![]() ![]() Produced by the winning trifecta of Herb Middleton, Chucky Thompson and Sean "Puffy" Combs and co-written by Mary, Big Bub of Today fame and Faith Evans, who also held down background vocals with MJB, this song is as close to perfect as they come. If you don't love this song, then I truly wonder about you. One of the standouts on an already stellar album, "I Never Wanna Live Without You" is amongst a handful of tracks that can be considered Mary J. Radio producer Noor Wazwaz contributed to this story."I never wanna live without you, baby / I wanna be your lady / Love is so amazing" And, in my case, I'm not going to be broken. If I could do it without the trials - but those are the things that make us or break us. I wouldn't trade it - but the trials and tribulations I could do without. It's hard, it's a responsibility being Mary J. But it's what they do, it's the industry.ĭo you ever get tired, though, of being the woman who is always expected to overcome the hard stuff? I mean, maybe that's their strategy to make me do something - to go out and just come out swinging. Blige: to overcome those kind of negative attitudes? When it looks like you're not doing as well, or you're getting older on top of not doing well as how you used to do, they just start counting you out.ĭon't they know that that's your whole thing, as Mary J. ![]() Had your run but girl, look at the numbers." Do you feel like people in the industry have tried to count you out from time to time?īecause that's what they do. On the new album, there's a song called "Survivor," and there's a verse in here that seems to be specifically about your career: "They keep telling me Mary it's over. And I didn't realize what we had done 'til later, like "Wow, we created a whole genre of music." I just knew that I loved hip-hop and R&B, and I was doing what I loved. I wasn't conscious that I was doing something different in that moment. How conscious were you at the time that you were doing something that was different? ![]() People weren't used to hearing a singer over samples and beats. It's interesting to think back to that time, though, because hip-hop and R&B were considered to be really separate genres. It just seemed like it just - like I woke up and I was here.ĭo you ever listen back to that first album? It doesn't seem like it was that long ago, to be honest with you. This summer marks the 25th anniversary of your debut album. She just always carried herself like a woman, like a lady, and she never let us see her going through it. And as a child, I knew, but she never turned around and just started crying in our face. But through the songs she listened to, like "Victim" by Candi Staton - you knew something was wrong. We didn't live in a great environment, but she was so strong. I see her love hard and take care of her children. My mom raised us by herself, my dad wasn't there. Can you talk a little bit about where you saw her be strong? You've said that you learned how to channel strength by watching your own mom. I don't mind it all, because it hurts so good. But I believe that there's a purpose for me here on this earth, and I think it's so I can live and become these things so people can heal from them. It made me cry, and then I had to go sing it and cry and get through it. It was hard because of the pain, but it was good to get it out. Rachel Martin: What was it like to have to just walk into the studio and conjure up those lyrics? And if I don't write about it and if I don't sing about where I am in my life, I won't start a healing process. The lyrics were completely different, and it was saying things like "We just don't give up when we're in the thick of it." And then with all of this happening, it was hard to go back to the studio and do it, but I had to do it, in order to - how can I say it? - get free, because my music is therapeutic to me as well. Blige: This song was originally written about me fighting for my marriage. ![]()
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