Take "Set Me Free," where a swanky, winding backdrop supports stinging "hmph" lines like "You musta lost it - n*gga, you won't get a dime," followed by "There's a special place in hell for you" in dismissive high register. Clearly the time wasn't right for Blige to record a bunch of feel-good jams, but in the listener's favor, the anguish has also inspired the singer and her co-writers and producers - Brandon Hodge, Darhyl Camper, Jr., Prince Charlez, and Jazmine Sullivan, along with many others - to illustrate these ballads of confrontation and perseverance with enough specifics to distinguish them from the past work. There are self-help platitudes such as "You gotta love yourself before you love someone else," along with timeworn redemptive declarations like "I was lost but now I'm found" and "Now I'm finally free to be me." In fairness, the stock phrases are delivered with conviction, understandably weighed with a sense of "Not this bull again." The alleged extramarital antics that dragged Blige back into this darkness, after all, are as clichéd as it gets. A significant fraction of this set's sentiments are clichéd. Blige covers a lot of lyrical ground familiar to anyone who has heard her 11 previous studio albums. Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.
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