I started writing the following blog sometime last December, but was interrupted by a need to go get beer with my friend Mike. Now I have returned....
If I were to make an Alicia Keys mixtape, it would be around 10 songs long. If that mixtape were an album, it would have to be the great soul album of the decade, somewhere with D'Angelo's Voodoo. That's because buried in Alicia Keys's mediocre albums are some of the great soul songs written in the last 30 years - she's an artist beyond talented, if talent for an r/b star is to be judged on an extraordinary voice and musicianship, on the ability to forge the simple, sing-songy truths of pop songs with a voice and structure that makes them something more.
Not to brag, but I knew that years ago. And I think it is not bragging to say that because it seems like reviews of her new album As I Am are surprised to find out that she has talent - just before they conclude with the same lukewarm approval her albums have always gotten. I don't necessarily blame reviewers for feeling so ambivalent about Keys - I've never owned a record of hers myself. But I'm always a little surprised by the summarial dismissals of her work.
David Browne, in Entertainment Weekly, once described her attempts at old-school soul as "like a jogger who runs out of steam quickly," The Guardian said she's a fan of "the familiar and the bland" and even of As I Am, which, by all accounts is a more modern record, is described as "having lots of confidence and volume, but less of the shades in between" (says Mojo). The girl can't win - when she's confident, she's dull, when she's loud, she's not confident enough... I think.
I can't keep track of what I'm supposed to think of Alicia Keys - certainly not by Keys, who is a smoldering beauty, to be certain, but is also a little era-less. During "You Don't Know My Name"'s reign as a single, she was Foxy Keys with an afro. Nowadays, you catch her on the bizarre Dove marketing campaign "Short Takes" in the commercial breaks of The Hills, and she's a modern city woman, advocating for respecting your mother and (I think) not doing yoga. Her message, even in those "love your man" tracks, is to believe in yourself... again, I think, because of so many "love your man" tracks.
Still, if I go under the Alicia Keys category as artists in my iPod:
1. "Prelude to a Kiss" (from As I Am)
2. "Go Ahead" (As I Am)
3. "Wreckless Love" (As I Am)
4. "Diary" (The Diary of Alicia Keys)
5. "Dragon Days" (Diary)
6. "Fallin'" (Songs in A Minor)
7. "Unbreakable" (Unplugged)
8. "Heartburn" (Unplugged)
9. "You Don't Know My Name" (Unplugged)
10. "Mr. Man" (Songs)
11. "How Come You Don't Call Me" (Songs)
12. "If I Ain't Got You" (Diary)
When I look at those songs, I don't see a lot of variety - they're songs either about being in love, falling in love, hoping to fall in love, or telling a dude that you don't even need love. I think with "Go Ahead," "Dragon Days," and "Hearburn," I have every fast-paced song Keys has recorded (besides "Karma," which I don't like much). I see that the songs got more soulful with the move to The Diary of Alicia Keys.
And I see that I just love a lot of those songs, above all else. When I see Keys smile in public appearances, and even - god forbid - on those damn Dove commercial breaks, I know I'm supposed to see her as another pop star, as disingenuine of all the rest - but Keys, I think, is so beautiful, you simply want to believe and support her. That's so true of those songs, too. "Diary" remains in my top-played iPod playlist, and why wouldn't it - the song is as great a soul song as you can remember hearing. I've never heard an Alicia Keys album straight through, and perhaps if I did, I'd find her as dull or over-confident as I'm supposed to, but in the format of just having a selection of songs available, the truth is I kind of love her. So be it - I guess I'm a fan.
If I were to make an Alicia Keys mixtape, it would be around 10 songs long. If that mixtape were an album, it would have to be the great soul album of the decade, somewhere with D'Angelo's Voodoo. That's because buried in Alicia Keys's mediocre albums are some of the great soul songs written in the last 30 years - she's an artist beyond talented, if talent for an r/b star is to be judged on an extraordinary voice and musicianship, on the ability to forge the simple, sing-songy truths of pop songs with a voice and structure that makes them something more.
Not to brag, but I knew that years ago. And I think it is not bragging to say that because it seems like reviews of her new album As I Am are surprised to find out that she has talent - just before they conclude with the same lukewarm approval her albums have always gotten. I don't necessarily blame reviewers for feeling so ambivalent about Keys - I've never owned a record of hers myself. But I'm always a little surprised by the summarial dismissals of her work.
David Browne, in Entertainment Weekly, once described her attempts at old-school soul as "like a jogger who runs out of steam quickly," The Guardian said she's a fan of "the familiar and the bland" and even of As I Am, which, by all accounts is a more modern record, is described as "having lots of confidence and volume, but less of the shades in between" (says Mojo). The girl can't win - when she's confident, she's dull, when she's loud, she's not confident enough... I think.
I can't keep track of what I'm supposed to think of Alicia Keys - certainly not by Keys, who is a smoldering beauty, to be certain, but is also a little era-less. During "You Don't Know My Name"'s reign as a single, she was Foxy Keys with an afro. Nowadays, you catch her on the bizarre Dove marketing campaign "Short Takes" in the commercial breaks of The Hills, and she's a modern city woman, advocating for respecting your mother and (I think) not doing yoga. Her message, even in those "love your man" tracks, is to believe in yourself... again, I think, because of so many "love your man" tracks.
Still, if I go under the Alicia Keys category as artists in my iPod:
1. "Prelude to a Kiss" (from As I Am)
2. "Go Ahead" (As I Am)
3. "Wreckless Love" (As I Am)
4. "Diary" (The Diary of Alicia Keys)
5. "Dragon Days" (Diary)
6. "Fallin'" (Songs in A Minor)
7. "Unbreakable" (Unplugged)
8. "Heartburn" (Unplugged)
9. "You Don't Know My Name" (Unplugged)
10. "Mr. Man" (Songs)
11. "How Come You Don't Call Me" (Songs)
12. "If I Ain't Got You" (Diary)
When I look at those songs, I don't see a lot of variety - they're songs either about being in love, falling in love, hoping to fall in love, or telling a dude that you don't even need love. I think with "Go Ahead," "Dragon Days," and "Hearburn," I have every fast-paced song Keys has recorded (besides "Karma," which I don't like much). I see that the songs got more soulful with the move to The Diary of Alicia Keys.
And I see that I just love a lot of those songs, above all else. When I see Keys smile in public appearances, and even - god forbid - on those damn Dove commercial breaks, I know I'm supposed to see her as another pop star, as disingenuine of all the rest - but Keys, I think, is so beautiful, you simply want to believe and support her. That's so true of those songs, too. "Diary" remains in my top-played iPod playlist, and why wouldn't it - the song is as great a soul song as you can remember hearing. I've never heard an Alicia Keys album straight through, and perhaps if I did, I'd find her as dull or over-confident as I'm supposed to, but in the format of just having a selection of songs available, the truth is I kind of love her. So be it - I guess I'm a fan.
No comments:
Post a Comment