Blige is known for throwing herself into her musical performances, often exorcising her demons through her intensely personal lyrics that chronicle her experiences with depression, addiction, heartbreak, and abuse; this is a major reason why she’s connected with her fans over the decades, and she almost sees this as a sacrifice, an act of service. “The beauty about performances is I think I’ve been blessed with a gift to relive things — relive because it really happened,” she ponders. “And when you hear those lyrics, it lives again; when you sing those lyrics, it lives again. And I think I’ve been blessed with the gift to do that and not get harmed by it. My doing that, my reliving that onstage, is helping someone else to heal. And I don’t mind that being my job on this Earth. If that’s what I’m supposed to do, then that’s what I’ve been doing.”