Mary J. Blige's Reflections - a Review

Mary J. Blige has been making chart topping songs for over a decade. When she released What's the 411? in 1992 she was quickly crowned the Queen of Hip Hop Soul. Her career skyrocketed with her albums My Life, Share My World, Mary, No More Drama, Love & Life, and last years' The Breakthrough. She just won nine Billboard Awards and has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards. With so many hits through the years Blige has just recently put out a new album of some of her greatest hits called Reflections - A Retrospective.

Reflections consist of 15 tracks. There are four brand new songs with the other eleven songs consisting of past hits from Blige's large catalog of hits. One of the new songs We Ride (I See the Future) is already getting some radio airplay. Blige has put together an album that has quite a few of her classic hits. She has chart toppers such as Real Love from What's the 411? album, I'm Going Down from the My Life album, Family Affair from the No More Drama album, and the number one single Be Without You from last years' The Breakthrough album. She also has I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By with Method Man, which is a song that started the emergence of rappers and R&B singers doing duets together. There are several other hit songs on Reflections that will remind listeners why Mary J. Blige has had such a successful career.

Like most greatest hits albums, Reflections can't fit all of Blige's top hits. Though it would have been nice if Reflections had added You Remind Me, Reminisce, Deep Inside, and Everything, just to name a few of Blige's many hits that are not on this album. Some of those hit songs that are missing from Reflections are songs that help establish Blige's strong fan base. Because Blige has been in the music game so long and has rack up so many hits through the years, it may have been better to make Reflections a double CD, instead of a single CD, so she could satisfy more of her fans. Possibly Blige may be holding out putting out all of her greatest hits right now, because she may be planning on putting out a greatest hits part 2 album in the future.