Mary J. Blige Explains Why She Sang to Hillary Clinton

Mary J. Blige Explains Why She Sang to Hillary Clinton

In a new interview, Mary J Blige opens up about hosting her new talk show The 411 with Mary J Blige, powered by Apple Music, and her inaugural sit-down with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. She explains

I’m a singer before I’m a journalist. This journalist stuff is brand new.

As you know, this week, she received a bit of backlash when the clip of Blige singing the 2000 Bruce Springsteen song “American Skin (41 Shots)” to Clinton went viral. See the promo clip below.

A video posted by Apple Music (@applemusic) on Sep 26, 2016 at 9:12pm PDT

She explains why she chose to perform the song (about the killing of Amadou Diallo by New York City police in 1999) during the interview.

The lyrics impacted me so heavily and deeply, it made me cry.

She adds,

It’s like a prayer that I needed Ms. Clinton to be impacted the same way so the only way I can get that reaction from her is to sing it.

Blige admits that recently, she hasn’t been as vocal during instances when the country has witnessed police brutality. She felt that her conversation with Clinton was important.

I never got a chance to say anything [about police brutality] so I got an opportunity to interview Hillary Clinton and somebody like me would never get an opportunity like that — ever.

On her conversation, she says,

I was blown away by how organic and real she was. When I met her, she was generally concerned about what I was doing. She hugged me like a grandma — and I needed that hug at the moment.

The debut episode of The 411 with Mary J Blige premieres on Apple Music on Sept. 30.

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