Even through her less popular releases as of late, she has been able to maintain me as a fan. I’m not chanting “Open! Open! Open!” standing outside of music stores, waiting for her latest release, but I’ve been fairly faithful. I’m the ideal fan that any artist could ever really ask for, am I not? I’m the type of fan that would hold on and wait for their favorite artist to find the inspiration or either link up with the right producers to make that magical platinum album again. Let’s look at Maxwell; we waited, he delivered, and we’re grateful. So again, I ask myself, if it hasn’t been her music that keeps me holding on, what is it about Mary J. Blige? There is something about Mary.
Is it her story of pain and triumph that we’ve read about countless times before in magazine articles? The story about the drugs, self-esteem issues, and an unhealthy relationship of a jealous, now cracked out 1990s R&B boy band group member? A story that she and reemerging songstress Whitney Houston whom is featured on this month’s issue of Ebony share; and both have shared with our favorite sister-girl talk show host, Oprah Winfrey. Delicately, with no intentions to be insensitive to the plight that many sisters share with these songbirds – and giving credit to them offering up their stories to the public which helped so many oppressed women to make that decision between life and death – I must say that I’ve been little tired for some time now of being hammered over the head with those black type faced letters, words, and articles reliving the sad moments in Mary’s life that populates in magazines like Essence and Ebony and countless others within various publications across the country all have drawn out on this overdrawn account of Mary’s back-story of pain. How healthy is it for an artist to relive the past through interviews, and how long will we relive it with them by reading these articles?
So, here we are, with two triumphant divas competing against each other on the newsstand this month; Mary graces the cover of Essence for the tenth time, and Whitney sits pretty on Ebony. Which one do I reach for first? What it boils down to is which magazine has that cover that gleams through the tagged window as the train slows down and seduces you as your walk closer to it down the platform? Both women are equally beautiful, and as mentioned before share similar stories; so there are no high expectations on what we will read inside. Hands down, it’s Mary on the cover of Essence that wins my dollar. It’s the tone-on-tone photo by Giuliano Bekor, the gorgeous magenta background color, the modern magenta Judy Jetson inspired Dsquared2 dress, the turquoise jewelry that pops, the hair, the makeup, and to the very last detail – her metal finished minxed nails – and it didn’t hurt that they spared us from the arm tats on this cover.
As confusing at it may seem, you may ask me, “Well, if you’re so tired of the Mary Mag-a-Thon, then why are you still picking up these titles?” Cleary, that something about Mary is her image and style that helps me to remain a loyal fan through my hiatus of her drowning positivity. Maybe it’s not the tracks that I love on Mary’s recent releases but it damn sure is the album artwork, her ability to reinvent her image, and the way she presents herself to the public. If I can describe Mary’s style, it incorporates the classic flair of First Lady Michele Obama’s style, but with a more forming fitting and “hood-chic” glamour. The hip-hop essence that she exuded with “What’s The 411?” now presents itself in an updated and mature magic in very cleaver ways. For example, the classic hooded sweatshirt is now the updated chic hooded cashmere sweater combination that you can find her rocking on the T-Mobile’s latest television ad campaign. The “wife beater” on the Love & Life album cover is modernized by pairing it with white studded bubble skirt. Its Mary’s hair, clothes – IMAGE – in a nut shell that keeps me wanting to see more of her on these glossed covers and editorials. I think that Mary deserves a special collectors issue from one of these publications; dedicated entirely to her style and chameleon-like transformations presented in a chronological order. I’m sure that Essence has figured out that when Mary’s on the cover their magazine sells – they owe her for that.
But there's something else that these magazines owe her - a break! I credit my lack of enthusiasm for Mary’s new releases to magazine articles and her overpowering positivity on records. Is there a ying and yang between records titled "I'm Fine" and articles titled "Love and Pain". Is there a direct correlation between the superfluous negative text and the relentless positive albums spilling from Mary? Is there a way that this polarized relationship can flip? Is there a possibility that there could be a balance of the positive and for the lack of a better word, negative, that an artist can draw from to keep their fans satisfied? I could only imagine what an artist must face when trying to pull away from the heartache in their lives while at the same time draw from for inspiration. But, I would rather listen to bits of artistic pain through multiple unique songs than to read it over and over again. There has to be a balance that ironically enough, a lot of us fans would prefer to hear that relates to the low times of life as well of the highs which partly defines R&B.
I say that this “village bicycle - recycled journalism” with the same broken story circling the newsstand deserves a flat tire by now? I partly blame you journalists and magazine editors for supplying Mary with the fuel to keep writing women suffrage songs. Here’s a note for the “wriders”; pump the breaks, and shift gears because it seems that thankfully Mary with the help of Essence magazine has changed speeds and left you to join the critical mass. It’s evident because in this months issue of Essence, the questions they posed to her were questions they've charged readers to ask Mary and honestly I feel a bit of hope drawing near. Some of the questions touched on topics that we’ve never heard discussed before. It was a good idea to have the audience pose questions that we wanted to ask, and it feels that it was within the universal subconscious that we were tired of the drama. Perhaps, if print media can stay positive, it’ll give some room for Mary to slide to the other side of zero on some upcoming records. And, after listening to a few snippets on iTunes things are warming up; meaning that I’m almost ready to take Mary out of the extra deep freezer out in the garage. I’m starting to sense something hot to help me thaw out my past disappointments. Maybe with "Stronger" Mary's image and music will later explain what it is about Mary, with editorial content playing a major role in this shift.
I’m only expecting Whitney on the cover Essence on next month’s issue. One can only image how gorgeous she’ll be on the cover as well, but she’s too fresh on the scene for me to make an honest commentary about what I can expect to read in the article. The pattern has already started with her spilling it all to Oprah and Ebony, but I’ll be damned that if for another five years, every article that I read about Whitney discusses her marriage to Bobby “Doo Doo” Brown. I hope that Essence helps to change the course of direction here, please don’t let me down. You can only dwell and keep talking about the past for just a while, and what type of therapy is that for a woman who has gone through such a traumatic phase in her life to keep revisiting the past. I don’t mind seeing Whitney on a few more covers in the near future but, let’s not let the essence of these women, no pun intended, be wrapped up in all of that drama. Let's hear it for, "Drama off the pages lets get it on the record” - in a different light.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment