Mary J. Blige teamed up with producer Eric Hudson for this new single called ’25/8′.  The track is the latest release from her upcoming ‘My Life II: The Journey Continues’, which is set to debut in October.

Listen to the song below:

This is a solid effort by Blige. The layered background vocals enriched the drum-driven production and gave an interesting twist to the 1970s R&B sound of the record.

However, the tone of Blige’s voice has once again proven to be her own worst enemy. She sounded constricted and for the most part, quite unpleasant. Indeed, the rich tone of her younger years has dramatically changed and the live arrangement of her recent material does nothing to hide that fact.

Still, Blige plays a key role in reviving the R&B movement. I rather hear her choking on her high notes than listen to more mindless Dance/Pop beats and auto-tune.