Growing Pains (album)

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For the Billie Myers album, see Growing, Pains.
Growing Pains
Growing Pains cover
Studio album by Mary J. Blige
Released October 31, 2007 (See release history)
Recorded 2007
Genre R&B, soul, hip hop soul
Label Geffen
Producer Neff-U, Dejoin, Tricky Stewart, Jazze Pha, Bryan-Michael Cox, Dre & Vidal, The Neptunes, Stargate, Charles Harmony, Ne-Yo, Syience, Kuk Harrell(Vocal Production)
Professional reviews
Mary J. Blige chronology
Reflections - A Retrospective
(2006)		 Growing Pains
(2007)
Singles from Growing Pains
  1. "Just Fine"
    Released: October 16, 2007
  2. "Stay Down"
    Released: March 2008
  3. "Work That"
    Released: 2008

Growing Pains is the eighth platinum studio album by American R&B/soul singer Mary J. Blige. The album was released on December 18, 2007 (see 2007 in music) on Geffen Records. Growing Pains was ranked #29 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

"It's not reliving where I been. [The album is] just based on where I am", Blige told MTV News on October 22 on the set of the video for her new single, "Just Fine".

“ So many people are like, 'I'm perfect.' I'm so imperfect, that's why I'm able to let everything out and let people see everything. 'Cause I'm just a mess like every other person that's a mess out there. And it's going to take probably a lifetime to get to a point in my life where I'm like, 'Oh, I'm perfect.' I don't think that will ever happen. So as long as I'm a human being and I'm not perfect, I'm able to say I'm having some growing pains. Because in order to sustain where you are once you made such a breakthrough that everyone is looking at you, now everyone is like, 'Ooh, is she gonna make a mistake?' Yes, I'm going to make a mistake. Yes, I'm still gonna do things. And that's what Growing Pains is about, it's about finally not whining about the pain, Mary J. Blige, and accepting the pain that comes with growing. ”

[edit] Critical reception

Reviewers' response to the album was mostly positive, currently holding a score of 76 (out of 100) on music review aggregation website Metacritic. Some critics, however, were unimpressed by the album's overly familiar themes.[2] The All Music Guide gave the album four out of five stars and called Growing Pains "a mature, polished, and utterly professional set of well-crafted songs. Blige, as always, is in great vocal form: her clear, distinctive voice carries the record..."[3] While UrbanMusicReviews.com said that "Both vocally and lyrically, Mary J. impresses on Growing Pains."[4] Robert Christgau awarded the album 3 1/2 stars (out of 5) in the December 13, 2007, Rolling Stone and in his Consumer Guide (http://robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=896&name=Mary+J.+Blige) gave it an A minus: "Back in the day, the Aretha comparisons were ignorant--Mary's early albums weren't all they were cracked up to be, and neither was her voice. But a decade and a half later, she deserves respect. Like Aretha, her hip-hop soul has long since transmuted into a working relationship with actually existing black pop, which right now just means pop. On 2005's breakthrough The Breakthrough, that was interpreted to mean soft. This time, happily, 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, with multiple nods to Ne-Yo and "Umbrella." Even the homiletic "Stay Down" will grow on you, though not for as long as Geffen hopes. The comparison this all doesn't quite live up to: Aretha's multiproduced, hip-hop-friendly A Rose Is Still a Rose, now disgracefully out of print (though you can buy it cheap used). Ten years from now, this best-seller won't have suffered that fate--if "in print" means anything at all in 2018. A- "

[edit] Chart performance

Growing Pains sold 629,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart[5] and number one on the R&B chart.[citation needed] In its second week the album climbed to number one on the Billboard 200 with 204,000 copies sold.[6] As of April 24, 2008, the album has sold about 1,421,929 copies[citation needed] in the United States alone making it eligable for a platinum certification. In the UK, the album entered the charts at Number 6, making it her highest charting album there since No More Drama in 2001 and gained first week sales of 21,755.

[edit] Track listing

# Title Length Songwriters Guest(s) Producer(s)
1 "Work That" 3:31 Mary J. Blige, Theron Otis Feemster, Sean Garrett Neff-U, Sean Garrett
2 "Grown Woman" 4:05 Christopher Bridges, Dejion Madison, Mary J. Blige, Terius Nash Ludacris Neff-U, Mary J. Blige, Sean Garrett
3 "Just Fine" 4:02 Terius Nash, Mary J. Blige, Jazze Pha, Chris "Tricky" Stewart Tricky Stewart, Jazze Pha
4 "Feel Like a Woman" 4:02 Theron Otis Feemster, Mary J. Blige, Terius Nash Neff-U
5 "Stay Down" 4:23 Mary J. Blige, Johnta Austin, Bryan-Michael Cox Bryan-Michael Cox
6 "Hurt Again" 4:08 Mary J. Blige, Andre Harris, Vidal Davis, Brian Sledge Dre & Vidal
7 "Shake Down" 3:36 Terius Nash, Mary J. Blige, Jazze Pha, Tricky Stewart Usher Tricky Stewart, Jazze Pha
8 "Till the Morning" 4:18 Pharrell Williams The Neptunes
9 "Roses" 4:36 Terius Nash, Mary J. Blige, Tricky Stewart Tricky Stewart
10 "Fade Away" 4:16 Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Mary J. Blige, Ne-Yo Stargate
11 "What Love Is" 4:03 Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Mary J. Blige, Ne-Yo Stargate
12 "Work in Progress (Growing Pains)" 4:01 Charles Harmony, Ne-Yo Charles Harmony, Ne-Yo
13 "Talk to Me" 4:10 Robert Wright, Mary J. Blige, Eric Hudson, Verdine White, Johnta Austin Eric Hudson
14 "If You Love Me?" 3:40 Mary J. Blige, Johnta Austin, Bryan-Michael Cox Bryan-Michael Cox
15 "Smoke" 3:10 Reggie Perry, Ne-Yo Syience
16 "Come to Me (Peace)" 5:02 Terius Nash, Mary J. Blige, Kuk Harrell, Tricky Stewart Tricky Stewart

[edit] Japanese edition

# Title Length Songwriters Guest(s) Producer(s)
17 "Nowhere Fast" 3:46 Mary Jane Blige, Christopher Stewart, Phalon Alexander, Terius Nash Brook Lynn Tricky Stewart, Jazze Pha
18 "Hello It's Me" (Isley Brothers Cover) 4:07 Todd Rundgren Mark Ronson
19 "Mirror" 3:54 Mary Jane Blige, Christopher Stewart, Terius Nash, Kuk Harrell, Eve Jeffers Eve Tricky Stewart
20 "Sleep Walkin'" 4:24 Mary Jane Blige, Christopher Stewart, Tricky Stewart

[edit] iTunes edition

  1. "Nowhere Fast"
  2. "Hello It's Me"
  3. "Mirror" (featuring Eve)
  • "Just Fine" (Remix) (featuring Lil Mama) (iTunes pre-order only)
  • Digital Booklet - Growing Pains

[edit] iTunes UK edition

  1. "Nowhere Fast"
  2. "Hello It's Me"
  3. "Mirror" (featuring Eve)
  4. "Just Fine (Moto Blanco Vox Mix Remix)"
  • Digital Booklet - Growing Pains

[edit] Charts

Chart (2007/2008) Peak
position		 Certification
Canadian Albums Chart 41
Dutch Albums Chart 31
French Albums Chart 73
German Albums Chart 32
Greek Albums Chart 42
Irish Albums Chart 47
Italian Albums Chart 44
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart 22
Romanian Albums Chart 8
Swedish Albums Chart 6
Swiss Album Chart 6
U.S. Billboard 200 [7] 1
U.S. Billboard R&B 1
UK Album Chart[8] 6
United World Chart [7] 2 1,900,000+

[edit] Release history

Region Date
Haiti October 31, 2007
United States December 8, 2007
United Kingdom February 4, 2008

[edit] References

  1. ^ Robert Christgau, David Fricke, Christian Hoard, Rob Sheffield (December 17, 2007). Growing Pains top the Billboard 200, charting at #2."The Top 50 Albums of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-20
  2. ^ BLENDER, "Mary J. Blige - Growing Pains", blender.com, December 18, 2007.
  3. ^ All Music Guide, "Growing Pains", allmusic.com, December 27, 2007.
  4. ^ Urban Music Reviews, "Mary J. Blige - Growing Pains", urbanmusicreviews.com, December 18, 2007.
  5. ^ Brandi Hopper, "Mary J. Blige Sells 629K On The Billboard 200, Jahiem & Lupe Fiasco Surprise", sohh.com, December 27, 2007.
  6. ^ Katie Hasty, "Blige Topples Groban, Radiohead Debuts Early", Billboard.com, January 2, 2008.
  7. ^ a b "Mary J. Blige - Growing Pains worldwide chart positions and trajectories". aCharts.us. Retrieved January 3, 2008.
  8. ^ BBC - Radio 1 - Chart Show - The UK Top 40 Albums
Preceded by
Noël by Josh Groban		 Billboard 200 number-one album
January 12 - January 18, 2008		 Succeeded by
In Rainbows by Radiohead
v • d • e
Mary J. Blige
Studio albums
What's the 411? (1992) • My Life (1994) • Share My World (1997) • Mary (1999) •No More Drama (2001) • Love & Life (2003) • The Breakthrough (2005) • Growing Pains (2007)
Other albums
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