''Stronger with Each Tear'' is the ninth studio album from American R&B and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

singer-songwriter

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

. The album was released in the US on December 21, 2009, under Blige's own imprint,

Matriarch Records Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Awa ...

. Internationally it was released December 18, 2009, in Australia and Germany, December 21 in France, December 23 in Japan, and on February 2, 2010, in Korea with further international releases (in some cases re-releases) in March, April and May 2010. With this album, Blige achieved a record of nine albums to have debuted at the top of the US R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Background

Blige started working on her ninth album while she toured with Robin Thicke in 2008. In an interview with '' Rap-Up'' magazine she said: The album was initially titled ''Stronger'', after the song " Stronger", which Blige recorded and released as the lead single from the soundtrack ''

Music Inspired by More than a Game ''Music Inspired by More than a Game'' is the official soundtrack album name for music taken from and inspired by the documentary film '' More than a Game''. The film is centered on the life of LeBron James and was released in October 2009. The ...

'' from the LeBron James' documentary '' More than a Game''. However ''Rap-Up'' later revealed that the album had been re-titled ''Stronger with Each Tear''. The album has production and writing credits from

Ryan Leslie Anthony Ryan Leslie (born September 25, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur from Washington, D.C. He has produced singles for a number of prominent artists in a variety of genres, ranging from R&B, hip hop ...

Darkchild Rodney Roy Jerkins (born July 29, 1977), also known by his stage name Darkchild, is an American record producer, rapper, and songwriter. He has collaborated with a broad range of popular artists. Jerkins has won multiple Grammy Awards. Among hi ...

and

Johntá Austin Johntá Austin ( ; born June 28, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, producer, vocalist and rapper, signed to Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings. He is known for collaborating with producers Bryan-Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri an ...

. Also included are several guests like the Canadian rapper

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

who appears on the first single "

The One The ONE is a shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is built on the site of the former Tung Ying Building at 100 Nathan Road. It was developed by Chinese Estates Holdings and opened in 2010. Owner Joseph Lau Luen-hung g ...

", rapper T.I. who appears on "Good Love" which was initially planned as the second single and

Trey Songz Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American R&B singer and rapper. His debut album, '' I Gotta Make It'', was released in 2005 through Atlantic Records. His follow-up album, '' Trey Day' ...

himself revealed that he had recorded a duet called "Hood Love" with Blige for the album. The song was previously recorded by Austin and Blige for Austin's first solo album that was never released. The song has since been reworked and re-titled "

We Got Hood Love "We Got Hood Love" (or simply "Hood Love") is a song performed by American R&B recording artist Mary J. Blige and features American singer Trey Songz Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an ...

". Following the album's release in the US, the song charted at 82 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart due to strong digital downloads. The album track "I Feel Good" entered the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at number 83 on the issue dated February 6, 2010, and on the issue dated March 6, 2010, it reached a peak of number 68. whilst "Good Love" featuring T.I. entered the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at number 59 and was on the charts for around eleven weeks with a peak of 58. Australian media outlets revealed that the international version of the album would be released with an altered track listing. The new version of the album had a duet version of the song "Each Tear" with the Australian artist

Vanessa Amorosi Vanessa Joy AmorosiSharon Verghis"Back on track" ''The Sun-Herald'', 18 October 2009, Archived fro''the original''on 6 March 2016. (born 8 August 1981) is an Australian singer-songwriter and recording artist. Her combined album and single sales ...

. There are also four other versions of the track performed by the Italian singer

Tiziano Ferro Tiziano Ferro (; born 21 February 1980) is an Italian singer, songwriter, producer and author. He broke through in 2001 with his international hit single " Perdono" and has remained commercially successful since then, in several countries. Ferro ...

and the UK singer

Jay Sean Kamaljit Singh Jhooti (born 26 March 1981), better known by the stage name Jay Sean, is a British singer and songwriter. He debuted in the UK's Asian Underground scene as a member of the Rishi Rich Project with " Dance with You", which reache ...

Rea Garvey Raymond Michael Garvey (born 3 May 1973) is an Irish singer, songwriter and guitarist now residing in Germany. In 1998, he formed the band Reamonn. Over the 11 years that Garvey was their frontman, they saw chart-topping success in Europe, wit ...

and

K'naan Keinan Abdi Warsame (born 1 February 1978) ( so, Keynaan Cabdi Warsame, ar, كَينَان عَبدِ وَرسَمَ ''Kaynān ʿAbdi Warsama''), better known by his stage name K'naan (), is a Somali Canadians, Somali-Canadian musician. He ...

. According to

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

, it would also include cover versions of the

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

song " Stairway to Heaven", "

Whole Lotta Love "Whole Lotta Love" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is the opening track on the band's second album, '' Led Zeppelin II'', and was released as a single in 1969 in several countries; as with other Led Zeppelin songs, no single was ...

" and the song " Stronger" from the soundtrack '' More than a Game''. The international version of the album removed the songs "Said and Done", "We Got Hood Love" and "Kitchen" from the tracklist, and replaced them with "Whole Lotta Love", "I Can't Wait", "City on Fire", "Stronger", "Stairway to Heaven" and a remix of "I Am" by

Dave Audé Dave Audé (born Oct 12, 1969) is an American DJ, producer and remixer. He operates his own label Audacious Records, and is known for having more number ones than any other producer on the ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart. He has done prod ...

Release and promotion

The album was originally scheduled for US release on November 24, 2009 but this was pushed back to December 15, 2009 which would have put Blige's album in a chart battle with

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

' album ''

The Element of Freedom ''The Element of Freedom'' is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Alicia Keys, released on December 11, 2009, by J Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during May to September 2009 at the Oven Studios in Long ...

''. The album was pushed back once more to December 21, 2009. After a number of appearances to promote the song "Stronger" for the soundtrack ''

'', Blige formally began the album's promotion in America by premiering the second single "

I Am I Am or I'm may refer to: Language and literature * " I Am that I Am", a common English translation of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name ** I am (biblical term), a Christian term used in the Bible * "I Am" (p ...

" at the American Music Awards (2009). The following day she appeared on the ''

Lopez Tonight ''Lopez Tonight'' is an American late-night television talk show that was hosted by the comedian George Lopez. The hour-long program premiered on November 9, 2009, on cable network TBS. Lopez was the first Mexican-American to host a late-nig ...

'' show for an interview and encore performance of "I Am". Blige also appeared on ''

The Jay Leno Show ''The Jay Leno Show'' is a talk show created and hosted by Jay Leno. Premiering on NBC on September 14, 2009, the program aired on weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ET/ PT through February 9, 2010. The program was modeled upon the format of a late ...

'', ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

'', and was also on a special shown on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

named ''Words & Sounds With Mary J. Blige''. She was on a taping of '' The View''. On April 21, 2010, Blige appeared on

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

's charity telethon,

Idol Gives Back ''Idol Gives Back'' was the name of a charitable campaign that spanned two episodes of ''American Idol'' during its sixth season. A second ''Idol Gives Back'' concert and fundraiser occurred on April 9, 2008, during the seventh season of the s ...

to perform her cover of

's " Stairway to Heaven" with

Orianthi Orianthi Penny Panagaris (born 22 January 1985), known mononymously as Orianthi, is an Australian guitarist, singer and songwriter who rehearsed in 2009 with Michael Jackson in preparation for his '' This Is It'' concert series, and performed wi ...

and Randy Jackson on guitars. On April 13, 2010, Blige appeared on an episode of ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. Produced ...

'' where she performed "

Each Tear "Each Tear" is a song performed by American R&B recording artist Mary J. Blige. It was released as the second international single from her ninth studio album, '' Stronger with Each Tear''. The song is originally sung by just Blige on the US ver ...

" and her version of the " Stairway to Heaven", which appears on the ''Stronger with Each Tear'' international edition and on iTunes as a digital single.

Singles

* "

", featuring

was released as the album's first single in the US and Australia on July 21, 2009. Featuring

, the song was co-written by

Ester Dean Esther Renay Dean (born April 15, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, music producer and actress. Dean has also written songs for many artists, with numerous Top 10 hits, including No. 1 hits for Rihanna and Katy Perry, earning the name " ...

and produced by Rodney Jerkins. It peaked at number sixty-three on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. * "

" which was written by Blige,

and Ester Dean with music produced by Stargate, was released as the first international single (second in the US) in December 2009. It debuted on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart at number forty-six prior to its full release and peaked at number four upon release. It debuted on Japan's Oricon chart at number 92 and peaked at number 11 on that chart, while also debuting on the Hot 100 at sixty-seven and peaking at number fifty-five. It was also the international lead single from the album. * "

" was released as the second international single from the album in February 2010. There are different versions of the song. For Australia, it features the singer-songwriter

; for Italy,

; for the UK,

; for Germany,

and for Canada,

Marcus Raboy Marcus Raboy (born November 30, 1965) is an American film director, film and music video director. Since the early 1990s, Raboy has amassed a large number music video credits directing music videos for Mary J. Blige, Dixie Chicks, Rihanna, Lut ...

filmed a video which was then edited to show each of the guests in versions for their respective markets. It peaked at number one in Italy and number 183 in the UK, while failing to chart elsewhere. The single was not released in the United States. *"

" featuring

was released as the third US single from the album on March 30, 2010. The song debuted at number eighty-two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart following the album's release due to strong digital downloads and radio airplay. A video was filmed with Mary J. Blige and football player George Wilson in Miami, while Trey Songz filmed his scenes in a New York City apartment. Chris Robinson directed the video for the single with a planned May 10, 2010 premiere through

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, ...

, though it actually appeared on ''Rap-Up'' on May 6, 2010. ;Other songs *" Stairway to Heaven" was released on April 13, 2010, as an iTunes only release. Available as a download only and with no video the

cover features

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has also performed as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Tran ...

, Randy Jackson,

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist f ...

and

. Another Zeppelin cover, "Whole Lotta Love", is the single's B-side. The songs only appear on the international version of the album. It was released again on April 22, 2010, to raise money for ''

''s

Critical reception

Reviewers' response to the album was mostly positive, holding a score of 75 out of 100 on music review aggregation website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. Andy Kellman from

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

said "Stronger with Each Tear is a very good Blige album, if not quite a classic. One of her briefest sets, it is tremendously (almost studiously) balanced between all the ground she has covered so well before. That's no criticism, though, since most of the songs are easily memorable and display so much range. Those who detest "The One" on principle, for its use of Auto-Tune, need only to forward to the album's final song, a quiet and sparse throwback (to 40-plus years ago) production from Raphael Saadiq in which Blige professes new love to chilling effect." Mikael Wood from ''Spin'' magazine also liked the album saying "Mary J. Blige has spent the past decade effecting a slow transformation from R&B's queen of pain to the closest thing the genre counts to Oprah Winfrey. Judging by the titles on Blige's latest, that transformation is almost complete: 'Good Love,' 'I Feel Good,' 'I Love U (Yes I Du).' It's hard to believe this is the same woman who once felt the need to announce she was done with drama. Yet despite the conviction that those track names suggest—and despite solid writing and production contributions from A-listers ..it feels less vital than 2005's terrific ''The Breakthrough'' or 2007's ''Growing Pains'' ..The result is minor Mary—strong by many standards, a bit tepid by hers." In his ''Consumer Guide'', Robert Christgau offered the description, "plainspoken, low-drama, midtempo love vows, with attempted glamour relegated to the cover shoot", while naming "Tonight" and "I Am" as the record's highlights.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart with first-week sales of 332,000 copies. It also went to number one on the R&B chart. Blige is the ninth woman in SoundScan's 18-year history to see at least three albums all debut with an opening sales week of 300,000 or more. ''Stronger with Each Tear'' had sold 726,100 copies in the United States by April 2010, and was certified Gold by the RIAA on January 6, 2011. In the UK, it debuted at number 33 on the main albums chart in its first week but dropped out of the top forty on its second week. On the

UK R&B Chart The UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart and the UK Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart (also known as The Official UK Hip Hop and R&B Charts, the Top 40 Hip Hop and RnB Singles and the Top 40 Hip Hop and RnB Albums, or simply the UK Urban Chart) are 40-posi ...

it debuted at number four and fell nine places to number 13 in its second week.

Track listing

Notes *In the US, "Each Tear" is a solo song, but on international versions feature

except for in Italy where it features

;

for Australia;

for Germany; and

for Canada.

Personnel

*Kory Aaron – assistant engineer *Mary J. Blige – executive producer, vocals, backing vocals, co-writer *Dylan "3-D" Dresdow – mix engineer *Jaime Martinez – assistant engineer *Aubry "Big Juice" Delaine – engineer * Steven Dennis – assistant engineer *Pat Dillett – engineer *Mike "Handz" Donaldson – engineer *

Mikkel S. Eriksen Mikkel is a Danish and Norwegian masculine given name. It may refer to: * Mikkel Ødelien (1893–1984), Norwegian soil researcher * Mikkel Aaland (born 1952), award-winning American photographer * Mikkel Andersen (disambiguation) *Mikkel Bødker ...

– engineer *

Ron Fair Ronald Fair is an American A&R executive, record producer, record executive, musical arranger, recording engineer and conductor. In a career that has spanned over 30 years at major record labels he has produced and arranged hits for several ar ...

– vocal tracking *Drew FitzGerald – creative director *Brian "Big Bass" Gardner – mastering * Thaddis Kuk Harrell – vocal tracking *Tal Herzberg – engineer *Josh Houghkirk – mixing assistant *Kendu Isaacs – producer, management *Jaycen Joshua – mixing *Jaha Johnson – management * Kim Kimble – hair stylist *Damien Lewis – engineer *Giancarlo Lino – mixing assistant * Anthony Mandler – photography *Tony Mardini – engineer *D'Andre Michael – make-up *

Peter Mokran Peter Mokran is an American mixer, producer, engineer and musician. Early life Mokran was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Growing up, he studied classical guitar, while also learning engineering and programming as a teen.Paul Tingen“Secr ...

– mixing *Luis Navarro – assistant engineer *Carlos Oyanedel – engineer *Tal Oz – assistant *Dave Pensado – mixing *Marni Senofonte – stylist *Jason Sherwood – assistant engineer *Allen Sides – engineer * Clifford Harris Jr. – featured artist *

Aubrey Graham Aubrey Drake Graham ( ; born October 24, 1986) is a Canadian rapper and singer. An influential figure in contemporary popular music, Drake has been credited for popularizing singing and R&B sensibilities in hip hop. He gained recognition by ...

– featured artist *

Tremaine Neverson Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American R&B singer and rapper. His debut album, '' I Gotta Make It'', was released in 2005 through Atlantic Records. His follow-up album, ''Trey Day'' ...

– featured artist *Allen Sodes – string engineer *The Stereotypes – engineer *Phil Tan – mixing *Brian "B-Luv" Thomas – engineer *Sam Thomas – engineer *Pat Thrall – engineer *Jenifer Tracy – design *Pat Viola – vocal engineer *Eric Weaver – assistant *Frank Wolf – string engineer *Andrew Wuepper – engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Accolades

Release history

Original release

Reissue release

References