MJB's Stronger with Each Tear

Honestly, when I heard the title, “Stronger with Every Tear,” I thought that we’d all been condemned to another album weigh down with moaning and wailing. I was hesitant, but it’s MJB so I had to at least listen. 5 of the 12 are worth buying as singles. If you bought each of those 5 at $1.99 you would’ve paid $9.95, so it’s more cost-effective to just buy the album (the only math lesson I’ll ever try to give). Here’s the rundown…

Tonight: The throwback hip hop beat is hot. It’ll make you nod, if you can ignore the rest of the instrumental. The composition, as a whole, takes my mind to an underground vampire club, like the one in Blade. It’s like one of the slower cuts that I’d expect to hear there. Try sleeping peacefully, after coupling that image with her singing, “Wait until tonight.” Can you say, “Scary.” Skip it!

The One: Mediocre. Skip it.

Said and Done: I wish Ryan Leslie had recorded it, instead of Mary. Skip it.

Good Love: I agonizingly listened to the first 3 tracks of this album and was ready to give up on it, until this began to play. I’m really digging the horns, piano, and bass combo, even with that little video game sound mixed in there. It’s hard to go wrong with an upbeat tempo and lyrics about love for Mary. Shout out to Tip, too.

I Feel Good: If this is how she sounds when she feels good, I hate to hear what she feels like when she’s down. Skip it.

I Am: The song is okay, but nothing spectacular.

Each Tear: The encouraging lyrical content mixed with strings and a smooth stepper’s groove that’ll remind you of instrumental from Maze and Frankie Beverly’s “Silky Soul” set it off for me.

I Love U (Yes I Du): No comment. Skip it!

We Got Hood Love: With Johntá Austin and B. Cox collaborating on the production, I would expect nothing less than possibly the best song on the album. Mary and Trey Songz sound good together, too. Furthermore, the content is some real talk. Real love isn’t always that fluffy crap that you read about. It involves one or more occasionally acting an ass, but every always finding their way back to the middle and common ground… if that’s a Hood Love, then that’s the right kind to strive for.

Kitchen: It sounds like an Elton John song, in the beginning, but don’t skip it because it’s hilarious. I’ve heard of a lot of advice exchanged between different women, but never have a heard of the dangers of letting “another woman cook in your kitchen.” Should I not let another man cut my grass? I’ll have to marinate on that for a few…lol. I’m just playing Mary. Basically, she’s saying don’t have another woman staying at your place and around your man, ladies. Does that mean that she thinks that all men lack self-control? That’s something to really think about.

In the Morning: This song has all the good stuff in it. The track rides the piano and bass, like a ‘Lac doing 70 and the injections of brass take the song to another level. What really amazes me is that women are still questioning about how their men will feel in the morning. If all of the questions sounded like this, I wouldn’t mind listening.

Color: This is a hard song. It has the rhythm of day laborers dragging themselves home at the end of a long day. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Spike Lee’s X, but there’s a scene when Malcolm was traveling to the Audubon for his final speech and “Change is Gonna’ Come” is playing. To some it may sounds sad but I think it’s the sound of relief and freedom. I put this on repeat and just drove down Memorial Drive for a little while. I wouldn’t mind if “Color” is playing in the background during my final scene.