Missing Elements of Success

Since her debut album, “Songs in A Minor,” Alicia Keys has been a force to be reckoned with in the music business. Having heard her collaboration with Jay-Z (“Empire State of Mind”), many listeners anxiously awaited the release of her latest album. The rapping styling of Jay-Z mixed well with Keys’ musical arrangement and the lyrical hook of the chorus. Having said that Keys’ latest album is a mixture of the mundane and the ordinary.

The 13-second introduction to the album sets the tone for what you would think to be an inspirational and powerful set of songs. Fine, it’s not the hip-hop stylings of Jay-Z, but still you believe that you will find a different perspective on the world. Instead you wind up wishing that the album would be mostly done in spoken word. From “Love is Blind” to “Un-Thinkable (I’m Ready)” is one long narration about love in its many stages. These tracks bore the listener as you will be constantly checking your mp3 player to see if you are on the same listless track.

Then there is a glimmer of hope. “Love is My Disease” lackluster lyrics is saved by Keys’ inventive musical arrangement. One thing is for sure this woman knows how to work a piano and she has to use her whole repertoire with this track to keep the listener interested. Then there is “Put it in a Love Song” featuring Beyonce. This track is made for Beyonce’s unique form of singing. When Keys attempts to do it, it sounds as if she needs an asthma inhaler.

“This Bed” sounds like a Prince hand-me-down from the ‘80s. Its ordinary words set to a beat reminiscent of “When Doves Cry” on acid will make you pull out his Purple Rain album. “Distance and Time” and “How it feels to Fly” are two tracks that given time would have been amazing. The rhythmic arrangement with piano once again at the forefront cannot save the monotony of the lyrics. The most disappointing track on the album is “Empire State of Mind (Part Two) Broken Down.” Instead of the timely intensity of the Jay-Z track, you have this morose, depressive ode to the working man. Not even the moog could have saved this.

It’s difficult to believe that this is the same woman who sang “Fallin” with a mature-emotional-raw-nerve intensity or “Karma” with its witty lyrics and rock out beat. If this was her first album her future as an artist would have been in doubt. Perhaps a remix album is in order to give a fresh vibe to these tracks.