Mary J. Blige has been in our ears, and on our screens, for greater than 35 years. The nine-time Grammy-winning queen of hip-hop soul launched her 14th album, Good Morning Attractive, in 2022 and not too long ago co-starred in actor Chiwetel Ejiofor’s directorial debut, Rob Peace, which debuted on the Sundance Movie Competition earlier this 12 months.
From the appears to be like of it she’s not slowing down in any respect. However in a brand new interview with Additional, the 53-year-old music icon who will probably be inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame this fall revealed that she is already fascinated about her exit technique. Requested what she’s singing about lately, Blige mentioned, “Mary is singing about life. Life… love… being secure and understanding you possibly can have issues like love. You possibly can have a superb life.”
Simply as importantly, Blige can also be fascinated about her future, which she mentioned might embrace an exit from the stage before you may suppose. “Proper now, I’m undoubtedly gonna do some extra performing and I’m undoubtedly gonna retire in, like, 5 – 6 years,” she informed Additional with out specifying what retirement would appear to be for her.
Now earlier than you freak out, Blige — who has had memorable roles in movies together with Rock of Ages, Mudbound and the 2021 Aretha Franklin biopic Respect as Dinah Washington — mentioned the music retirement is extra of an “eventual” factor, explaining, “Proper now, I’m nonetheless doing what I’m doing however not as typically as I used to be doing it as a result of I don’t need to now.”
For now her future consists of becoming a member of Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Kool & the Gang, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Referred to as Quest at this 12 months’s RRHOF induction ceremony in Cleveland on Oct. 19. In a latest interview with Tamron Corridor, Blige mentioned she was “nonetheless attempting to course of” the information. “It’s an enormous deal. I’m simply so grateful as a result of I do know it didn’t need to be this fashion however it’s this fashion, and I give all of the credit score to God. I don’t even know what else to do. It’s simply so humbling,” she mentioned. “I don’t know what to do apart from be grateful and grateful.”
