Mary J Blige’s My Life review: Amazon Prime Video Original documentary is personal, raw, and emotional

Language: English

Many musician documentaries that I have watched recently follow a weary template of introducing the artist, their hustle, defeats, and achievements. It can be repetitive and agonisingly monotonous when you know what is going to come next. Mary J Blige's My Life unfolds in a similar fashion, but it has the same personal, raw, and emotional touch as her 1994 album. There's something about the way filmmaker Vanessa Roth constructs the artist's story that only whet my appetite.

Blige was 19 years young when her debut album What's the 411 put her on the map. Besides establishing herself as a powerful vocalist combining R&B with hip-hop in a male-dominated landscape, she gave voice to the young Black woman in America, for she was them and they were her. Beyond her music, Blige became a fashion icon wearing looks that uniquely and authentically captured the nuances of her roots.

"I have 13 albums, but my second, My Life, is my most important," she says in the Amazon Original documentary that celebrates the lasting legacy of her second album My Life. With this record, she forever cemented her image as a singer-songwriter whose music always brims with melancholic lyricism and an honesty that can only manifest from lived experiences.

A young Mary J Blige. Twitter @CaribPress

In this docu, Blige once again lays all her cards on the table, occasionally holding back her tears, sometimes letting it all out.

She recounts the turbulence of her formative years in the housing projects of New York's Yonkers, overhearing and witnessing countless instances of domestic violence, and her big dream of being a singer one day. As the doc transitions to her adulthood, Blige talks about experiencing self-doubt, dealing with the rapid transition in her life with alcohol and drugs, being in an abusive relationship with K-Ci of Jodeci fame, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Eventually, she decided to jot down her all emotions into songs that became a part of My Life.

The very people who held her hand through the making of My Life, and her life — from producer Sean Combs aka P Diddy to the late Uptown Records executive Andre Harrell, to whom Blige dedicates the doc — fill in the gaps with their interviews. Actor Taraji P Henson and singer Alicia Keys speak from the fans' perspective, explaining how Blige's music and public persona assured them that they are by no means invisible. "She gave us a face, she gave us a name, she gave us a story, she humanised us," Henson tells the camera.

Adding to these testimonies are snippets of Blige's meet-and-greets with fans, who with starry-eyed admiration tell her how her music saved them. I know by own experience that music can be a remedy in challenging times, and brings freedom when you are stuck in limbo. For Blige, however, her devoted fans' unwavering faith held her together.

via GIPHY

The docu features live renditions and recording sessions of her songs from the 1994 album. Blige's presence fills up the screen. If you turn up the volume enough, it is almost like experiencing the performance in your room. The self-doubt she once experienced in the nascence of her career has entirely gone away. Blige has the vigour, and a self-belief that her fans, including me, want to emulate. The personal interviews, intercut with 2D animated recreations of Blige as a child, and then as an adult, keep the narrative crisp. The doc is roughly divided into chapters, each titled with a lyrics from her songs.

Blige also gets together with producer Chucky Thompson and collaborator Big Bub, encounters that render her emotional. They reminisce their time together in the studio, and how the process brought catharsis to all of them. But these discussions are not enough to completely experience the making of My Life. Addition of more behind-the-scenes footage, creative exchanges or even differences would have only bettered this tribute.

Mary J Blige's My Life is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.