Therapy

Album: The London Sessions (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • The opening track from The London Sessions, this doo-wop tune was written by Sam Smith with Blige in mind. It is one of four songs on the album that the British blue-eyed soul singer-songwriter contributed towards. It was also released as the album's lead single and peaked at #28 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
  • When Smith first sang the song to Blige in his London studio, she found herself profoundly moved. "I just had to change a couple little words to make it fit me," she recalled to Billboard magazine. "It touched my heart because it's a topic that people don't like to talk about. I thought it would be nice to let people know, 'It's OK, you're not the only one.'"
  • The song was co-written by Eg White, best known for his work on Adele's "Chasing Pavements."
  • For Blige therapy isn't about sitting in front of a doctor. She explained to Time Out: "It's about working out, running, maybe a bowl of ice cream."

    "Listening to Mary J Blige might be therapy for a whole lot of people," she added. "Having a good cry to a song you love and relate to – just getting stuff out, so you can see everything clearly. That's what I mean by therapy."
  • In 2014, Blige performed this on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and the American Music Awards.

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