![]() Whitney Houston last charted Blige’s short route to the summit for the 1995 smash “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”īy the time Blige released the album’s second single, “U + Me (Love Lesson),” in February 2017, the lead track had spent an amazing 16 consecutive week run atop the Adult R&B Airplay chart, marking her longest run. This top-tier bar of drip and rage is the highlight of Foxwood Resort Casino performances, as well as the supporting, gold-studded music video directed by Dennis Leupold.Īnticipation for Blige’s divorce album surged, and when the “Thick of It” impacted radio in fall 2016, it raced to the top of the R&B radio and Billboard charts in a four-week record time. The most exciting and potent part of “Thick of It” is its second verse, flowing like an unofficial fourth member of Migos, testing the limits as a present-day R&B artist. I need Prince Charlez more than ever right now because I knew what was going to bring the best out of her.” Now we need you to work more with Jazmine Sullivan. “I knew who and what needed to happen from then on. In an exclusive interview, Eddie Fourcell, Blige’s A&R, concurred with her statement, telling Rated R&B that it became “very necessary to do more sessions” after the divorce news broke. “The lyrics were completely different, and it was saying things like ‘We just don’t give up when we’re in the thick of it.’” “This song was originally written about me fighting for my marriage,” she told NPR’s Rachael Martin in 2017. She states clearly her firm stance on commitment, detailing to the song’s philandering lover that she will “be damned if all these years I let you diss me.”īrimming with brazen hurt and agonizing questioning, Blige lays it plain on the chorus, achingly singing, “So tell me who / Who’s gonna love you like I do? (Who will you trust?) / I gave you too much / Enough is enough / Now we’re in the thick of it.”īlige mentioned in multiple interviews that the line above wasn’t on the original version. This emotionally raw track opens with Blige thoughtfully brooding if she should put up a fight for the failing relationship. “Thick of It,” a DJ Camper-produced juggernaut, is sourced from a furious drum pattern and quaking bass line credited from the opening of Bay City Rollers’ 1975 classic “Give a Little Love.” Camper doesn’t deviate much from the sample, intensifying it with a trap soul finesse applied through pockets of each verse, an approach then-made current on songs by the likes of Bryson Tiller and Sullivan. She introduced Sullivan to her dedicated fanbase as a special guest on her fall 2010 tour Music Saved My Life and recorded and remixed a couple of tracks together before reuniting for Blige’s 2016 single. Hailing from Philadelphia, Sullivan is an artist Blige has admired since she tied fans over in 2008 with her breakthrough debut album Fearless. She was able to tap back into the scorned-woman version of her prowess adored by many through the writing assistance from another open and honest diva who’s equally proficient at heartbreak and transparency: Jazmine Sullivan. The crowd’s positive reaction to what many described as the return of old Mary vastly spread online and through word of mouth, eventually prompting her to officially release the song a week later and serve it as Strength of a Woman ’s lead single. ![]()
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