Go Mary! Go Mary! And therein lies the problem. Mary is tired of going.

Mary J. Blige pushed back this week against online chatter about her lack of energy onstage, bluntly telling Angie Martinez in an interview on her “IRL” podcast that she was simply fatigued. 

The R&B icon admitted, “I was exhausted… So for people to be like ‘oh she look tired’, I was f*cking tired, I was.” During parts of her 2025 tour, Blige explained that long runs of shows left her physically drained and vulnerable to online scrutiny. 

Fans circulated clips and memes criticizing Blige’s stage presence at select shows. Blige told Martinez that after the 30th date of a long tour leg she had every right to feel beat, adding that she felt unfairly judged for being human.

Blige, 55 has been performing professionally since she was 18-years-old. Her candid response to the “tired” memes folds into a larger conversation about how aging artists and women, in particular, are policed online. 

The “Be Happy” singer has previously discussed setting boundaries, stepping back from people-pleasing, and considering how long she wants to tour. Blige wasn’t making excuses for her energy, she said it’s par for the course of a touring artist. Fans and commentators reacted with a mixture of support and scrutiny. Some praised her candor and longevity, while others continued to poke fun at performance clips. 

For artists whose careers span decades, the push-and-pull between public expectation and private limits can be intense. Blige’s willingness to call out the fatigue publicly is an unmistakable act of self-advocacy. She told Martinez that people ought to have consideration for the hardworking women in the industry who are working their “a**es off” and may be tired come their “30th show.”