Pick Me Up

Album: The London Sessions (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song finds a lonely Mary J. Blige yearning for her lover to comfort her. The song was written by Emeli Sandé, whose Our Version of Events was the best-selling album of 2012 in the UK. "Mary is one of the greats of Black music," the Scottish singer-songwriter told Q magazine of the collaboration. "It was great to see the way that she still wants to push boundaries and experience new sounds."

    Sandé's musical partner, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, also contributed to the track.
  • For her 12th studio album, Blige headed to London with her producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins to work with a crop of British talent at RAK Studios, including Sam Smith and electronic duo Disclosure. In an interview with The Guardian, Blige explained what drew her to England's capital city. "Our idea was to become part of London," she said, "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 from the London-scene perspective."

    She added: "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 [21]. It was massive – a big deal. But she did what she loved."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger

Kelly Keagy of Night RangerSongwriter Interviews

Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger tells the "Sister Christian" story and explains why he started sweating when he saw it in Boogie Nights.

Adam Duritz of Counting Crows

Adam Duritz of Counting CrowsSongwriter Interviews

"Mr. Jones" took on new meaning when the song about a misguided view of fame made Adam famous.

Psychedelic Lyrics

Psychedelic LyricsMusic Quiz

Whoa man! Do you know which band came up with these cosmic lyrics?

Which Restaurants Are Most Mentioned In Song Lyrics?

Which Restaurants Are Most Mentioned In Song Lyrics?Song Writing

Katy Perry mentions McDonald's, Beyoncé calls out Red Lobster, and Supertramp shouts out Taco Bell - we found the 10 restaurants most often mentioned in songs.

Yacht Rock Quiz

Yacht Rock QuizFact or Fiction

Christopher Cross with Deep Purple? Kenny Loggins in Caddyshack? A Fact or Fiction all about yacht rock and those who made it.

Kevin Godley

Kevin GodleySongwriter Interviews

Kevin Godley talks about directing classic videos for The Police, U2 and Duran Duran, and discusses song and videos he made with 10cc and Godley & Creme.