Mary J. Blige is not whining. The singer is prepping the release of
Growing Pains, the follow up to 2005’s Breakthrough. Now, the singer is showing her imperfect side and she is proud of it.
 
“It’s not reliving where I been. [The album is] just based on where I am,” he told MTV. “So
many people are like, ‘I’m perfect.’ I’m so imperfect, that’s why I’m
able to let everything out and let people see everything. ‘Cause I’m
just a mess like every other person that’s a mess out there. And it’s
going to take probably a lifetime to get to a point in my life where
I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m perfect.’ I don’t think that will ever happen.”
 
Later, Blige spoke of the reason behind the title of the album.
 
“So as long as I’m a human being and I’m not perfect, I’m able
to say I’m having some growing pains. Because in order to sustain where
you are once you made such a breakthrough that everyone is looking at
you, now everyone is like, ‘Ooh, is she gonna make a mistake?’ Yes, I’m
going to make a mistake. Yes, I’m still gonna do things. And that’s
what Growing Pains is about, it’s about finally not whining about the
pain, Mary J. Blige, and accepting the pain that comes with growing.”
 
What can fans expect from the LP’s content?
 
“I got all the stuff where, in my relationship, when I’m
having a hard time with myself, or I’m even having a hard time with [my
husband], because we’re not perfect. We love each other, but we’re
people! We’re not robots or machines! We’re just striving to do the
right thing, those are the people that have it the hardest. Because
it’s easy to just always do the wrong thing and be comfortable. But to
break the comfort zone of just falling back to, ‘Well, it’s comfortable
here being pissed off all the time.’ It hurts when you have to smile
and you don’t want to smile, but the best thing to do is to smile.”
 
The album will drop November 27.