Mary J Blige- Growing Pains

Soul diva Mary J Blige has been credited with inspiring many great female artists. But it is unlikely that she will continue to do so with her eight studio album.

Growing Pains packs a punch at a staggering 19 tracks - but quantity does not compensate for quality.

First Track Work That is a bubbling, effervescent hip-hop number that sees Mary working her husky powerful voice that has in the past earnt her comparisons with legends such as Aretha Franklin.

Other highlights include Just Fine, and Grown Woman, a duet with Ludacris. 

The album meanders along nicely enough, but Blige has well and truly stayed in her comfort zone.

Many of the tracks are repetitive and a bit too safe for my liking, which is a shame.

If you have managed to keep listening by track nine - aptly called Nowhere Fast - it is most likely that you have fallen asleep.