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Growing Pains - Mary J. Blige
Metascore
77 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
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  1. MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
    91
    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.
  2. The A.V. Club
    83
    Growing Pains sprints out of the gate with a potent double-shot of empowerment anthems.
  3. Dot Music
    80
    Blige's eighth studio album [is a contender] for being the best of her career.
  4. All Music Guide
    80
    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.
  5. The Guardian
    80
    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.
  6. NOW Magazine
    80
    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.
  7. PopMatters
    80
    Pleasing everyone requires quite the balancing act, but Growing Pains confirms that while it's not yet perfected, it's doable.
  8. Entertainment Weekly
    75
    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.
  9. New Musical Express (NME)
    70
    Growing Pains finds Blige on chirpier form.
  10. Rolling Stone
    70
    Growing Pains is an edgier record than "The Breakthrough," but Blige has definitely lost or just outgrown the brassy urgency of her twenties.
  11. Village Voice
    70
    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.
  12. Boston Globe
    70
    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.
  13. Hartford Courant
    70
    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.
  14. Austin Chronicle
    67
    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.
  15. Blender
    60
    Much of the CD feels as though it could have been made anytime in the last 15 years.
  16. Slant Magazine
    60
    She keeps her most salable characteristic, her emotiveness, under duress, which provides tension but no release.
  17. Hot Press
    50
    Although there are numerous pointers as to what might have been, had Mary retained greater creative focus, there is precious little to savour here.
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User Reviews

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User Score
8.8 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. DillonH.
    9
    excellent album. but on track 2 she sounds constipated. other than that great grl
  2. Fez
    10
    This is the best, let Alicia have a rest with her album with 4 hits, this CD has all the hits to rptate the radio in 2008.
  3. [Anonymous]
    10
    This album is great from start to finish. I can't take it out of the cd player. the more I listen to it the more I actually listen to the words. A lot of the songs i can relate too.… Full Review »
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