During the interview, Mary J. Blige teased her upcoming Las Vegas residency, recalled her Oscar memories and shared why she didn’t expect to get a standing ovation at the Grammys.
Mary J. Blige on Her Vegas Residency
credit SiriusXM’s Bevelations.
Bevy Smith: I just played “Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down” from The Breakthrough. That’s 20 years now. That’s amazing. Are we going to hear songs like that that we have never heard really on tour before?
Mary J. Blige: Absolutely. You’re going to get B-sides that you’re going to be like, “Oh my god.” Like B-sides that I’ll be like, “Oh my god, I missed this song? Why haven’t I…” When I tell you the surprise that I’m… I have a surprise for the people. They’re going to bug out, and that’s that’s all I’m going to say. I have some surprises, but this one is going to have people like, “Oh.”
Bevy Smith: Okay, so wait, is that going to happen on the first night?
Mary J. Blige: Yes, it is.
Bevy Smith: Okay, so I’m definitely there on the first night.
Mary J. Blige: It’s happening on the first night.
Bevy Smith:Okay. Okay. I’m trying to think, what could it possibly be? Is it going to be someone coming on stage with you?
Mary J. Blige: It’s a surprise.
Bevy Smith: What’s our wardrobe going to be for this residency because I believe that this is a moment for us to really come together. The way we came together for “Renaissance” and “Cowboy Carter,” I feel like this residency is on that same order. We need to have a uniform look.
Mary J. Blige: The uniform look, you know, come out.
Bevy Smith: Show up and show out.
Mary J. Blige: What you look like right now. That’s what I’m talking about. To the next level, so come with your Mongolians, your furs, your high heels, your blonde bob wigs. Whatever era of Mary J. Blige that you know and remember, come correct.
Why Mary J. Blige Wasn’t Expecting a Standing Ovation at Grammy Awards
Bevy Smith: The “No More Drama” for me is so important because I remember watching that on TV and I felt like that was your big mainstream breakthrough. When you got on that stage, I think it was Grammys or was it AMAs?
Mary J. Blige: It was the Grammys.
Bevy Smith: It was the Grammys and you got on that stage and you tore it down, and then white people had to give you a standing ovation.
Mary J. Blige: Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that because I was going through so much in the industry getting slighted, you know. I mean, constantly, you know, as an artist, you want to win something and I wasn’t winning anything. The first and last award I had won up until that point was-
Bevy Smith: “Lady of Soul.”
Mary J. Blige: Nah, Grammy. My first Grammy was with Method Man, “You’re All I Need,” and after that, it was like, “We’re not giving you nothing else,” you know? And so, by the time I got to “No More Drama,” I was like I had just lost an award that night and I was hurt ’cause I was tired and I don’t know if you heard at the end of the song I said, “I’m so tired of working so hard and getting deprived of everything I work so hard for,” and when I opened my eyes, everybody, I wasn’t expecting, Bono was in the front. Celine Dion was in the, people, and that just really, it took my confidence up a level, you know, ’cause my confidence in my art was on its way down, you know, because I was just tired. I was like, “What? Am I whack or something?” And God showed me at that moment like, “No, baby, just timing. Timing is everything.”
Mary J. Blige Recalls Oscar Memories
Bevy Smith: What do you remember most about that Oscar run because you were up for two awards, which is unheard of, so what do you remember most about that? Because it’s a whirlwind of activity and it’s people in your face that have never even been in your face before. They never even thought about you before, but now all of a sudden you are like treasure to them. What was it like for you? Was it overwhelming or did you enjoy it?
Mary J. Blige: I enjoyed it. I really did because I’ve never been, first of all, I didn’t know that I was going to be nominated, and so that was a surprise, and so to be thrown into that world and to run into Meryl Streep and she goes—and I’m like, “Oh my god, I love you”. She said, “I know exactly who you are”. I was trying to introduce myself to her and she was like, “I know exactly who you are”. That bugged me out. I was like, “Meryl Streep knows who I am?” “You did so great in the movie”. And in my mind, I’m like, “Really? ‘Cause when I saw that shit, I was in the movie theater like, ‘Oh man.’”
Bevy Smith: What? You didn’t think you did good?
Mary J. Blige: I was melting. The first time we saw it, we was at Sundance, right?
Bevy Smith: Yes, I remember. I was there at Sundance and you had that dinner party in that chalet and it was snowing.
Mary J. Blige: Oh, shit. You was there. Damn, Bev. You be everywhere.
Bevy Smith: I be everywhere. I’m in these streets, Mary. You not the only fly girl.
Mary J. Blige: So, we was in the theater and I’m watching the movie and all I could see is, “Oh, I’m doing so bad. I look so I look bad”. You know, they had me looking like Florence. Florence was fucked up, right? Florence was who Mary J. Blige truly, you know, looks like, you know, without all the shit.
Bevy Smith: Beautiful woman, but she done been through some things.
Mary J. Blige: Right, but I was so insecure about my acting. I was trying to talk over everything and I was like, “Oh yeah, look at you. Here comes you, so and so. Here comes you, so and so,” and I just felt bad, like real bad, and then when the movie was over, they gave it a standing ovation, and then when we walked out of the place, I thought they was going to be all over either Jason or I forgot the little girl’s name, the other actress, the main actress, and they was all over me, and I was like, “What the fuck?” I got goosebumps thinking about what a shock it was. People was like, “Oh my god”. And I said, “Okay, maybe I need to believe because these people see something that I don’t know I really have.”
Bevy Smith: And these are people that know acting.
Mary J. Blige: Right, so it was mind-blowing. It was humbling and it was informative.
Link to the show on SiriusXM in your coverage: https://sxm.app.link/PRlink-Bevelations