Pen’s Rhythm Nation: The London Sessions by Mary J. Blige

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Dear Pennies & Pens,

I am so humbled to be writing this post right now. The reason for this is because I have been following Mary J. Blige’s career my entire life. She is one of my all time favorite artists. For years, she’s been consistently releasing high quality music that has truly resonated with me. In essence, when I was invited to apply to be a part of a blogger campaign for Mary’s latest album, The London Sessions…I ALMOST DIED.

Being a part of the campaign would allow me to download the album for free in exchange for a album review blog post. I kept re-reading the email trying to figure out when the work would start. I mean listening to an album by one of my favorite artists and then writing about it hardly seemed like work to me. But nonetheless, here I am writing my review.

The London Sessions Album Cover with Mary J. Blige

Moving right along, I present to you Pen’s Rhythm Nation: The London Sessions by Mary J. Blige. The London Sessions is Mary’s latest album and will be released on December 2nd. What’s so amazing about this album is that Mary wrote and recorded it in just 3 weeks! Mary also worked with some of the U.K.’s most celebrated artists like Sam Smith, Emeli Sande`, Adele, and Jimmy Napes.

The London Sessions album concept started from a collaboration Mary did with Disclosure which led her to Sam Smith. The album was created with a global perspective in mind. For those that don’t know, there is a really cool arts, music, and fashion scene happening in London right now. It’s very multicultural and diverse which makes it a true melting pot. That said, the album is eclectic with jazz, blues, R&B, and some minor hip-hop influences.

However, Mary stayed loyal to her American roots with Rodney Jerkins serving as the album’s overall producer. The album is seriously epic. My favorite tracks are Therapy, Whole Damn Year, Doubt, and Long Hard Look. 

I love the album because it reminds me of the old school Mary, it has her signature vocals and emotional lyrics. But the album is contemporary in feel, since it fuses so many different genres of music into one album.

Mary J. Blige

The soulful singing in Therapy takes you back into time. Next up there’s Doubt which features beautiful piano playing. By the time you get to Whole Damn Year and Long Hard Look, you’ll find that you are completely in love with The London Sessions.

This is an album created for music lovers. People who buy albums with Diddy’s infamous “Press Play” concept in mind. The London Sessions is genuinely a solid body of work that will be rotation for years. It’s the new classic.

Mary J. Blige

To vibe to The London Sessions with me, pre-order the album on iTunes: The London Sessions and Amazon: http://bit.ly/MJBLondonSessions. Also be sure to follow Mary on Twitter: @maryjblige and Facebook: maryjblige

And there it is. de la Pen…All Pen Everything.

P.S. For All Pen Everything…All the Time —

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Disclosure: I participated in the Mary J Blige The London Sessions album review program as a member of bLink Marketing Network. I was provided a free album to review but all opinions are my own.

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