Share My World Turns 25 By Sheldon Taylor

 

On Apr 22, 1997, Mary J. Blige released Share My World, her follow-up to melancholy masterpiece My Life. Five years earlier, Blige’s debut What The 411 moved R&B away from energetic New Jack Swing to next-level hip hop/soul. During the era of Whitney and Mariah’s refined elocution and vocal theatrics, MJB offered up another alternative. Cut from the same cloth as seminal New Jack crooner Aaron Hall, Blige was modern R&B’s answer to classic singers from Black music’s yesteryear.

Pouring out her heart like a modern-day Aretha Franklin, her emotional delivery revealed a pierced heart of glass resonating with fans caught up in the rapture of her raw talent. At last, the hip-hop generation had their own Etta James and Anita Baker. Her crown of thorns were fit for a queen. After back-to-back multi-platinum success with 411 and My Life (six million copies sold in all), her coronation was complete.

Being Mary Jane wasn't a bed of roses for the young ghetto girl from the gritty Schlobohm Houses in West Yonkers though. Literally, she was the proverbial rose that grew from the concrete. Behind the music, things weren’t so great. Blige may have been touted as the Second Coming of Aretha, but her personal life was more like Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, and Nina Simone. 

 

As internal struggles, failed relationships and a tainted reputation within the industry threatened to sabotage her newfound fame, Blige’s substance abuse addictions dulled the pain tormenting her young life. Just like musical predecessors GUY and TLC, the heat from her out-the-box success was tempered by the cold chill of business and management entanglements. Instead of fading into the shadows as younger stars like Brandy and Monica seized the keys to the kingdom (see Bobby Brown), Blige reemerged with a renewed career focus. Seeking greener pastures, Blige severed ties with Uptown Records and producer Sean Puffy Combs, the key architects behind her success up to this point.

 The troubled singer secured the services of manager Steve “The Executioner” Stoute---fresh off scoring a triumphant second act for rapper Nas whose early career growing pains rivaled Blige’s. When low sales of a critically acclaimed album and self-sabotaging behavior threatened to stall the reclusive emcee’s career, Stoute orchestrated a career makeover transforming the self-proclaimed hood oracle into a platinum-selling superstar.  

Reinvigorated by a new contract with MCA Records, Blige and Stoute shared executive producer duties enlisting the services of Tone and Poke aka the Trackmasters---the hot production team behind the Nas/Lauryn Hill smash If I Ruled The World (1996). James Mtume, Malik Pendleton, Rodney Jerkins, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Babyface, and R. Kelly rounded out the mix of songwriters and producers working on the album. 
 

Strains of 411’s rugged swagger and Life’s sweetest pain would carry over into the new project but Share My World was a more contemporary R&B affair. Three years earlier, Life’s brooding cinematic overtones recalled the moody blues of Phyllis Hyman. This time out, Blige’s diverse compositions and assertive vocal attitude echoed Control-era Janet and the sonic continuity of MJ’s Off The Wall. 

Share My World was all about growth and independence, starting with an album cover placing Blige’s femininity on full display. Gone were the masculine-tinged hip-hop-inspired ensembles. In their place, Blige rocked glamorous all-white attire with flowing locks set off by oversized Fendi shades. Resting against the butter-soft leather seats of a convertible Bentley with contrasting seat piping matching her outfit just so, Blige projected an aura of graceful opulence.

 Smartly frontloaded on World were album openers I Can Love You and Love Is All We Need, continuing Blige’s successful pairings with rap’s elite emcees. Featuring verses from Nas and Lil Kim, both riding high from their 1996 platinum-plus sellers It Was Written and Hard Core---- they helped extend Blige’s winning streak of dope hip hop/soul collaborations.

 Album cuts like Share My World and It’s On (featuring R. Kelly) conjured up a sexy vulnerability missing from My Life. The clever Seven Days leans on warm, narrative storytelling. George Benson even shows up for a guitar solo at the outro.

 Blige’s greatest strength was always reaching back to music’s past. Choice samples, R&B remakes, and reinterpretations show up in Share My World. Rick James’s drum-and-bass from Moon Dance (1985) anchors Love Is All We Need. On her send-up of the Roy Ayers 1976 classic Searching, Blige’s uplifting anthem is set to an interpolation of the Honeydrippers Impeach The President (1971) rhythm track with Ayers along for the ride recreating his signature vibraphone riffs.

On Get To Know You Better, she sprinkles in bits of Stevie Wonder’s My Cherie Amour (1972). Introspective lyrics like My friends always ask/sweet Mary/why do you weep were a sly nod to Aretha Franklin’s Mary, Why Do You Weep from her gospel magnum opus Amazing Grace (1972). 

Missing You's dramatic piano stabs are punctuated by the hook from ‘70s soft-rock band 10cc’s I’m Not In Love (1975). Album centerpiece Everything gives the Stylistics 1971 classic a complete makeover, sampling  James Brown’s The Payback (1972) as Blige incorporates lyrics and melody from Taste of Honey’s 1981 Sukiyaki---previously used in Slick Rick/Doug E. Fresh’s The Show ("It’s all because of you/I’m feeling sad and blue"). Blige nails Natalie Cole’s Our Love (1977) to soulful perfection.

 Going double-platinum within six months and ultimately hitting the three-million mark,  Share My World would become Blige's most commercially successful release until The Breakthrough arrived in stores a decade later. The album's circular formula would be mined for Blige's prolific run of hit albums. Moving past career missteps and facing down the substance abuse tragically claiming the lives of other female singers (Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse).

 Share My World' not only confirmed Blige's fortitude; it also solidified her staying power as she forged a formidable brand that would survive a changing music industry, the rise of blue-eyed female soul singers (Amy Winehouse, Adele, Joss Stone), and the arrival of younger contemporaries (Monica, Brandy, Aaliyah, Erykah Badu, Keyshia Cole, Beyonce). 

What’s The 411 was the making of a queen. My Life was the coronation. Share My World was the construction of an empire.