Alicia Keys
As I Am

THE REVIEW

Four years after the release of the masterpiece that was "The Diary Of Alicia Keys," the pianist from Hell's Kitchen returns with her third studio album (fourth if you count the Unplugged). Ms. Keys' new work leaves one a bit perplexed at first listen, giving the impression that it certainly hasn't managed to hold a candle to its studio predecessor nor meet many expectations. The sounds are not elaborate, sometimes even appearing to clash, in some tracks the vocal performance is limited—if not downright poor—and some songs border on the banal. However, there is something good in the album.

Pressing the PLAY button, the CD takes us through the typical scratchy hiss of vinyl into a classical piano solo ("As I Am") characteristic of all Keys' intros, which gives way after a few seconds to an up-beat r'n'b. The novelty comes in some hints of electric guitar, a prelude to the soul/"rock" turn (purists of rock, do not be shocked by the genre attribute) but nothing more. The atmospheres are intense, classic, a good start. The track continues with "Go Ahead", which might be seen as a symmetrical counterpart to "Karma" from the old "The Diary Of", a good up-beat track, still within the r'n'b field, so no flaws, but a keen ear would appreciate the trombones in the background. The third track is "Superwoman", a ballad with a poor arrangement (written, among other things, in collaboration with Linda Perry) that fares better solo. "No One"—the promo single of the CD— is a silly and repetitive track, commercial and somewhat plagiarized from here and there (see Black Eyed Peas and Akon), released solely to grab a large audience after a long absence. We return to r'n'b atmospheres with "Like You'll Never See Me Again", another ballad with a beat, where the vocal performance is quite distinctive. Keys plays a lot on voice changes in this new work, perhaps focusing too much on choral and vocal arrangement, and less on instrumental ones, a quality that positively characterized her previous works.

Rising above the general adequacy of the album at this point is the profound "Lesson Learned" written in collaboration with John Mayer, a soul ballad with slight acoustic rock interjections. The most successful piece of the album, however, is "Wreckless Love" where Alicia returns to the origins of '70s soul, revisited and renewed, as well as in "Teenage Love Affair" and "Where Do We Go From Here" where one can sense slight jazz influences, and which in my opinion represent the three best tracks of the entire CD. "The Thing About Love", again with Linda Perry, is another soft rock/soul ballad, which however does not aim for much, and whose ending features a disappointing vocal performance. "Prelude To A Kiss" and "I Need You" are completely anonymous, so I won't comment on them. "Tell You Something" is an unassuming pop ballad. The album concludes with "Sure Looks Good To Me", the last piece, once again with Linda Perry, which can be considered a good pop song.

In conclusion, if one approaches the album expecting a string of brilliant tracks like "If I Was Your Woman", "You Don't Know My Name", "Wake Up", "Dragon Days", "Diary" or "If I Ain't Got You", they will undoubtedly be unsatisfied, both for the absence of the soul vein that was so well intertwined with Keys' r'n'b tendencies, and for the few truly good tracks. However, if one approaches it looking at it as a pop album, it can't be said that the work has been poorly executed. There are some good pieces, some truly excellent, and after all, we are still talking about the musical product of an artist who still works with real instruments in an industry of tracks similar to "Umbrella," where even today it is impossible for me to find a "real" instrument. We can attribute this "As I Am" to the creative flair of an excellent artist who ventured into a field different from her origins.