Track Listing

1. Work That
2. Grown Woman
3. Just Fine
4. Feel Like A Woman
5. Stay Down
6. Hurt Again
7. Shake Down
8. Till The Morning
9. Nowhere Fast
10. Roses
11. Fade Away
12. What Love Is
13. Work In Progress (Growing Pains)
14. Talk To Me
15. If You Love Me?
16. Smoke
17. Come To Me (PEACE)
18. Hello It's Me
19. Mirror

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7325 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 77 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
"I'm talkin' 'bout things I know," Mary J. Blige wails on "Work That," the second single and opening track of Growing Pains. The album squeaked into 2007 too late to make best-of lists but otherwise would have stormed its way up several, for sure. She needn't have hit us with such a pronouncement: In 16 songs that ring as remarkably, unflinchingly true as those on 2005's landmark The Breakthrough, the queen of hip-hop soul keeps "keeping it real" a specialty. There's no sense in trying to assign credit for the skin-tight grooves and funked-up retro vibe here; with nine producers padding Blige's emotion-rich voice and the lyrics she so obviously lives by, what we're left with is a melange of sounds. But it's a measure of an artist who has mastered her own identity and left nothing to chance that this, her eighth studio album, comes off so free of wild cards and loose edges. "You ask what love feels like," she sings on "What Love Is," one of the disc's less fierce tracks. "It feels like joy, and it feels like pain, and it feels like sunshine, and it feels like rain," she continues, answering the question. The album feels the same way, a passel of complex feelings all wrapped up in love. No one knows struggle, heartache, and triumph over mediocrity like Blige. --Tammy La Gorce

CD Description
'Growing Pains' is Mary J. Blige's eighth studio album. After a tumultuous period in the nineties which saw the r&b andsoul diva battle demons both privately and professionally, this album documents her final steps to personal happiness as uplifting single 'Just Fine' demonstrates. It's a positiverecord, and highlights the emotional depth in Blige who sounds more confident and mature than ever before. Also included is a guest appearance from rapper Ludacris.

Customer Reviews

Mary Mary Quite Remarkable - A Love Letter
Dear Mary
I have to admit I've struggled with you for many years. I wanted to jump up and down with all the rest but could never quite bring myself to do so. You see I wasn't quite hearing it the way I needed to....there you were singing your life and there I was standing at the edge of the crowd thinking "The Queen isn't wearing any clothes".
Then along came "Growing Pains" and I've had to think again. This is the album I always believed you had in you !
There is a coherence here you've not achieved before. Music, lyrics, production and Voice come together like a mighty kick in the guts. This time you're really doing it girlfriend and I can feel it. I wanna tell the world about it!
These songs wrap around like a warm blanket....feeding, nurturing, energising. This time I really do believe it.
Thankyou Mary J Blige.

Loving it!!
I am loving this album, the songs blend together like honey dripping from the pot. Great tune packed album.
I am playing it loud and enjoying every minute :0)

Fantasic Album
You know I have not been a MJB fan for some time.Mary sings more about her personal life which is great especially for woman whom are going through some hard times. #4 is straight to the point more speaking about what a real man suppose to do. Keep up the good work Mary