty of drama to behold.

The latter half of the album is more upbeat, although I wouldn’t say the timbre of her voice is that well-suited to uplifting numbers, like ‘Destiny’ & ‘Beautiful Day’, although the positive vibes come through thanks to crisp production on tracks like the Police-sampling ‘Dance For Me’ and ‘Where I’ve Been’ featuring Eve. The album (eventually) peters out with a number of smooth and strong-spirited, if laborious and long-winded ballads. Perhaps one day she’ll live up to her reputation as an r’n’b diva, but it’ll take a lot more than what we’re getting here.