【TOWER RECORDS 2006 年間　TOP 40 SELLERS】洋楽総合チャート24位
【TOWER RECORDS 2006 年間　TOP 40 SELLERS】R&Bチャート4位

第49回グラミー賞3部門受賞
”Best R&B Album”,　”Best R&B Song”「Be Without You」,　”Best Female R&B Vocal Peformance”

タイトルに込められた自信と責任。メアリー・J.ブライジが、再びクリエイティヴィティのピークを迎え完成させる＜R&B＋ヒップホップ＞の最新マスターピース！

92年のデビュー・シングル「リアル・ラヴ」とともに次世代R&Bの世界を開いたメアリー。ショーン・パフィ・コムズ（P・ディディ）の進化したサウンドに乗り、ヒップホップ・ソウルの新たなカデゴリーを確立し早13年。数々の伝説、常にR&B界をリードし続ける彼女がまたしても等身大かつ革新的な7thアルバムを発売！2001年に新たなパートナーとなり活動を共にするDr.Dre、ティンバランドのサウンドを受け継ぎ、BEPのウィル・アイ・アム、ロドニー・ジャーキンス、ドレ＆ヴァイダル、ジャム＆ルイス、ブライアン・マイケル・コックス、ラファエル・サディークらが全面後押しするクイーン・オブ・ヒップホップ・ソウルの伝説が再び！

タワーレコード （2009/04/08）

Entertainment Weekly (p.78) - "[The albums'] sprawl of conflicted emotions feels true to her fierce, prickly personality." -- Grade: B+ Mojo (Publisher) (p.93) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his new album reveals a still intense and enthralling grittiness to her performances..."

Rovi

At the end of 2005, Mary J. Blige's career was supposed to be anthologized. The singer had her way, however, and one of her best studio albums came out instead. In retrospect, her previous album, 2003's Love & Life, was awkward; the P. Diddy collaborations, likely intended to recapture the magic the duo put together on What's the 411? and My Life, didn't always pay off, and Blige was about to become a wife, so the songs steeped in heartbreak and disappointment weren't delivered with as much power as they had been in the past. The Breakthrough also contains some of the drama that fans expect, despite Blige's continued happiness, but it's clear that she has gained enough distance from the uglier parts of her past that she can inhabit them and, once again, deliver those songs. The past does play a significant role in the album, as in "Baggage," where she apologies to her husband for bringing it into their relationship. "Father in You" sounds like a note-perfect facsimile of a classic soul ballad, rising and falling and twisting with a sensitive string arrangement, but the lyrics are pure Blige, acknowledging the ways in which her husband has made up for the absence of her father. On the nearly anthemic "Good Woman Down," she sees a less matured version of herself in young women and uses her experiences to advise. She jacks the beat from the Game's "Hate It or Love It" for "MJB da MVP," where she reflects on her career, thanks her supporters, and reasserts her rightful position as the queen of hip-hop soul. It's one of several tracks to beam with a kind of contentment and confidence that Blige has never before possessed. Take "Can't Hide from Love," where she's such a force that Jay-Z dishes out a quick introduction and knows to stay out of the way for the remainder of the track, or the glorious "I Found My Everything," her "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman." Beat for beat, the album features the best round of productions Blige has been handed since the mid-'90s. Apart from only a couple lukewarm tracks and a poorly recorded version of "One" with U2, it is completely correct. ~ Andy Kellman

Rovi