*Mary J. Blige chopped it up with Ellen on her daytime talk show on Tuesday, during which the iconic soul singer discussed her milestone birthday.
Blige, who turned 50 last month, explained that “when it hit 12 o’clock that night, I just cried like a baby because I made it.”
“I’ve been through hell in my life and to make it to 50, it was just beautiful,” she added. “Family and friends were around, it was just beautiful.”
Blige also spoke about listening to her older songs for the first time while under quarantine.Â
“I really don’t like to listen to even the sound of my speaking voice, let alone listen back to Mary J. Blige,” she said. “But I’ve grown so much, you know, in confidence that during the quarantine, I don’t know, just something just said, ‘Listen to some Mary J. Blige.’ And I did. I felt like an outside person doing it.”
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With three decades of hits under her belt, Bliege was surprised at just how much her classic tracks still resonate with her today.
 “As I was listening, what blew me away is, like, you know, so many of the lyrics was helping me now during the quarantine and in my life,” she added. “And what I couldn’t understand was how could somebody so messed up that was, you know, drinking and on drugs and just a crazy person, you know, young person write those lyrics that can help me through everything that I’m going through right now. It’s like listening to another person, especially during the time we were all just, you know, suffering in the quarantine and in this pandemic.”
The artist went on to explain how her old music is therapeutic.
“I was listening to the My Life album during the pandemic, and I was listening to ‘My Life,’ the song ‘My Life,’ and I was like, ‘Wow, how did I write those lyrics? How did I do that?'” she said. “Because it was a time where we all needed to be patient, and I know I need patience. And the line, ‘Take your time, one day at a time. It’s all on you. What you gonna do?’ was like, that was, you know, that was the healer for me. Like, ‘Just sit down Mary, and relax. You’re not going anywhere.'”
Scroll up to check out a clip of Mary’s appearance on Ellen.
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