Mary J. Blige has been making headlines after her halftime performance at the Super Bowl 56, and along with that she also dropped her 15th studio album titled, “Good Morning Gorgeous.”
During an iHeart Radio special performance, the singer performed the lead single off her latest album, “Rent Money.”
During the special, Blige revealed the song’s inspiration to host Angie Martinez.
She revealed that the song was inspired by her painful divorce from Martin “Kendu” Isaacs.
“Rent money is [about] when I first got divorced,” said Blige.
“I had to give up all this alimony, and I didn’t have no more money to give because he had spent it all,” she told Martinez. “So, I had to go, you know, I had to go on tour, and make all the money back to pay the alimony.”
Blige said that her financial struggles were so bad, she didn’t have the funds to pay for housing.
“I didn’t have no money to pay my rent and all this other stuff, but it’s also a metaphor like, I didn’t have my soul,” she said. “I was just drained of everything.”
Because of the divorce, Issacs also faced financial struggles and sought legal action.
Issacs’ lawyers requested Blige pay $120,000 a month in alimony to support his lifestyle, which was later changed to $30,000. Issacs claimed that he, “experienced physical manifestations of stress and emotional distress from this matter, which has caused him to become hospitalized.”
His manager also went on to claim that he would be “destitute” without her financial support and that he was unable to pay his rent.
“I was very angry then when I made that song. I was very angry. And I was like, rent money due — period!” said Blige.
Luckily, Blige was able to triumph over her struggles and was even able to make light out of the subject by writing music about it.
Mary J. Blige’s newest album “Good Morning, Gorgeous” is now available on all music streaming services.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
