The Breakthrough

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The Breakthrough
Studio album by Mary J. Blige
Released	December 20, 2005
Recorded	2004-2005
Genre	R&B, hip hop soul
Length	72:15
Label	Geffen
Producer	9th Wonder, Bryan-Michael Cox, Cool & Dre, Dre & Vidal, D. Emile, Ron Fair, Rich Harrison, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Rodney Jerkins, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Raphael Saadiq, Chucky Thompson for The Hitmen, will.i.am
Professional reviews
About.com link Allmusic link Entertainment Weekly (B+) link The Guardian link The Independent link New York Times (favorable) link NME (8/10) link Rolling Stone link Slant link Village Voice (mixed) link
Mary J. Blige chronology
Love & Life (2003) The Breakthrough (2005) Reflections (A Retrospective) (2006)

The Breakthrough is the seventh studio album by American R&B-soul singer Mary J. Blige, released in December 20, 2005 on Geffen Records. The album opened with over 729,000 units in the United States, becoming her highest first week sales of her career, and the second-highest first-week sales by a female R&B artist, only behind Alicia Keys' As I Am. The album is certified four-times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Background

In spite of buzz circulating in the summer of 2004 that Blige's next release would be a retrospective aptly titled Reminisce, she and her label formally announced that an album of brand-new material was on the way instead. The cover, featuring a close-up shot of the singer, was done by noted celebrity photographer duo, Markus and Indrani.

Production on the album included Blige herself, Rodney Jerkins, will.i.am, Bryan-Michael Cox, 9th Wonder, Davel "Bo" Mckenzie, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Raphael Saadiq, Cool and Dre, and Dre & Vidal, and the album includes a duet with U2 on the cover of their 1992 hit, "One", which was released as the second single in Europe and Latin America.

Reception

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The album debuted at #1 on both the R&B albums and Billboard 200 albums charts selling 729,000 copies in its first week, making it the fifth largest first-week sales for a female artist, and the fourth largest debut of 2005. It also marked the largest first week sales for a female R&B artist until November 2007, when Alicia Keys' As I Am sold 742,400 copies, a solid 13,400 more.

A return to Mary's prime, the leadoff single "Be Without You" quickly raced up both the R&B and pop singles charts; "Be Without You" topped the R&B singles chart for a record-setting 15 consecutive weeks, and peaked at number 3 on the Hot 100.

The album's second single "Enough Cryin" was not as successful as "Be Without You", as it peaked at #32 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it fared well on the R&B chart, hitting #2. The album also went gold in Australia on the ARIA charts.

"Enough Cryin" was originally supposed to feature rapper Foxy Brown. Brown recorded her rap for the song, and according to original rumors she was removed because she was recording this during the time she lost her hearing. On BET's 106 and Park Blige revealed that not only did Jay-Z write Foxy's rap, but also that Foxy did not sound right on the track, and then the idea was hatched that Blige could record the rap. This was a huge deal, though not at first but over time drew attention. Blige confirmed the years of speculation that Brown does not write her own rhymes, which has practically been accepted in the hip hop community. A video of the interview was posted on YouTube for a period of time, and was used by fans of Brown's rival Lil' Kim to taunt fans of Brown.

"One" was released as a single in the U.S. on July 17, 2006; it is an R&B song mixed with alternative rock. It was the album's second single in the UK and it gave Mary her biggest hit to date in the UK, peaking at #2 on the Top 40.

The album's 3rd single was "Take Me as I Am" with production by "infinity". It reached #3 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song "MJB Da MVP" was released as a radio only single prior to the release of Be Without You. Another song, "Ain't Really Love", reached number 73 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in the U.S., although it was not released as a single.^[1]

Numerous reviewers made comparisons between Aretha Franklin's early work and the album's song "I Found My Everything." Entertainment Weekly called the song "an exact re-creation of Aretha during her supper-club soul era,"[5] and Prefix magazine praised it as "a beautiful gem that could have been plucked from [Franklin's} catalogue." [6]

The album has been certified 3x platinum in the U.S. and has been proclaimed as her comeback album (after the disappointment of Love & Life). The album has shown signs of longevity, remaining in the top five of the Billboard 200 for 11 consecutive weeks (including 2 weeks at #1).

The album is somewhat notable for its cover featuring Blige sporting a Yulia Tymoshenko-esque look.

Blige won nine Billboard Music Awards for work done on The Breakthrough.

In December 2006, Blige received eight Grammy Award nominations at the 2007 Grammy Awards for The Breakthrough, the most of any artist for the 2007 awards. "Be Without You" was nominated for both "Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year". Mary won three Grammy Awards: "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance", "Best R&B Song" (both for "Be Without You"), and "Best R&B Album" for The Breakthrough.^[2][3]

Track listing

Charts

References