the power of an honest heart
Posted by Mark Greene Fri, 17/05/2002 - 5:16pm :: Music | more by Mark Greene
Mary J Blige is the queen of hip-hop soul, and she combines rapid-fire lyrics with the emotional intensity of a gospel singer and a rhythm section with more drums than the Zulu nation. It's compelling, even if it's not to everyone's taste.
Blige herself has been through a lot - brought up on the wrong side of the tracks, she found fame but lost herself in drugs and self-destructive melodramas, and plunged towards suicide.
But then came God.
And then a new tour and a new album. A cynic, or even a realist, might expect the music press to pour scorn on Blige's new-found faith. So far, however, few have turned to the flip-side. David Smyth wrote in The Standard that, in one performance, 'she began to cry, but her unembarassing honesty encouraged sympathy, not sneering… Never have clean living and common sense sounded so appealing.' Dotcom.music suggested that 'Jesus might be a pretty good man to know if he gets you this high.'
It is Blige's authenticity, her non-manipulative sincerity that is so compelling. She and her music have the fragrance of the real and because she tells it like it is, people don't seem to mind her telling it. There's a new stability in her life, as the album's title No More Drama suggests. And a new freedom: 'Thank you God for setting me free/And thank you God - for giving me back me.'
Interestingly, 'telling it like it is' usually turns out to be just as effective in our personal interactions as in public performance. We do the Gospel a disservice, and impose a terrible burden on ourselves, if we believe that we have to gird up our loins to be joyous all the time, to pretend that everything is always OK.
Conversely, when we share what's really going on in our lives, our friends are more likely to be drawn towards Jesus by our humanity than to be discouraged that our relationship with him hasn't made us immune to disappointment, delivered us from disagreements with our spouse or liberated us from every tremor of anxiety over our future.
Thank God for the humanity of the psalms, full, as they are, of so many painful but common emotions, as well as so many glorious expressions of joy and praise.
Honesty has ever been the best policy. With God and our neighbour.
Mark Greene
Mary J Blige's album No More Drama is currently number 5 in the charts. Her single - the title track from the album - entered the UK singles chart this week at number 9.
Blige herself has been through a lot - brought up on the wrong side of the tracks, she found fame but lost herself in drugs and self-destructive melodramas, and plunged towards suicide.
But then came God.
And then a new tour and a new album. A cynic, or even a realist, might expect the music press to pour scorn on Blige's new-found faith. So far, however, few have turned to the flip-side. David Smyth wrote in The Standard that, in one performance, 'she began to cry, but her unembarassing honesty encouraged sympathy, not sneering… Never have clean living and common sense sounded so appealing.' Dotcom.music suggested that 'Jesus might be a pretty good man to know if he gets you this high.'
It is Blige's authenticity, her non-manipulative sincerity that is so compelling. She and her music have the fragrance of the real and because she tells it like it is, people don't seem to mind her telling it. There's a new stability in her life, as the album's title No More Drama suggests. And a new freedom: 'Thank you God for setting me free/And thank you God - for giving me back me.'
Interestingly, 'telling it like it is' usually turns out to be just as effective in our personal interactions as in public performance. We do the Gospel a disservice, and impose a terrible burden on ourselves, if we believe that we have to gird up our loins to be joyous all the time, to pretend that everything is always OK.
Conversely, when we share what's really going on in our lives, our friends are more likely to be drawn towards Jesus by our humanity than to be discouraged that our relationship with him hasn't made us immune to disappointment, delivered us from disagreements with our spouse or liberated us from every tremor of anxiety over our future.
Thank God for the humanity of the psalms, full, as they are, of so many painful but common emotions, as well as so many glorious expressions of joy and praise.
Honesty has ever been the best policy. With God and our neighbour.
Mark Greene
Mary J Blige's album No More Drama is currently number 5 in the charts. Her single - the title track from the album - entered the UK singles chart this week at number 9.
