"Be Without You" was the first single from The Breakthrough, Mary J. Blige's seventh album. The song examines a relationship where the couple is trying to decide if they want to stay together, with Blige urging them to appreciate their blessings.
Blige worked on the song with songwriters and producers from Jermaine Dupri's So So Def music group, who also worked on Mariah Carey's hit "
We Belong Together."
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Suggestion credit:
Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 2
This was Blige's second #1 Billboard Adult R&B hit; her first was "Not Gon' Cry" in March 1996. The gap of 9 years, 10 months and 2 weeks is the longest break between #1 hits for a lead artist in the history of the Adult R&B chart.
This song spent 15 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It was a modern-era record for more than seven years until Robin Thicke spent 16 weeks on top of the tally with "
Blurred Lines" in 2013.
The music video was shot in New York City and stars Oscar-nominated actor Terrence Howard in the role of Blige's boyfriend. It won Video of the Year at the 2006 BET Awards.
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"Be Without You," also spent 75 weeks in the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs list, a record amount overtaking Usher's 71 week run with "
You Make Me Wanna."
The record run of "Be Without You" on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs list was surpassed by Miguel's "
Sure Thing" when it logged its 76nd week on the chart in May 2023.
This won both the Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance categories at the 2007 Grammy Awards. The Breakthrough also won the Best R&B Album award.
LaShonda Barnett, who wrote
I Got Thunder: Black Women Songwriters and Their Craft, told Songfacts in 2009: "I have heard from numerous people that Mary J. Blige is 'our generation's (I am 34) Aretha Franklin.' That is quite a moniker and I believe that assertion speaks to the authenticity, the emotional honesty and the vulnerability Blige reveals in her music. Women who relate to her music strongly do so, more than likely, because they are personally significant."
Blige performed "Be Without You," along with "Enough Cryin'," on Saturday Night Live, April 8, 2006. It was her second turn as musical guest on the show.
This was one of four new tracks that were intended for Blige's greatest hits album, Reflections (A Retrospective), but were co-opted for The Breakthrough at the last minute.
Blige explained the significance of the album title: "I had to grow up in front of everyone, you know? And go through everything I went through. This is the hardest business to sustain and even think about sustaining after you have been through so much. And through it all, I tried to remain positive, I tried to get through the peaks and the valleys. When I'm in the valley I try to remain in a stable, positive position, which is hard to do. That's something in itself. Anything that's hard to do, you've got to break into it. You're not going to get through a door without the key unless you break it down. Or, you're not going to get through some glass unless you break through it, or bust through it, you know. So my life has been like, really, just one trial after the next, and heavy, heavy situations, so I managed to make it to this point, to where I'm actually feeling good about myself. I like myself. I understand that there will be more trials and tribulations and negative situations to come, but there's also a choice I can make, and I'm going to choose to be happy, and do the right thing. And that's what The Breakthrough is about."
