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K. Michelle Does Not Want to Be Mary J. Blige

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Paras Griffin/Getty ImagesK. Michelle is often compared to Mary J. Blige, but the Memphis singer does not want to be in the same lane as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul.

“For me, everybody wants the next Mary J. Blige,” Michelle tells Rolling Stone. “As much as I love Mary J. Blige, and she is a phenomenal woman and someone that I look up to greatly, that’s not who I am. At this point in my career, I’m somewhat tired of it. I’m tired of people telling me who I am.”

Michelle loves a variety of musical styles, and she’s trying to break out of being classified only an “urban” artist. She says her country/pop song “If It Ain’t Love” on her latest album, More Issues than Vogue, would be a hit if she was a different color.

“We did sit at the table, look at this record, and say, ‘This is a great record. If you were white, it would be right. It would be a smash.’ If this was Taylor Swift, it would be a smash. And it’s crazy that it goes like that. So we toyed with the idea: Should we ship out a great record without a name or a face?”

Michelle says her next project will be a country and blues album. She’s also opening a restaurant and hookah lounge in Atlanta in the summer called Puff.

“I’m going to have the most amazing food in this restaurant. Also, we’ll have over 50 different drinks, girlie drinks that won’t give you headaches, like Captain Crunch martinis, and all this kind of stuff,” she says. ”It’s a very unique restaurant.”

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