It started with the Lil Wayne and Diddy-assisted “Someone to Love Me (Naked),” a return to her hip-hop soul roots, and a track her Uptown Records affiliate first added to his Last Train to Paris album. With My Life II…The Journey Continues (Act I), Blige offered an alternative view of her love story to her then-husband and manager, through more involved songwriting and arrangements toned down in antique samples and graced by more contemporary production thanks to studio accomplices such as Danja, Sean Garrett, and Rico Love.Ī handful of radio singles were issued ahead of My Life II’s November 2011 release.
Blige announced a sequel to her beloved 1994 album My Life, she had fans on their knees in gratitude for the resurgence of emotional uneasiness and fractured confessions of heartbreak and longing. The album lacks Stronger with Each Tear's focus and really bears no relation to My Life, apart from being an album by Mary J. There are numerous ballads that drift along at similar tempos, yet the sonic makeup from one track to another greatly varies, and not one of them truly sticks out to rank with Blige’s best. The second half, as with almost every other second half of a 70-minute album, sags. Chest-beating pleader “25/8” clearly aims for classic status with a Gamble/ Huff sample. The first half contains several uplifting, upbeat numbers, including a strong 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. 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, mood, and quality will get precisely that. 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.
That album has one guest who appears during a half-minute interlude there really isn’t much room for any other voice. Blige is in a much different, presumably much better place now than she was when she made the turbulent My Life. Technically titled My Life II.The Journey Continues (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 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.
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