''Stronger with Each Tear'' is the ninth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

from American R&B and

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

singer-songwriter

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Qu ...

. The album was released in the US on December 21, 2009, under Blige's own imprint, Matriarch Records. 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'' 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, Darkchild and Johntá Austin. Also included are several guests like the Canadian rapper

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

who appears on the first single " The One", 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 Contemporary R&B, R&B singer and songwriter. After being discovered by record producer Troy Taylor (record producer), Troy Taylor in 2003, Songz ...

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". 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. There are also four other versions of the track performed by the Italian singer Tiziano Ferro and the UK singer Jay Sean, Rea Garvey and K'naan. According to

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

, it would also include cover versions of the

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

song "

Stairway to Heaven "Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 8 November 1971 on the band's untitled fourth studio album (commonly known as ''Led Zeppelin IV''), by Atlantic Records. Composed by the band's guitarist Jimmy ...

", "

Whole Lotta Love "Whole Lotta Love" is a song by the 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 singl ...

" 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.

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 and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...

' album '' The Element of Freedom''. The album was pushed back once more to December 21, 2009. After a number of appearances to promote the song "Stronger" for the soundtrack '' Music Inspired by More than a Game'', Blige formally began the album's promotion in America by premiering the second single " I Am" at the American Music Awards (2009). The following day she appeared on the '' Lopez Tonight'' show for an interview and encore performance of "I Am". Blige also appeared on ''

The Jay Leno Show ''The Jay Leno Show'' is an American prime time talk show hosted by Jay Leno that was broadcast by NBC from September 14, 2009, to February 9, 2010. The series was a spiritual successor to his previous late-night talk show ''The Tonight Show wit ...

'', '' The Today Show'', and was also on a special shown on BET 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 Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

's charity telethon,

Idol Gives Back ''Idol Gives Back'' was 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 show. ''Idol ...

to perform her cover of

's "

" with

Orianthi Orianthi Penny Panagaris (born 22 January 1985), known mononymously as Orianthi, is an Australian guitarist, singer and songwriter. Her 2009 debut single " According to You" peaked at No. 3 in Japan, No. 8 in Australia and No. 17 in the US; her ...

and

Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive, television presenter and musician, best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing b ...

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

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...

'' where she performed " Each Tear" and her version of the "

", which appears on the ''Stronger with Each Tear'' international edition and on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

as a digital single.

Singles

* " The One", 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 and produced by Rodney Jerkins. It peaked at number sixty-three on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. * " I Am" which was written by Blige, Johntá Austin and Ester Dean with music produced by

Stargate ''Stargate'' is a military science fiction media franchise owned by Amazon MGM Studios. It is based on Stargate (film), the film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin; production company StudioCanal owns the ...

, 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. * " Each Tear" 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 Vanessa Amorosi; for Italy, Tiziano Ferro; for the UK, Jay Sean; for Germany, Rea Garvey and for Canada, K'naan.

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, Lu ...

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. *" We Got Hood Love" 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 LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

, though it actually appeared on ''Rap-Up'' on May 6, 2010. ;Other songs *"

" 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, songwriter, and music producer who is the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has collaborated with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transplants ...

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, 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 Transcription (music), transc ...

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

''Stronger with Each Tear'' received generally favorable reviews from critics. At

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

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 75 based on twelve reviews. Andy Kellman from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

called ''"Stronger with Each Tear'' 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." ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' critic Sarah Rodman found that the album was a "reminder that Blige gets stronger with each album", further noting: "The queen of hip-hop soul splits her loyalty between three masters with the agility of a gymnast, but she manages to hold a mood with seamless transitions between each." Similarly, ''

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'' wrote: "Like fine wine and

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 cons ...

, some things just get better with time ..Blige has never been in better voice-or more adventurous." Margaret Wapplerf from ''

The Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the larges ...

'' felt that ''Stronger with Each Tear'' finds Blige "as in touch with that resilient truth as ever, her personal discoveries bound in slick but never alienating packaging." ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' editor Steve Jones remarked that the album "finds the now-mature Blige happy, confident and ready to have some fun." While he felt that the "upbeat songs don't lend themselves to the emotional torrents that used to flow from her regularly," a "stellar list of producers and songwriters ..give her plenty of radio-friendly beats in keeping with the album's overall positive vibe."

BBC Music BBC Music is the arm of the BBC responsible for the music played across its services. The current director of music is Lorna Clarke. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio operational division; however, its remit also includes music used i ...

critic Daryl Easlea called it a "body of work that is one of the strongest in R&B. Although ''Stronger with Each Tear'' may not be one of her greatest works, it ensures that Blige remains as relevant as any of her more recent contemporaries." In a mixed review, Jon Pareles from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that Blige's "chosen producers are masters of what might be called algorithm-and-blues: crisply digitized grids of beats and hooks ..The arrangements are often supremely clever, but the songs can also be busy and bloodless, and they’re built for adequate voices, not commanding ones. Often they tend to treat vocals as one more neatly placed sound effect." Mikael Wood from ''Spin'' magazine wrote: "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 Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...

..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 Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

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.

Accolades

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 Official Hip Hop and R&B Albums 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, and previously the Top 40 Hip Hop and RnB Singles and the Top 40 Hip Hop and ...

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 Jay Sean except for in Italy where it features Tiziano Ferro; Vanessa Amorosi for Australia; Rea Garvey for Germany; and K'naan for Canada. * signifies co-producer(s) * signifies vocal producer(s) * signifies additional producer(s) Sample credits *"Tonight" contains elements of "Rapper Dapper Snapper" as written and performed by

Edwin Birdsong Edwin L. Birdsong (August 22, 1941 – January 21, 2019) was an American keyboardist and organist, known in the 1970s and 1980s for his experimental funk/disco music. Birdsong did not achieve much chart success, but developed a strong fan base. ...

. *"I Love U (Yes I Du)" contains a sample of the recording "Let the Dollar Circulate" as performed by

Billy Paul Paul Williams (December 1, 1934 – April 24, 2016), known professionally as Billy Paul, was an American soul music, soul singer, known for his 1972 Record chart, No. 1 single "Me and Mrs. Jones". His 1973 album and single ''War of the Gods (alb ...

Personnel

*Kory Aaron – assistant engineer *Mary J. Blige –

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, 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 – engineer * Ron Fair – 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“ ...

– 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, singer, and actor. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he is credited with popularizing R&B sensibilities in hip-hop music. Drake first gained recognition ...

– featured artist * Tremaine Neverson – 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

Release history

Original release

Reissue release

References