Today From The Vault salutes the one and only Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul. This week’s pick is Mary J Blige with the R&B classic ‘Just Fine.’
After finally finding love and peace, MJB felt it time to switch things up and record more upbeat songs.
‘Fine’ was exactly that and was released as the first single from Blige’s 2007 album ‘Growing Pains.’
The cut was helmed by Tricky Stewart and The Dream with additional production from Jazze Pha.
It was a critical home-run, earning multiple Grammy nods, and was also a moderate chart hit peaking at #22 in the US and #16 in the UK.
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Chris Applebaum directed the song’s visual which was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2008 VMAs. The clip depicted Mary showcasing her signature dance moves in front of various backdrops, and rocking high fashion couture. Although she is the only protagonist in the vid, her charisma and all around swag are alone to make it a highly enjoyable moment.
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Though recent years haven’t been her most prolific on the chart front, it seems Mary’s legendary status has only grown stronger.
25 years + later, she hasn’t lost any of what made her a class act — unlike some of her peers.
At a time where power ballads are as big as turn up anthems, maybe Mary can score herself another big track a la ‘Be Without You’ or ‘No More Drama’? Or, given how versatile she is, perhaps a fun song akin to ‘Just Fine’ is what the comeback doctor ordered?
Either way, we’re ready when you are, MJB!
One of my favorites from her.
I love this song, I dont see how it didn’t cross into contemporary gospel like Jill Scott’s “Golden”.
A bop!
There will be no major comeback as radio of all formats considers her an oldies artist now or Adult Comtemporary. So she could come out with a true banger and it still wouldn’t chart like it would had she been 6-10 years younger. These young artist need to start speaking out on ageism in the industry as eventually it will get them too.
Oh well. She can still rule the adult contemporary charts which is more than most artists 25+ years into their music career can say.
I like how the article references her being a versatile artist in music. She will always be my queen. When there a lot of record labels trying to recreate an artist whole swagger that how you know you made it.
Very good album but she didnt release the good singles during this era
The Growing Pains album debuted with a whopping 629,000 copies sold! (And shockingly it wasn’t #1. It was #2.)
Then it climbed to #1 the following week with 204,000 sold.
Sold 691,000 actually