Alicia Keys
Reviewed on this page:
Songs In A Minor - The Diary Of Alicia Keys - As I Am
Alicia Keys debuted as a hugely hyped young talent who was everything to everybody: she was neo-soul, she was contemporary, she was biracial and beautiful, she played a real instrument (piano)... You name it, she had it. What she didn't have, at least at first, was good tunes or anything approximating an original approach. She made a great leap forward on 2007's As I Am, though it still bugs me that she's promoted so relentlessly when artists like Nicole Renée - who's similarly derivative but a far
better lyricist and composer - and Des'ree can't even get a record deal. Bitter rant over.
I caught Keys in
concert in early 2004; that review is here.
(DBW)
 Songs In A Minor (2001)
At the age of twenty (a minor, get it?), Keys nodded to neo-soul by incorporating a variety of retro stylings: "Rock Wit U" is a nod to Isaac Hayes's wah-wah and string-drenched love ballads, and Hayes himself co-arranged the track; the single "Fallin'"
is a 12/8 piano dirge which sounds suspiciously like James Brown's "It's A Man's Man's Man's World."
Jermaine Dupri adds hip hop soul currency to "Girlfriend," which he produced.
Her voice is exceptionally flexible - she does perfect imitations of Erykah Badu's nasal croon ("Troubles"),
and Prince's falsetto belt (a cover of his "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?," identical except for an
annoying metronomic drum part).
But not only is there nothing original in her approach, her songwriting just isn't very good, apart from the gorgeous, stripped-down
"Caged Bird."
Mostly it's just pleasant tunes with trivial lyrics - the Babyface-style ballad "Goodbye," the
"Natural Woman"/"Vanishing" clone "Lovin U."
(DBW)
 The Diary Of Alicia Keys (2003)
This time Keys cuts back on all the imitations and genre dabbling, focusing on one coherent approach. Unfortunately, it's a
very dull one: slow hip hop drum loops, hackneyed romance lyrics ("Heartburn," a shockingly routine Timbaland contribution), and a little pseudoclassical piano ("Harlem's Nocturne").
Largely written and produced by Keys, frequently in collaboration with Kerry Brothers Jr., who hooked
up most of the backing tracks; other co-producers include Kanye West, Dwayne Wiggins,
Rich Harrison, Kumasi, Andre Harris and Vidal Davis.
Several of the songs are catchy enough - though none are exceptional - but despite her facility, Keys has a fatal
weakness as a soul singer: no vulnerability. Even the song that's supposed to show her as a tongue-tied and lovestruck Everywoman
(the leadoff single "You Don't Know My Name") ends with Keys reeling in her man with a confident line of patter worthy of
Barry White, and she's completely unable to convey the desperation required by "If I Ain't Got You," let alone her sluggish
cover of the Gladys Knight hit "If I Were Your Woman." So you end up with a long string of
mediocre, insincere ballads, and that's not my idea of a good time.
Still, I shouldn't complain: you pay money to listen to somebody's diary, you deserve what you get.
(DBW)
 As I Am (2007)
As you might have figured out, I'm not exactly a Keys fan, and after I heard her borrowing Rihanna's Caribbean accent on leadoff single "No One," I didn't want to hear the rest of this album. But I was rewarded for my critical persistence in listening to the whole thing anyway. Many of the tracks are reminiscent of 60s Motown - "Teenage Love Affair"; "Where Do We Go From Here?" with what sounds like a baritone sax - but without the explicit borrowings or obvious imitations that cluttered her first record.
Keys and Brothers (who co-wrote and co-produced most of the disc) also dabble in electrofunk (the anthemic "Go Ahead") and slow numbers ("Like You'll Never See Me Again," equal parts Smokey Robinson and Prince),
staving off predictability with tricks like loud live drums on a love song ("I Need You").
Of equal importance, Keys has matured as a singer, and can now bring the required heft to big ballads like the country-inflected closer "Sure Looks Good To Me" and "The Thing About Love" (written with Linda Perry).
A few years ago, both Keys and Beyoncé - both born in 1981; Christina Aguilera and Pink are slightly older -
seemed unlikely to catch up artistically to their commercial prowess, but their odds are improving.
(DBW)
Where do we go from here?
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