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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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Growing Pains
by Mary J. Blige
The eighth album for the R&B singer was produced with help from The-Dream, Ne-Yo, Stargate, Dre & Vidal, and Timbaland.
| LABEL: |
Geffen |
| RELEASE DATE: |
18 December 2007 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
R&B |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
91
MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
Busta Rhymes and Ludacris get her back to where she once belonged for the duration of their openers. After that, it's an expensive, honorable, credible sampler of the hottest current R&B brands.
83
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Growing Pains sprints out of the gate with a potent double-shot of empowerment anthems.
80
NOW Magazine
The various producers behind this all pull their weight, but as usual the star is Blige’s husky voice and that charming mix of vulnerability and over-the-top diva confidence.
80
The Guardian
Her awareness of the bad times runs like a thread through every note she sings, and the album's finest moment comes when she confronts them head on.
80
Dot Music
Blige's eighth studio album [is a contender] for being the best of her career.
80
All Music Guide
She has been able to do what few others before her have: cater to her crossover audience without losing the essence of what she really is and where she came from, and so all of Growing Pains, from its upbeat beginning to its reflective, personal ending (though the last track, 'Come to Me [Peace]' is the only real miss on the entire album), doesn't seem forced or calculated.
80
PopMatters
Pleasing everyone requires quite the balancing act, but Growing Pains confirms that while it’s not yet perfected, it’s doable.
75
Entertainment Weekly
So in the end, it's just Mary: a superstar, clearly, but also a woman still in the process of finding herself. Even if that means she's imperfect (and, yes, a little preachy), at least it feels real.
70
Rolling Stone
Growing Pains is an edgier record than "The Breakthrough," but Blige has definitely lost or just outgrown the brassy urgency of her twenties.
70
Hartford Courant
She saves the best for last, though, layering piano, subtle guitar and synthesizers over a steady four-beat rhythm and singing a lilting melody with strong lyrics taking stock of life and love.
70
Village Voice
Growing Pains could use more of this insouciance, or another song that harnessed all her gifts as well as Breakthrough's "Be Without You" did. Confusing confessions with wisdom, Blige would be more fun if she'd shut up for a while and luxuriate.
70
Boston Globe
After all the sermonizing and confessions, the idea that we have to learn to live without clarity may be Blige's most arresting, and galvanizing, message.
70
New Musical Express
Growing Pains finds Blige on chirpier form.
67
Austin Chronicle
Her eighth album since 1992 and first since 2005's Grammy-winning "The Breakthrough," the former's Growing Pains starts unsteady, but its heart beats strong and sincere.
60
Slant Magazine
She keeps her most salable characteristic, her emotiveness, under duress, which provides tension but no release.
60
Blender
Much of the CD feels as though it could have been made anytime in the last 15 years.
50
Hot Press
Although there are numerous pointers as to what might have been, had Mary retained greater creative focus, there is precious little to savour here.
The average user rating for this album is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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