The Breakthrough
Studio album by
Mary J. Blige
ReleasedDecember 20, 2005 (2005-12-20)
Recorded2004–2005
GenreR&B[1]
Length72:59
LabelGeffen
Producer
Mary J. Blige chronology
Love & Life
(2003) 		The Breakthrough
(2005) 		Growing Pains
(2007)
Singles from The Breakthrough
  1. "Be Without You"
    Released: November 14, 2005[2]
  2. "Enough Cryin"
    Released: March 2, 2006
  3. "One"
    Released: April 3, 2006
  4. "Take Me as I Am"
    Released: August 17, 2006

The Breakthrough is the seventh studio album by American singer Mary J. Blige, released on December 20, 2005, by Geffen Records. Blige recorded the album with a host of songwriters and record producers, including 9th Wonder, Rodney Jerkins, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Bryan-Michael Cox, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Raphael Saadiq, Chucky Thompson, Cool & Dre, Ron Fair, and will.i.am.

The Breakthrough received positive reviews from most critics and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. It has been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold 3,100,000 copies in the United States.[3]

Release and promotion

Mary J. Blige embarked on several live performances and appearances to promote the release of The Breakthrough. Blige performed with rapper The Game during his performance of "Hate It or Love It" at the BET Awards on June 28, 2005.[4] Blige sung a medley of "You're All I Need to Get By" with Method Man, "I'm Goin' Down", "Real Love", and "Can't Hide from Luv" on BET's 25 Strong: The BET Silver Anniversary Special in October 2005.[5] In November 2005, Blige was honored with the V LEGEND AWARD at 2005 Vibe Awards.[6] On December 21, 2005, Blige was interviewed and performed on The Tyra Banks Show, singing a rendition of "Can't Hide from Luv".[7] Blige sung a medley of "Family Affair", "Can't Hide from Luv", and "Be Without You" on New Year's Eve with Carson Daly on December 31, 2005.[8] On February 8, 2006, Blige performed "One" with U2 at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards.[9] Blige performed "Be Without You" and "Enough Cryin" on Saturday Night Live in April 2006.[10] Blige sung a medley of "Be Without You" and "Enough Cryin" at the 2006 BET Awards, where she won two awards for Best Female R&B Artist and Video of the Year on June 27, 2006.[11][circular reference] Blige embarked on The Breakthrough Experience Tour from July 14, 2006, to September 10, 2006. Letoya Luckett and Jaheim were opening acts during the tour. On December 4, 2006, Blige performed "Enough Cryin" and "Take Me as I Am" at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards, where she won nine awards.[12][13] At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, on February 11, 2007, Blige performed "Be Without You". She won three awards during the ceremony.

Reception

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number one on both the US Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Selling 727,000 copies in its first week, it became the biggest first-week sales for an R&B solo female artist in SoundScan history,[14] the fifth largest first-week sales for a female artist, and the fourth largest debut of 2005. It has been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[15] As of 2009, The Breakthrough has sold 3,100,000 copies in the United States.[16][17]

Critical response

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic76/100[18]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[19]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[20]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[1]
The Guardian[21]
The Independent[22]
Los Angeles Times[23]
NME8/10[24]
Pitchfork8.8/10[25]
Rolling Stone[26]
SpinB−[27]

The Breakthrough was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 76, based on 20 reviews.[28] Andy Gill of The Independent deemed it perhaps "her best, the most vivid realisation of her gripping, confessional style".[22] David Browne believed The Breakthrough marked a return for Blige to her dramatic strengths, writing in Entertainment Weekly that the music's "messy sprawl of conflicted emotions feels true to her fierce, prickly personality (not to mention life itself)".[1] In The New York Times, Jon Pareles credited the singer for bringing together "hip-hop realism and soul's higher aspirations, hip-hop's digitized crispness and soul's slow-building testimonies".[29]

Stylus Magazine's Thomas Inskeep viewed it as a "return to form" for Blige, calling it her "finest full-length since '99's Mary",[30] while Rolling Stone journalist Barry Walters said that unlike with her previous albums, The Breakthrough's ballads genuinely stand out.[26] Andy Kellman from AllMusic said each song proved Blige had been given her "best round of productions" since the mid 1990s.[19] Los Angeles Times critic Natalie Nichols credited the producers for "adeptly weaving beats and live instruments, vocals and rapping, melody and rhythm in configurations alternately stark and lush".[23] Steve Jones of USA Today wrote that "Blige balances her trademark edginess with the personal happiness she has found in recent years" and her producers "give her compelling musical backdrops".[31] A 2023 review from Pitchfork's Clover Hope called it "an unofficial marker of a more self-actualized Mary J. Blige" as well as "so self-referential that it almost does function like a greatest-hits record the label wanted".[25]

Jason King was less impressed in The Village Voice, feeling that The Breakthrough had improved on Blige's 2003 album Love & Life but still lacked the creativity of 1999's Mary. Blige's penchant for "hermetic, clinically slick production values doesn't complement her soul-baring aura", King wrote.[32] Spin journalist Tom Breihan felt the production's "awkwardly programmed drums and cluttered synthetic arrangements" generally failed to give her a conducive space for an effective performance and left "the songs' chin-up aphorisms ringing false".[27] Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani was more critical of the lyrics, finding them distastefully sentimental, unsubtle, and "the epitome of formulaic, giving you the feeling that you've heard this all before".[33]

Accolades

Track listing

The Breakthrough – Standard edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."No One Will Do"
4:46
2."Enough Cryin" (featuring Brook Lynn)
  • Jerkins
  • Garrett[a]
4:20
3."About You" (featuring will.i.am)
will.i.am4:04
4."Be Without You"
4:06
5."Gonna Breakthrough" (featuring Brook Lynn)
4:00
6."Good Woman Down"
4:07
7."Take Me as I Am"
3:57
8."Baggage"
3:35
9."Can't Hide from Luv" (featuring Jay-Z)
  • A. Harris
  • Davis
3:52
10."MJB da MVP"
4:00
11."Can't Get Enough"
  • Blige
  • J. Harris III
  • Lewis
  • B.R. Avila
  • I.J. Avila
  • Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis
  • James "Big Jim" Wright[d]
  • B. R. Avila[d]
  • I. Avila[d]
3:40
12."Ain't Really Love"
  • Blige
  • Cox
  • Austin
  • Candice Childress
4:40
13."I Found My Everything" (featuring Raphael Saadiq)
5:23
14."Father in You"
  • Blige
  • A. Harris
  • Davis
  • Toby
  • A. Harris
  • Davis
5:23
15."Alone" (featuring Dave Young)
  • Davel "Bo" McKenzie
  • Young
4:29
16."One" (with U2)
  • Fair
  • Tal Herzberg[d]
4:20
Total length:1:08:11
The Breakthrough – LP edition (hidden track)[39]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
17."Show Love"
Thompson3:40
Total length:1:11:51
The Breakthrough – International edition (bonus track)[40][41][42]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
17."So Lady" (featuring Raphael Saadiq)
  • Saadiq
  • Jake and the Phatman[d]
4:16
Total length:1:12:27
The Breakthrough – British and digital deluxe edition (bonus track)[43][44]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
18."Show Love"
  • Blige
  • Garrett
  • Thompson
Thompson3:40
Total length:1:16:07
The Breakthrough – Japanese edition (bonus track)[45]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
19."Out My Head"
  • Young
  • Harrison
Rich Harrison3:41
Total length:1:19:48

Notes

Sample credits

Personnel

Credits for The Breakthrough adapted from AllMusic.[46]

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for The Breakthrough
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[80] Gold 35,000^
Germany (BVMI)[81] Gold 100,000‡
Japan (RIAJ)[82] Gold 100,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[83] Platinum 40,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[84] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[85] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

See also

References

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External links

Mary J. Blige
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