Three-time Grammy award winning duo Mary Mary has reached a level of popularity that few other gospel groups in history have. Throw on a Mary Mary joint at the club and watch everyone hit the dance floor. That unique ability to attract secular and religious music lovers alike, is uncommon among artists of the gospel music genre. It’s obvious why the duo has blown up the music scene. “Something Big,” Mary Mary’s sixth studio album, promises to continue the trend.
Step into a room with sisters Erica and Tina and the first thing you‘ll notice is their energy, enthusiasm and positivity. GlobalGrind had the pleasure of sitting down with Mary Mary at Sony Music to talk about tough love, “wack juice” and what they have to say to the haters. Read below for our exclusive interview with the legendary duo!
So tell us about your new album!
Erica Campbell: “Something Big” has a whole agenda. We want people to live big, love big, give big. Starting with the campaign that is challenging people to change their neighborhoods, do something for the elderly, do something for the homeless, for their schools. This is week two of that challenge. That’s one of the things that I’m most proud of.
Tina Campbell: The music is pushing the envelope creatively.
EC: Mary Mary on the next level.
TC: Absolutely. I think it’s nothing that anybody could’ve predicted from us. I mean all of it’s gospel, all of it’s faith-based and inspirational but you have a song that you’re thinking, “Is this rock? Is this R&B? Is this hip-hop?”
EC: “Is this alternative?”
TC: Is this folk? It’s like all of these things in one but they all make sense together. It’s like we’re stretching ourselves creatively and just allowing ourselves to do all that’s in us. You know sometimes you get stuck to the mindset that “This is my style, this is how I operate,” but there’s so much inside of us so we just decided to tap into that creativity and let all of it be shown on this record. So I think you have the best of us creatively. I think it’s lyrically sound. I think it’s music that touches your heart. Of course it’s going to make you want to dance. It makes you think.
EC: It’s definitely a groove-able record.
TC: Definitely a groove-able record (laughter) but it’s like you’re partying with a purpose on this record. I think the music pushes you to be the best of who you are.
EC: There’s one thing that I’m really excited about – this record won’t get cheated like a lot of other albums do. When you think of artists you usually know a record because of one single. I think our last record kind of got cheated because “God In Me” was so great [that people] didn’t hear “Dirt” or “It Will All Be Worth It.” With this album we’re releasing several singles to different formats which is super super super exciting.
TC: It’s actually been a struggle on which song to use. We’ve never had a struggle like that.
EC: Yeah and because we can’t decide, there’s one going to Christian, one going to Urban Main, one going to Urban AC and one going to Gospel. And that’s really exciting because every artist feels good about all of their songs. They’re not just fillers that you don’t want to have heard, so it’s really great that people will hear more than just “Walking.”
TC: Yes I think the whole entire body of work will be respected and received well.
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Who are some of your biggest influences?
TC: There are artists, but I have to give that credit to Warren Campbell, who is our producer. Warren is on the cutting edge of all things great as it relates to innovation and originality. Warren is definitely not a person that follows a trend. He’s always produced all things “Mary Mary.” He can produce a hip-hop record, a pop record, a gospel record, an r&b record, a folk record, a country record and it all sounds true to what it is.
EC: And whatever album he’s on the song he does always stands out. In every review they always mention Warren Campbell song and they don’t mention it because he’s shouting out who he is in the entire song. He gives everyone their own signature thing whether it was “He Is” for Brandy or “Just a Friend” when Mario first came out or when Luther Vandross did “Can I Take You Out Tonight?” He does that for us every single album.
TC: Every single album and he also pulls all that we have to give as artists. We don’t get very many compliments from him, he pushes us all the time. He does not tell us what was great he tells us what could be better. And you need someone like that. You don’t need all those people always patting you on your back. You need to be celebrated but you also need somebody telling you “That wasn’t that good this time”.
EC: He’s not a nice guy to us in the studio (laughter).
TC: You don’t need somebody to tell you it was a ten when it was an eight and he’s that guy who says “There’s more in you.” Even when we’re writing records, we might start writing good songs for a month and he’s like “You’re still getting’ the ‘wack juice’ out, there’s better songs in you.” Like when we did this record we had two thirds of the record finished and Warren was like “Y’all JUST got the wack juice out, let’s finish writing!” (laughter). He calls the process of getting to the greatness within us “getting the wack juice out” (laughter). He pushes us to learn and to pay attention to the people who are doing great things. On the stage, behind the scenes. I think he helps us to be well-rounded as artists and he’s the biggest influence for us.
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Above: Mary Mary performs during The Super Bowl Gospel Celebration 2011 on February 4, 2011 in Dallas, Texas.
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A lot of gospel artists in the past have received criticism for veering too far away from traditional gospel. Have you faced this very much? And how do you respond to these critics?
EC: Yes and it doesn’t bother us at all. Like if you go to our Twitter page it’ll be like fifty-five “Oh my God you guys are like such a great blessing in my life and you introduced me to God etc.” and then it’s one guy like “Oh my God what in the world were you doing on 106 & Park?”
TC: Or “you only said Jesus four times on the record!”
EC: It’ll be a bunch of women like “I’ve been insecure about my body shape and I look like you guys and you made me feel comfortable with who I am.”
TC: Or some guy saying “I just got out of prison and your music is what kept me going and its what I’m listening to now” and then you have somebody like…
EC: “Why did you wear that?” So to those people you kind of chuckle and sometimes I give them a sarcastic response like “really? That’s what you’re going to say? Read the timeline and chill out.”
TC: Thank you for your comment, no thanks for coming (laughter).
EC: You get “Mary Mary” who’s nice and kind and then if you go too far you get Erica from Inglewood who will let you know how I feel.
TC: And we understand that not everybody’s going to be a supporter and not everybody is going to be a fan. But there are millions of people all around the world that our music is for and for them we’re going to keep doing what we do continuing to inspire and bring people God and the message of Jesus so they understand that God is so completely relevant right now.
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Above: Mary Mary perform onstage at the 42nd NAACP Image Awards on March 4, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.
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What was the best moment of your careers?
TC: I could say the awards and all that stuff but I think the biggest moments are the moments when we hear that we’ve touched somebody’s heart and somebody’s life because that’s the real purpose. We met a lady today at the JR signing she said she had just lost her sister. We are real sisters and so she said we encourage her and we help her and we lift her and so even though we were signing and there was still quite a long line full of people we got out and gave her a hug and I prayed for her and I hugged her.
EC: And we took a picture with her and we told her we’ll be her stand-in sisters today.
TC: There was another girl in that same line who said “I don’t go to church and I don’t know church but I get it when I listen to you guys. She was like I never have gone and I still don’t but I get it every time I listen to you guys. That’s bigger than the Grammy. That’s bigger than the American Music Award, that’s bigger than some fantastic performance or rave reviews. That’s like powerful. That’s what gives you the ammunition to keep doing what you do.
EC: Or the lady that said her daughter was depressed and would not get out of the bed. And when she would play “Get Up” from the last record her daughter would get up and go to school and go about her day just from hearing the music. Those are the highlights of our career.
Click below to continue reading more of our exclusive interview with Mary Mary!
Above: Mary Mary at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards after winning the award for Best Gospel Performance for “Get Up”.
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America is facing a lot of challenges right now. What is something you would like to see changed/improved?
EC: I wish we took better care of our seniors. I wish that we took better care of our young because if they don’t get educated who is going to lead the country?
TC: I wish we took more interest in rehabilitating as opposed to just reprimanding in terms of the people in prison. There are so many people who make really bad mistakes but they’re really remorseful and doing everything in their power to become better people but we don’t seem to really want to help people become better we just want to condemn them and damn them for making the wrong decisions.
EC: Throw them in a cage and let them out and they’re not rehabilitated.
TC: Everybody needs a second chance and I wish were just a little more forgiving and would give more of ourselves to help somebody else.
Dream Collaborations?
TC: Well this ain’t never gonna come true… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sing with Michael Jackson but that would be the one. But if I could sing with Aretha Franklin and Al Green on the same record I could just die and go to Heaven.
EC: For me, James Taylor and Celine Dion.
TC: I might take them too
EC: You can’t take mine!
TC: Okay, okay…
Above: Mary Mary on the set of the “Walking” music video.
