Mary J. Blige has released 15 studio albums, selling over 100 million worldwide. Now in her fourth decade in the music business and at 52 years old, Blige knows how to carry herself when she arrives on a music video or photo shoot set. However, she says her work feels different now than in her past.

She says, “I can receive all the gifts,” referring to her six Grammy nominations for her album “Good Morning Gorgeous.” Blige also received a Billboard Music Icon Award last year, won an Emmy for her Super Bowl performance, and was nominated for an Oscar a few years ago. Blige is operating on all cylinders and is in her prime, and she recognizes it too.

She said, “I can accept it all with humility and with confidence because I’ve been working so hard all my life — really, really hard. But I wasn’t able to see the good things until I really got my head together and my life together.” She says her morning routine helped with that. Every morning when she wakes up, she looks in the mirror and says to herself, “Good morning, gorgeous.”

Blige said, “Sometimes my eyes are all closed up. But I strain to see myself. It’s not about the vanity of it; it’s about how we’re strengthened. No one can love me like me. Nobody can.” For the Grammy-winning singer, this routine has become more than a daily ritual; it’s a form of meditation. Blige continued, “I do it in my prayer time. There’s no makeup, no nominations for an award. It’s just me and God. And the beauty of being able to say, ‘I appreciate my life.’ To look in the mirror, my eyes are half closed, and say something to myself that I never even believed.”

Raised in Yonkers, New York, Blige’s weighty mezzo-soprano voice led her from the housing projects to a recording studio by the time she was 18. Her debut album, released when she was 21, revealed her tough upbringing and rocketed her to stardom with the hits “Real Love” and “You Remind Me.”

However, her 1994 album My Life was where she irrevocably fused hip hop and R&B and started an authentic conversation with her fans. And she’s never stopped sharing.

She’s laid it all out there, from suffering from substance abuse and heartbreak to struggling through recovery from both. Now single, she says she’s turned yet another corner. “Mary J. Blige is happy. Happy with herself and happy with her life.” And she’s got a new focus: “me.” “I didn’t care about myself,” she says. “I didn’t love myself. You get what you’re giving yourself. So now that I’m giving to myself, I’m getting it all.”