Alicia Keys
Girl On Fire

After 3 years away, Alicia Keys returns with "Girl On Fire," the Harlem pianist who in 2001 gave new light to R&B, mixing it with echoes of classical music, old-school influences, and hip hop beats. She had all the makings of a neo-soul music diva, without needing to compare herself to legendary names who worked half a century before her. Expectations were sky-high for a young woman who likely didn't intend to become a legend like those she was often associated with, but more modestly a talent simply intent on making good music. And if you look at it from this perspective, Alicia Keys nailed it with her latest effort. Honestly, the release of the eponymous single - a concoction featuring just four chords played on a Wurlitzer and heavy sampled drums - had worried her loyal fans, especially after the bewilderment caused by her last studio album, The Element Of Freedom. But by now, the strategy of releasing a mass-catching first single is adopted by most artists who need to ensure enough income for the record labels.

Girl On Fire opens with a piano intro “De Novo Adagio” – typical for Keys – in A minor, which leads into the second track of the album and probable second single “Brand New Me,” a ballad about self-affirmation and change, a central theme indeed somewhat overused in the promotion of the record, which deserves more than the chosen singles might suggest.

This is where the album gets interesting. The third and fourth tracks, “When It's All Over” and “Listen To Your Heart” feature excellent collaborations with John Legend, Jamie Smith of the XX, and Miguel (the latter will open the tour) as well as the malevolent electronic interference of her husband Swizz Beatz, which spills over into overproduction and excessive sampling of two tracks with neo-jazz and neo-soul atmospheres which, with a more instrumental arrangement, would have been gems.

“New Day,” a club-ready street-urban track also produced by Mr. Beatz, and the subsequent “Girl On Fire” featuring the rapper known for her soberness, Nicki Minaj, are probably the weakest tracks of the entire album, which continues with another collaboration, this time exquisite, with Max’well, in the sensuous slow jam “Fire We Make," ready and served for the bedroom, flowing like honey with a succession of falsettos and sighs, closing with the solo of guitarist and singer Gary Clark.

The lady takes us to Motown atmospheres with “Tears Always Win,” a gospel-tinged ballad written in collaboration with Bruno Mars, which in her hands manages to distance itself from the mainstream we're used to. “Not Even The King” sounds a bit like a piano lullaby, followed by the McKnightian “That's When I Knew,” featuring Gary Clark’s vocals and guitar, because it's in the simplicity of more instrumental and less sampled tracks that Keys best delivers her potential. With the next track, we take another journey this time accompanied by the Jamaican sounds of reggae in “Limitedless,” followed by “One Thing,” a beautiful ballad with very interesting lyrics that could easily have come out of the famous “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”

The album closes with perhaps Alicia Keys' most artistic track. “101” guides us for almost 7 minutes through the story of unrequited love and a woman who refuses to see the harm the man she's with is causing her. But just when it seems everything is over, from afar in the background, you hear piano arpeggios start again, accompanying the labored breathing of someone who seems to be running away, and who begins to shout Hallelujah while the backing track intensely unfolds for another minute, finally closing and leaving us to our thoughts.

"Girl On Fire" revives the slightly tarnished prospects of the new mom Keys, making us hope for a tour with a return to the past, away from improbable dances and predictable melodies. It's a work that can comfortably be placed between The Diary and As I Am, and which I'm sure will satisfy all the fans looking for a renewed return to the roots.