Mary J. Blige Speaks Out on "Growing Pains," Her Big "Breakthrough" Year

Mary J. Blige stopped by the Rolling Stone offices just before her eighth studio album, Growing Pains, made its splashy debut on the charts this past week to chat about one of the big topics she tackles on the LP: the pleasure and pain of personal growth. The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul also gushed about her "oh my goodness" moment at last year's Oscars, discussed the inspiration behind relationship-gone-wrong track "Nowhere Fast" ("It's not a Mary J. Blige story") and mused on how her Apple ad will impact her career. Click above to watch the interview.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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