And now for something completely different! I have to admit, it was a nice change of pace listening to something fairly far removed from the genres I frequent. Not that I am opposed to pop music, but this R&B/soul stuff is a little outside my wheelhouse. I'm not sure how well-informed my comments will be, or that I have much to say, but let's see...
Alicia Keys, among other things, is definitely a classically trained pianist. One can hear it, not just throughout her songs, but especially on the instrumentals that begin most of her albums. I say, "instrumental" but they all have some talking. Among Keys' many talents, she is a Sexy Talker. She just talks at the start of all these albums (a lot of "ugh" and "yea" and "that's what I'm talking about"), and occasionally within these songs. Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's the NY accent. The only thing is....sometimes it feels like she's putting on an act. Like she's trying just a little too hard to be "street." Maybe I need to go back and watching Smokin' Aces. She's a beautiful lady with a great voice and good songs, so I'm not really complaining. She's also smart: she got into Columbia, but dropped out a few weeks later when she got signed and took off.
Her first album came out in 2001 - and I wasn't really impressed with the whole album....until I realized she was 15 when she recorded it! Holy shit. And "Fallin'" is a certified classic, right out of the gate. (Wikipedia wants us to know that despite the album's title Songs in A Minor, only two of its tracks are actually composed in the key of A minor.) Her classical training collides with East Coast hip-hop for a fairly unique neo-soul sound. The album is a hit and she launched her first tour around it. It only lacks when compared to her future output and has strong staying power even today; it's in the Library of Congress, ok? The story of the album is this: she recorded it at home in Queens herself, presented it to Columbia, and they didn't like it. They were apparently looking for more of a teen popstar thing. So Clive Davis bought out her contract and signed her to his new label, Arista - the rest is history: she retained creative control for the rest of her career instead of becoming the latest prepackaged pop commodity. Jumaine Dupre, Brian McKnight, and a bunch of other people helped on that first album, but she wrote and produced a ton of it herself and remained fiercely independent forever. Among other awards that year, the album got five wins at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards, so Keys tied Lauryn Hill's record for the most Grammy Awards won by a woman at a single ceremony; the record would eventually be broken by Beyoncé, who won six awards at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2010. While I still don't think it stacks up against Diary (there's some filler, not all killer), it is pretty damn impressive for a debut album from a teenager, and it has been rewarded with various anniversary repackages. Also, I just went back and watched the videos from that era: she does not look 15! I have to believe she was significantly older when Bob Dylan started checking her out.
And yet she tops that with her second album, which is a concept piece. As impressive as the debut was, to have a rock-solid, 5-star, classic album be only your second album is even more remarkable. Every song on The Diary of Alicia Keys is good, and the album can be played from top to bottom successfully in a variety of scenarios: partying, chilling, wooing, background playing, anything. This album gets even more repackaging and reissues than the debut, and deservingly so. "If I Ain't Got You" is not just the best Alicia Keys song, it is a certifiable Classic. The first time I heard the song, I was certain I had heard it many, many times before. Isn't this a song from my parents' era? It's so familiar, yet so direct - like she's tapped into some proto-love song from deep within the shared consciousness of all humanity. Yea, it's that good before we even talk about her incredible voice. There are so many versions of just that song, but I particularly like the orchestral version that's partially in Spanish, recently featured in a Bridgeton spinoff (which is a hell of a sentence). Another great song from the album, one I didn't even know before this listening project, is "He Don't Know My Name," which also shows up in various live versions and remixes; I dig the reggae remix. The song (and the video, which I am just seeing now for the first time) are cute as hell, and she's gonna break it all the way down in the bridge just so we can hear her talking on the phone. (Some mild acting here too, but there's probably a reason Alicia Keys isn't in too many movies; that's OK - just keep singing!) This song was a hit because we all have a crush on someone who doesn't notice us, but that fact that super-star Alicia Keys is crushing on the barista too maybe makes us all feel a little better about it. She still plays the song live. The album went quintuple platinum and of course won a Grammy. Now that's what I call beating the Sophomore Slump! I love the album, and the efforts that were made to give it a 60s/70s feel are appreciable: these are all real instruments in the studio, not just beats. Yes, Kanye and Timbaland were involved, but the creative control she fought for her on her debut really makes this a unique and worthwhile outing, rather than just a vehicle for pop songs. I daresay, despite the briefly anomalous inclusion of Tony!Toni!Tone!, it has a gorgeous, timeless quality to it. I put it on a high shelf with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and other critics have offered consistently high praise. I don't listen to a lot of soul records, but listening to this album, I can hear where it came from. Stevie Wonder is a clear influence, for example. The albums sells and continues to sell well; it has quite an influential legacy and laid the groundwork for a long-lasting and successful musical career.
How you follow up such an incredible success that debuted at number one? First, she did Unplugged, and it sold like hotcakes. The next proper album was inevitably going to be a little bit of a let down, but 2007's As I Am is not bad. You can tell she's a superstar now because Linda Perry helps write some of the songs, and they turn out great. It's a bit more mainstream; I can't say I am a fan of the John Mayer collaboration. However, I really liked the song she did with Jack White, "Another Way to Die," which somehow only turns up on the deluxe edition of the album, despite having a video. It's like Alicia Keys and The White Stripes had a baby! Though it should not be confused with the Disturbed song of the same name, it could be the most-2007 song ever; it rocks, but, actually, the album's first single, "No One", became the most-listened song of 2007 in the US. It's good and has way, way more streams than any other of her songs (besides her delightful remix of Farruko's global hit, "Calma"). If I listened to the radio in 2007 at all then I surely would have heard it, but I was an indie rock snob.
Her fourth album The Element of Freedom from 2009 is definitely more low-key, but no less successful. People talk about it like it is chill electronica, but it is not. It is just mid-tempo. It honestly reminds me of adult contemporary - the kind of music my parents listened to on the radio while I was still in the back seat. That make sense because it sounds like and was apparently influenced by 80s pop bands like Genesis and U2. To her credit, it doesn't seem that far removed from the soulful sounds of previous albums; it is a subtle evolution. This album also has "Empire State of Mind" which was originally a song with Jay-Z; when the Knicks won in 2026 it became clear that this is New York City's new anthem - and that's pretty impressive too.
Although her next album is technically a repackaged box set of the first three albums together (The Platinum Collection), her next proper album is 2012's Girl on Fire. And they still call her the Girl on Fire, like they call Madonna the Material Girl; I bet they both hate that. Personally, I think there was a missed opportunity to use that titular song in the Hunger Games movie when Katniss is riding the chariot all aflame. (It is even weirder to realize she released the album not that long after the movie, but at least she addressed it.) Good song too! Good pipes! This is when she married Swizz Beatz, a rapper a producer previously known as DMX's hype man, and had a kid; later that had another kid. The businesswoman on the album cover conveys the themes of lady empowerment and taking charge - which apparently she was doing with all aspects of her life and career at the time...or always. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, Girl on Fire won the Best R&B Album, thus making Keys the most awarded artist in this category, with three wins. It definitely is back to being R&B, though it remains informed by broader pop elements. It is therefor for accessible and appropriately successful. "Not Even the King" is a song about the power of love, but I take it as an anti-Capitalist anthem: "some people are so poor, all they have is money." For whatever reasons, this album sold a bunch less than her previous efforts. Around this time Keys was featured on an episode of VH1 Storytellers performing both old and new material, which speaks to a certain cross-over appeal. It should also be noted that she has a song on some Spiderman movie's soundtrack (co-written by the producers, Hans Zimmer, who scored the film, and Pharrell Williams), and it is with Kendrick Lamar - so that's something; it's the movie's main theme song!
Then she was announced as a new coach on The Voice. I never saw it, but good for her and....whoever she was coaching. In December 2017, Keys appeared on Eminem's album Revival on the song "Like Home"; it sucks. She wins some awards, hosts the Grammys in 2019 and 2020, does some good things for women in the music industry, and keeps selling records.
The simply titled Here is released in 2016. It's the album she is naked on, literally on the cover and figuratively in the lyrics, which provide a loose theme of introspection and growth, while the music is all over the place. Around this time she started talking a lot about being yourself and not wearing make-up, despite being an occasional brand ambassador for makeup. I gotta admit- it's a good look for her! The album is far more raw and political than her previous stuff. I appreciated that, but, ironically, the song I remember most from it is the deeply personal "Blended Family (What You Do for Love)," which features Rihanna's future husband, A$AP Rocky and contains a subtle sample of "What I Am" by Edie Brickell. The album topped the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, becoming Keys' seventh number-one album on the chart. She performed at the 2017 Women's March.
In 2020, Keys released "A Beautiful Noise" with Brandi Carlile to encourage Americans to get out and vote - she's good like that. "A Beautiful Noise" ends up on the next album Alicia, also released in 2020, the same year she released her memoir and launched her lifestyle brands, whatever the hell that means. Various pop genres are explored effectively. For some reason, "Underdog" is the song I hear the most on the radio from Alicia Keys; I've heard it playing at the grocery store on more than one occasion. And "Show me Love" is probably on most people's "Sexy" playlist, but if not there's still time to add it. A few of these songs, especially "Perfect Way to Die" and the the inclusion of "A Beautiful Noise" demonstrate an awareness of a desire to speak effectively to America's racial-political moment in 2020. It was also delayed by and responded to the pandemic, as in "Good Job," dedicated to essential workers and other ordinary people dealing with the pandemic. Still, this album is less aggressive and more accessible than the last one. It is hugely successfully and heralded as a return to form.
Keys is her eighth studio album, released through RCA Records on December 10, 2021. It is a monster: 2 discs with 2 versions of every song, plus some bonus; then she releases the whole thing again in a second version. So I heard each of these songs four times! Honestly, I liked it: both the stripped-down versions and the remixes. Though I wish she would GTFO with this ongoing Kanye West shit. I like the Lil' Wayne verse! This is basically her last and most recent album, not including projects like a contractually-obligated Christmas album. She's independent now. In 2024 she played at the Superbowl, which is about as big as it gets: she teased a little bit of "If I Ain't Got You", before joining Usher to sing their duet "My Boo". There is also a Broadway music feature her songs. And I really liked Keys' collaboration with Swedish House Mafia, released in August 2024; she is great as a house diva!
She has such an expansive repertoire and impressive skills, that I doubt we have heard the last from Alicia Keys.
Maybe Bob was right: "There’s nothing about that girl I don’t like."
Alicia Keys is married to Swizz Beatz. They purchased a renowned property, famously known as the "Razor House," for $20.8 million in 2019 and lovingly refer to it as "Dreamland". Designed by architect Wallace E. Cunningham, the 11,000-square-foot estate overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is widely rumored to have inspired Tony Stark's futuristic home in Iron Man.
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