Mary J Blige Knows How To Sell the "Drama"

What a twisted world the guys, gals, vamps, vixens, heels, leaches, heroes, heroines, and innocent lambs of daytime drama occupy. The sex is likely steamier than most of us mere mortals can pull off. The catfights are nastier. For sure the storylines are usually more convoluted than anything our day-to-days cook up, although I'm guessing the reason why many people watched soaps in their heyday was to escape their reality comforted by the proof that some fictitious beauty had an even more daunting reality to confront. What am I getting at by giving you soap back history during the post of a blog that firmly places its loyalties in the world of music? 'Cause today is Soap Opera Day and, in tribute to a day honoring deviant behavior that doesn't come from the halls of our nation's capital I'm going to focus on Mary J. Blige a woman who does one hell of a job using her smoky soulful pipes to convey the life entanglements that are leaving her tied up in knots. Specifically "No More Drama" a 2002 effort, finds Mary casting herself in the role of end of her rope preacher queen in the house of broken romance winning over her throngs with the gospel of choosing to dispel drama from a life that already has enough complications as it is. Cleverly enough she weaves her tumultuous storyline using Nadia's Theme, the theme for long running soap The Young and the Restless as a lightning rod backdrop. As the drama escalates during the song, mostly emphasized through steamy bass riffs with the Y & R piano passage tossed in for good measure, so does Mary's fiery commitment to not sticking around for a man who wasn't meant to be reliable anyway. She credits why she was sucked into the same head games for so long to the naivete of youth. Her battle fatigue is damned near impossible to ignore. She rides the wings of angst like someone who's had her pilot's license of pain for a logic staggering long time. The beat inches higher and higher to a waves crashing down on the already saturated shore crescendo. There's Mary teaching and preaching about how much happier you are when you let go of all the pain, the drama, the madness that adds fuel to the fire of your life. She has a point in positing the notion that crying every night kind of grates on a person's nerves. It likely won't vault you to the top of the must be with list of too many of your contemporaries list. It's stunning to look back on 1992, specifically the Mary J. Blige of "Real Love" days busting out all over with bounce and the raw enthusiasm to tackle the love wars. Shoot ahead ten years and this Mary, already scarred significantly is reaching, striving, grabbing for the clean break which could enable her future to be bright, less of a muddle mess where "Which way is up?" becomes an enigma of a question to answer with any confidence. It was  in Mary's favor this song didn't have much more background rhythms than Nadia's now legendary piano refrain, processed drum kits, an occasional acoustic guitar strum, plus that empowering bass. Mary needs room to spread her vocal wings to the fullest because bottling her deepest thoughts up and reverting to brood mood benefits no one. "No More Drama" deftly showcases Mary's talent for exorcising her own drama. She owns the drama. She demonstrates her healing process with no small display of verve.