Mary J. Blige recently spent a month away in the UK, looking for inspiration to record her new album. The result was 10 new songs including collaborations with Sam Smith (whom she worked with on ‘Stay With Me’) and Disclosure (they previously worked with ‘F For You’) which will land on her upcoming album Mary J. Blige: The London Sessions.
She revealed the news in an interview with The Guardian where she also talked about the joys of working in London and how there’s more freedom in the sound there in comparison to the States.
“Our idea was to become part of London, to really embrace the culture – to really live in it. Not that I haven’t been here before, but I’ve never had the chance to really soak in it the way I have this time. To make records [“rekkits”] from the London-scene perspective.” What is that exactly? What does she think London has? “Freedom,” she says. “The music is free over here the way it used to be in the States. Artists are just free to do what they love. Listening to the radio you can hear the freedom. The music is living and breathing – you can hear that from Adele’s last album. It was massive – a big deal. But she did what she loved.”
Mary J. Blige: The London Sessions is due this November.