Mary J. Previews Her First-Ever Xmas Album
Mary J. Blige is gearing up to release a collection of Christmas classics for the very first time ever, and on the eve of its October 15 release, ET sat down with Blige and legendary producer David Foster to talk all about the aptly titled album, A Mary Christmas.
Inspired by her "favorite holiday," Blige says she strived to create music reminiscent of what brought her family together during the holiday season.
"Ever since I was a kid, I just loved Christmas because it's just so much love and you just feel happy and everybody's giving and sharing," she explained. “It was just this feeling of warmth and love, and that's what I remember and that's what I put into this album, that feeling that I had when I was a child."
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Blige and Foster collaborated on the assortment of songs, which includes Little Drummer Boy, When You Wish Upon a Star and Noche de Paz, a Spanish single recorded with the one-and-only Marc Anthony.
"Thank god for Marc Anthony singing with me so it doesn't sound as bad as I thought it would sound," she joked of the recording—one of a few non-English language tracks to grace the album.
Regardless, Blige tells ET she worked hard to perfect A Mary Christmas, and is proud of the way everything came out.
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"I just love every single, every song on the album. I mean, it's on there so that means that I love everything that I did. I just put my heart and soul and I completely forgot about myself and I gave what the world needs at the time, which is a selfless gift, you know? That's it. I just put my heart and my soul in it and gave love, that's it."
A Mary Christmas, which also boasts the famous voices of Barbra Streisand , Chris Botti, The Clark Sisters, and Jessie J, drops tomorrow, Tuesday, October 15.