Alicia Keys
The Element Of Freedom

THE REVIEW

"The Element Of Freedom" - Alicia Keys

A few days before the official release, an "insider" from Ms. Keys' team uploaded the entire album "The Element Of Freedom" on YouTube, the fourth studio album, fifth if we include the Unplugged.

Let's just say that the first two singles "Doesn't Mean Anything" and "Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart" have completely flopped, partly because the first track lacks originality (the instrumental sounds like "No One"), partly because both were overshadowed by the simultaneous release of "Empire State Of Mind". Then the b-side of the first single, the beautiful “Dreaming”, gave us hope again that it was just a commercial maneuver to capture the younger audience. But it's not clear what the maturation process of this artist is.

What stands out the most when listening to the album in its entirety is the pattern with which it was built, modeled on "As I Am": a mass of tracks that blend two different identities, the old school one and the commercial one made up of clichéd tracks, rehashed harmonies, and simplistic chords. With the difference that in "Freedom" Alicia embraces a bit more of the r&b style "My Boo" and completely abandons the soul, which occasionally appeared in the mediocre "As I Am".

Considering that the golden age of "The Diary Of" is gone and I fear it will hardly return, the songs on this album grate like chalk on a chalkboard. There is no uniformity, there is no story in the album, just many attempts that yielded positive results in only a few tracks.

"Un-thinkable" featuring Drake is the only gem of the album, especially for the arrangement and the warm voice with which Alicia always does her best; but this is the only moment in which the singer indulges in the sentimentality of the past.

"Love Is Blind", "Love Is My Disease" and "This Bed" are the other three tracks worth listening to, fairly original in reformulating old 80s sounds and a bit of UB40-style reggae. From here on, it gradually descends from sufficiency to mediocrity, down to the total uselessness of the track "Distance and Time", a truly unlistenable ballad, blatantly pop that I would see in one of Britney Spears' early albums rather than hers.

It goes from "Wait Till You See My Smile", a triumphant march in the style of an American romantic comedy soundtrack to "How It Feels To Fly", which is saved just for the beautiful gospel finale, but as a whole does not convince, and at times the piano reminds of "Like You'll Never See Me Again"; from "That's How Strong My Love Is" in McKnight style with a nice piano to "Like The Sea", which has a quite peculiar atmosphere but also dives into the rehashed r&b, like the duet with Beyonce "Put It In A Love Song", a club banger but hardly "fits" with the beautiful Alicia.

Closing with "Empire State Of Mind (Part II) Broken Down" with a somewhat "Broadway-like" atmosphere, a piano solo that ends with a drum intrusion. Perplexity.

Conclusion: if "As I Am" could have been considered a misstep, "Freedom" confirms that we have lost a valuable artist once again for the god of money. The curious thing is that critics continue to acclaim her, but in the end, you cannot rest on your laurels forever. What a great shame.