Mary J. Blige's Growing Pains: A Decent Effort for R&B Songstress

Mary J. Blige is one of the biggest stars in R&B. She has been around since the early '90s and is still as relevant today as she was back then. Two years ago, she released The Breakthrough, which finally broke Mary completely through to the mainstream public. Now, she is back with her new album, Growing Pains. Will Growing Pains be able to top the success of The Breakthrough?

The first single off of Growing Pains is Just Fine. The song is written by Terius "The Dream" Nash and produced by Christopher "Tricky" Stewart. The song takes Mary away from her comfort zone with a more up-tempo song. The result is a very solid song. The beat is very catchy and the sample of Michael Jackson's Don't Stop Till You Get Enough fits perfectly.

Work That is definitely a female empowering track. The song is fairly solid and talks about how females should try to overcome all of the negatives in society and from other females. The song is uplifting but not one of the strongest tracks on the album.

Work In Progress (Growing Pains) is one of the strongest tracks on the album. The song is incredibly catchy and one of the better Mary tracks in recent memory. The song is uplifting and shows that we are works in progress as people which is a good message.

Grown Woman features rapper Ludacris. The track is nothing special. The song sounds a little too young for an artist like Mary J. Blige. The beat and the vocal performance jus seem to not fit with Mary's persona. The song features a solid verse from Ludacris.

Shake Down features R&B singer Usher. The song is fairly disappointing. The combination of Mary J. Blige and Usher should have been able to deliver a more solid effort than this lackluster track. The track showcases Usher's improving vocal ability but not much else.

Smoke is a beautiful ballad. The track features a simplistic piano riff and lush strings. The track almost builds into a show-tune when it goes to the pre-chorus. The song is just interesting and well put together.

What Love Is is a very solid track. The song will definitely get the attention of current Mary fans. The song is one of the strongest tracks on the album and is similar to other recent Mary singles.

Feel Like A Woman is another strong track. The only negative part of the track is the background tracks on the verses and the bridges. The background parts bring the track down from being as good as it can be.

If You Love Me? is another very solid ballad. The track gets to show off Mary's vocal ability which is one of her trademarks. The song is very similar to a great deal of material from The Breakthrough.

Growing Pains is a solid effort for Mary J. Blige. The album may not be as strong as The Breakthrough, however, the album features a number of good songs. Growing Pains gets 8 out of 10 stars. If you are a fan of Mary J. Blige, make sure you pick up Growing Pains when it is available in stores on December 18^th.