The Meaning Behind Mary J. Blige’s Album Title ‘Good Morning Gorgeous’
Mary J. Blige’s status as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul isn’t up for debate, but the music and movie star is never one to rest on her laurels. In February 2022, ahead of her performance at the Super Bowl halftime show, Blige released Good Morning Gorgeous, her fourteenth album and first in five years.
Mary J. Blige released a new album
Blige released her last album, Strength of a Woman, in 2017. At the time, she was going through a public divorce from her ex-husband Kendu Isaacs. Naturally, the album spoke to her resilience through it all.
Good Morning Gorgeous is her first project since then, and marks the longest time that Blige has ever gone between releasing albums. In the years since then, Blige became an Academy Award-nominated actor, appearing in hit TV shows such as Power Book II: Ghost and The Umbrella Academy.
On Good Morning Gorgeous, Blige proved that she can keep up with the sounds of today rather than delivering nostalgic sounds from the early years of her career. She collaborated with contemporary stars including Anderson .Paak, Fivio Foreign, DJ Khaled, and Dave East.
‘Good Morning Gorgeous’ is a positive mantra
The album’s title, Good Morning Gorgeous, came from a personal place. Blige spoke about how she brought the album to life in an interview on GMA.
“It’s a positive affirmation,” she said of Good Morning Gorgeous. “I had to speak over myself when I was in a really dark situation. I had to learn how to love myself out of a negative place. And I learned that speaking positive words over yourself, you manifest positive things in your life. And I started to do it, and it started to work. And before you knew it I was all the way out of that negative situation, and Good Morning Gorgeous is here.”
Mary J. Blige is already working on a follow-up to ‘Good Morning Gorgeous’
Good Morning Gorgeous is Blige’s first album in five years, but she doesn’t intend to go that long between now and her next project. In fact, she revealed to The Breakfast Club and on GMA that she was already working on another album — produced entirely by her longtime friend and fellow Super Bowl halftime show performer Dr. Dre.
“That was something I always wanted to do: to do a produced album by Dr. Dre, because everything he does, you know you’re going to smashes and you know it’s going to be excellent,” she told The Breakfast Club. “I was like, ‘Yo, this is a dream come true for me. I want you to produce an album for me.’ And he was like ‘Oh my God, it’s a dream come true for me!’ And then boom, here we are. It’s really happening.”
