Alicia (album)

In 2016, singer-songwriter Alicia Keys released her sixth studio album Here, a raw departure from the more sophisticated and anthemic R&B music of her first five albums.[3] Sung with tougher vocals and against edgy sounds from hip hop, funk, and jazz, Keys' topical lyrics for the album explored themes beyond the uncertain romantic relationships that predominated her earlier music, such as sexuality, addiction, poverty, and environmental degradation.[4][3] In another departure from her perfectionist inclinations, the singer stopped wearing makeup that year.[3] After Here's release, she took a break from recording music and served as a coach on the singing competition series The Voice. She took a leave of absence from the show's 13th season in 2017 to focus on making Alicia.[5]

Jungle City Studios, where all but one of Alicia's songs were recorded

Keys reportedly returned to Oven Studios, her personal studio in New York City, to record Alicia.[6] However, several other studios were later credited for its recording, including NYC's Jungle City Studios, where recording for 14 of the album's 15 tracks took place.[7] The studio was founded by Ann Mincieli, Keys' longtime recording engineer and studio director[8] who also engineered much of Alicia.[7] The album was produced primarily by Keys, with alternating contributions from an assorted group of record producers and songwriters,[4] including her husband Swizz Beatz, Ludwig Göransson, Ed Sheeran, Tory Lanez, and The-Dream.[9]

For certain songs, Keys collaborated with guest vocalists such as Tierra Whack, Jill Scott, Miguel, Sampha, and Khalid.[10] A few songs had been originally recorded for Here, including the Sampha duet "3 Hour Drive" (recorded in 2015) and "Love Looks Better", which underwent various unsuccessful takes with different producers before Keys revisited the song on her own with contributions from Ryan Tedder. "It was Alicia, in the end", as Mincieli recounts, "pulling few pieces from Ryan and added [sic] some things on her own for you to hear her lyrics, vocals, and emotions without all the scratches, scribbles, stutters, and production that was overtaking the song".[1] By May 2017, the album had been almost "halfway" finished, according to Keys.[5]

During Alicia's recording, Keys wrote her memoir More Myself: A Journey (2020),[2] reflecting on her life and career up to that point.[11] In its final chapter, she explained how the album's creative process encouraged more collaborations than in her earlier recordings, when she had preferred to work alone from fear of being misunderstood, controlled, and vulnerable as an artist.[12] She continued writing the memoir into May 2019, by which time the album was being completed.[2] The singer said that working on both projects served as "the best therapy" ever for her,[13] lending her a greater sense of artistic freedom and desire to collaborate with others.[12]

Musically, Alicia continues in the experimental manner of Here[3] while revisiting the distinctive piano-based balladry and bass drum-driven R&B of Keys' earlier work.[14] Altogether, Alicia is described by The Line of Best Fit as a collection of "orchestral pop, acoustic soul, and jittery contemporary R&B".[15] In comparison to Here, Shakeena Johnson of Clash says it is "less pop and more R&B".[16] Although deeming it often a work of contemporary R&B, Helen Brown of The Independent believes the album conveys traditional soul melodies "through some stranger – and certainly more eclectic – sounds than [Keys has] tried before".[17] However, it avoids emphatic hooks[14] and motifs typical of her past music. Instead, the album's "subtly melodic soul" experiments are embellished with ambient, electro, and textured sounds from music sequencers, according to A. D. Amorosi of Variety, who adds that Alicia is "still a singer and pianist's album" but one that renders Keys' instrument in new forms.[3] The music throughout has largely subtle and downtempo dynamics,[18] except for "Love Looks Better", which is produced in a loftier pop-soul style.[19] According to The New York Times chief pop critic Jon Pareles, the music "often hollows itself out around her, opening deep bass chasms or surrounding sparse instrumentation with echoey voids".[4]

The album's direction, which Keys describes as "genreless", is oriented toward evoking a particular mood rather than conforming to a singular genre.[19] In the process, individual songs incorporate elements of particular styles, including progressive soul ("Truth Without Love"),[22] old-fashioned funk ("Time Machine"),[19] dance-pop ("Authors of Forever"),[21] Caribbean folk music ("Underdog"),[23] dub ("Wasted Energy"),[14] hip hop ("Me x 7"),[22] downtempo R&B ("Show Me Love"),[19] folk[22] and country ("Gramercy Park"),[23] and chamber music ("Perfect Way to Die").[4] Keys says that "Time Machine" is influenced specifically by the funk rock band Funkadelic.[24] "Me x 7" has upbeat, sparsely produced rhythms in the manner of its guest mumble rapper Tierra Whack's solo work.[10] A section of Alicia's middle tracks substitute Keys' piano for acoustic guitar within a more free-form style of neo soul.[14] On "Jill Scott" (titled after its guest vocalist), Keys sings in a high register vocal similar to the characteristic style of Scott, who provides a brief spoken word interlude.[10]

Alicia is described by Keys in More Myself as "a musical exploration of identity – both my own and ours collectively".[12] Continuing in the socially-conscious thematic vein of Here,[19] her impressionistic lyrics and personal narratives throughout the album make sociopolitical connections between the singer's view of herself and the world around her.[3][14] The album's pervading theme of self-knowledge departs from the thematic focus that had made Keys popular in the past, specifically her meditations on romantic relationships, strong families, and female empowerment.[25] Alicia explores and conceptualizes identity similarly to More Myself,[26] mirroring different dimensions of her relationship to people as a whole;[27] as Keys explains, "what makes us up to be who we are, and the expectations that are put upon us mostly from outside sources – societally or from your family, or from those people that you love, or yourself".[26]

For Keys, writing Alicia encouraged greater introspection and acceptance of her dichotomous identity, the calm and rational side of which she had largely shown up to that point.[12][nb 3] "I never realized how much I relied on only one side", she explains. "How much I had hidden away the parts that expressed anger, rage, sensuality, or vulnerability."[27] Reflecting on this theme in More Myself, she calls herself "strong and fierce and brave, no doubt", before qualifying that, "I'm also someone who has found myself on the bathroom floor, boo-hooing and feeling vulnerable. I'm also the woman who doesn't always know how to rise to my feet and take the next step."[12] In Pareles' observations, the singer advocates equanimity throughout the album, "but it's often tinged with ambivalence", reflecting "misgivings, recriminations and regrets" shared in her memoir.[4] Similarly, musicOMH journalist Nick Smith observes feelings of "hope, despair, frustration and even ambivalence" in her narratives.[23]

Alicia Keys (center) at the 2017 Women's March. Alicia reflects on sociopolitical concerns and the singer's relationship to the world around her.

Alicia opens with "Truth Without Love", which puts forth the idea that truth in society has become "elusive". The next song, "Time Machine", addresses fears of introspection and advocates the pursuit of free thought, rather than longing for the past, as a means to achieve peace of mind.[14] "Underdog" is an ode to "young teachers", "student doctors", and "single mothers waiting on a check to come".[19] Subsequent tracks advocate more positive pleas for hope and change in the world, such as "Authors of Forever".[14] The lyrics to that song promote unity[28] and an understanding of the multifaceted nature in individuals,[29] with Keys reasoning in the lyrics that, "We're here to make meanin' for as long we're breathin' / And it's alright / Whoever you are / It's alright".[30] She regards the track as representative of the album's themes,[29] citing the refrain in particular.[12]

We are lost and lonely people and we're looking for a reason and it's all right
So let's celebrate the dreamers, we embrace the space between us, and it's all right
We're all in this boat together and we're sailing toward the future and it's all right
We can make the whole thing better, we're the authors of forever – and it's all right

— Keys, "Authors of Forever", Alicia[12]

A more desperate sense of hope features in the album's closing series of unadorned piano-and-vocal performances, "Perfect Way to Die" and "Good Job", which thematize police brutality and essential work, respectively.[14] The former is written from the perspective of a mother in grief over her son, who was shot to death by the police, while the latter is written in tribute to "the mothers, the fathers, the teachers that reach us", and other people simply trying to get through an ordinary day.[19] The bonus-track ballad "A Beautiful Noise", featuring Brandi Carlile, advocates voter turnout in the context of a social movement.[25]

Among Alicia's love songs, "3 Hour Drive" has Keys and Sampha each lamenting a lover's separation over a descending chord progression. "Show Me Love" and "Love Looks Better" express more confident relations between lovers. Both the waltz-like "Gramercy Park" and the Khalid duet "So Done" feature Keys trying to make peace with having struggled to appease the expectations of other people, with the latter expressing a departure from "fighting myself, going to hell" in favor of "living the way that I want".[4]

Miguel performed with Keys on the single "Show Me Love" and at the 2019 Latin Grammy Awards.

On September 17, 2019, Keys debuted the album's lead single, "Show Me Love", and its accompanying music video at Dolby Soho in New York City.[31] The first live performance of the track took place that weekend as part of her set at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Festival.[32] In November, Keys was joined by Miguel, Pedro Capó, and Farruko at the 20th Annual Latin Grammy Awards for a medley of a Spanish version of the song and "Calma" (2018).[33] On November 20, "Time Machine" was released as the next single.[34] Keys revealed the album's title in a December interview with Billboard[13] and formally announced Alicia the following month by posting a release date of March 20, 2020, and the cover art to her Instagram account.[35] In January, Keys also returned as host for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, where she was joined by Brittany Howard in a performance of "Underdog"[36] (released as Alicia's third single on January 9).[37] The single was featured in a TV ad for Amazon Music[38] and performed by Keys on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.[39]

Keys also made promotional appearances in Europe, including a guest spot on the radio station NRJ in Paris on February 4, 2020,[40] and a concert at Bush Hall in London on February 7. The latter was an atypically small venue for the singer (with an approximately 400-person crowd that day). At Bush Hall, she was joined by a four-person backing band and two vocalists while playing an upright piano (rather than her customary grand piano) and a Moog synthesizer, used specifically for a psychedelic funk rendition of "Time Machine" and "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart" (2009). Other songs played were "Unbreakable" (2005), a piano-based cover of Billie Eilish's "Everything I Wanted" (2019), "Show Me Love", the acoustic "Underdog", and the more vocally virtuosic "Girl on Fire" (2012) and "Empire State of Mind Part II" (2010), which closed the show in rousing fashion. For much of the concert, however, "she stood at the upright [piano], bashing out melodies and singing with versatility", as reported by Financial Times critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney.[24]

Further promotional efforts in the UK included Keys' performance of "Underdog" in February 2020 on both The Graham Norton Show[41] and the Live Lounge segment on BBC Radio 1, where she also performed "Time Machine".[42]

Pandemic delays

In March 2020, online retailers were listing Alicia for pre-order with a new release date of May 15.[43] In response to the COVID-19 pandemic (declared later in March), Keys became among the many high-profile recording acts and adherents of traditional rollout campaigns to delay their albums, joining Lady Gaga, Willie Nelson, and Sam Smith.[44] The pandemic's closure of physical retailers and distribution systems impacted veteran recording artists especially, as their fans tended to be older and more likely to still purchase CDs and vinyl records.[45] On March 29, Keys performed an acoustic rendition of "Underdog" at the iHeart Living Room Concert for America (staged in response to the COVID-19 pandemic).[46] Prior to the pandemic's declaration, the song had ascended on the record charts and become Keys' most successful single since "Girl on Fire".[19] In April, the singer appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert via video call, where she discussed the album's extended delay and her memoir,[47] which had been published the previous month.[4] She also performed a cover of the Flo Rida song "My House" (2015), with lyrics altered to reflect the collective feelings of listeners living under the COVID-19 lockdowns.[47]

A boarded-up business in New York during the COVID-19 lockdowns, April 2020. The pandemic's disruption of the economy delayed Alicia's release.

Alicia's next single was "Good Job", released on April 23, 2020.[48] It was accompanied with a press release written by Keys, dedicating the song to essential workers and other ordinary people dealing with the pandemic. "Whether you're on the front lines at the hospitals, balancing work, family, and homeschool teaching, delivering mail, packages, or food, or facing other personal difficulties because of COVID-19 ... You are seen, loved, and deeply appreciated", she wrote. Rolling Stone magazine's Jon Blistein found the song's message especially resonant against the backdrop of the pandemic.[49] "Perfect Way to Die" was released as the next single[50] on June 19, coinciding with Juneteenth and amid weeks of civil unrest across the US in response to police brutality against African Americans. While posting the single on her Twitter account, Keys commented on its relevancy and condemned "the destructive culture of police violence" as senseless as the song's titular phrase. "Sometimes I don't have the words and music is the only thing that can speak", she went on to say.⁣ "I hope this speaks to you."[51] She performed "Good Job" and "Perfect Way to Die" on CNN's global town hall broadcast[52] and at the 2020 BET Awards, respectively.[53] The former song was also used as the musical theme to a social media campaign produced by CNN Heroes in recognition of individuals' humanitarian efforts during the pandemic, which Keys said had given the song new meaning: "It's almost like the song was written for this and I didn't know it."[52]

In June 2020, Keys premiered "Gramercy Park" during her first-ever appearance on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts, alongside performances of "Underdog", "Show Me Love", and her 2001 song "Fallin'".[54] On August 11, "Show Me Love" and "Underdog" were both certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting sales of at least 500,000 units for each single.[55] Two more singles were then released: "So Done" on August 14[56] and "Love Looks Better" on September 10.[57] The latter was debuted by Keys that same day at the NFL Network 2020 Kickoff concert,[58] where she also performed a cover of "Lift Every Voice and Sing", often referred to as the "Black national anthem".[59]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.2/10[77]
Metacritic	77/100[78]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[79]
Clash	7/10[16]
Evening Standard	[21]
The Independent	[17]
Mojo	[22]
NME	[19]
The Observer	[80]
Rolling Stone	[81]
Slant Magazine	[14]
The Times	[82]

Alicia was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 77, based on 12 reviews.[78] AnyDecentMusic? assigned it a score of 7.2 out of 10, based on the site's assessment of the critical consensus.[77]

Reviewing for The Times, chief music critic Will Hodgkinson hailed Alicia as "songs in the key of modern life from R&B royalty" and welcomed Keys' return to the sophisticated sounds of her first album, Songs in A Minor (2001).[82] Nick Levine, writing for NME, was impressed by the cohesive musical feel throughout and the skill behind Keys' ballads, which he said emanate well-intentioned positive energy and empathic political engagement. He also believed that the album's postponed release amid the pandemic made the subject matter more timely and therapeutic for listeners.[19] Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani also applauded the content and compared it to "the most effective political pop", saying Keys "strikes a careful balance between hope and despair". While highlighting the more radically styled collaborations in "Wasted Energy" and "Me x 7", he concluded that Alicia is "at once her most accessible and forward-minded album in years".[14] In Rolling Stone, Jon Dolan regarded it as among Keys' "most musically engaging" records and cited her strong suit to be coping ballads such as "Perfect Way to Die" and "Good Job". "Generosity tempered with humility is a rare and welcome look", he wrote of the singer. "It takes knowledge of self, care for others, truth through a lens of love, to get it right."[81] Expanding on Levine and Dolan's points, Atwood Magazine's Josh Weiner said that the repeated delays had not dated the record's musical qualities while recent events in the world had "rendered it an especially powerful and timely release", particularly in the case of the last two songs. "Great art sure does have a way of gaining even more meaning and impact as time goes on", he concluded.[83]

Several reviewers highlighted Keys' singing on Alicia. In The Sunday Times, Dan Cairns said the compositions are on-par with the "classic" songwriting of her earliest albums and that they accentuate her vocals, which he described as "soaring, swooping, scatting, richly nuanced, deploying full-throated passion and pin-drop restraint".[84] The Arts Desk journalist Joe Muggs singled out Keys' performances on "Perfect Way to Die", "Wasted Energy", and "Time Machine", where her "multi-octave range is put to fantastic use harmonizing with herself". While observing a few instances of flashy singing techniques elsewhere, he speculated whether the album as a whole hints at "a Keys album where she drops the showbiz and kicks out the jams the whole way through".[18] AllMusic reviewer Andy Kellman found Alicia to be performed "with some of her most nuanced vocals", but was less impressed by the material, the best of which he felt had already been released as singles. Ultimately, he deemed it "Keys' most moderate work, seemingly hedged with an objective to appeal to as many listeners as possible".[79] Mojo magazine's James McNair griped about Keys' altruistic politics being "at times a tad cloyingly expressed" on an album otherwise impressive for her "exquisitely malleable voice, slickly inventine production tics, and winning vocal support" from artists such as Sampha and Diamond Platnumz.[22]

For the 2021 NAACP Image Awards, Alicia was nominated in the category of Outstanding Album, while earning Keys a nomination for Outstanding Female Artist. "Jill Scott" and "So Done" received nominations for Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration in its subcategories of traditional and contemporary song, respectively.[85] Keys also received Grammy Award nominations in the categories of Best Immersive Audio Album (dedicated to recordings released in surround sound formats) and Song of the Year (for "A Beautiful Noise", which appeared on Alicia's digital edition);[86] these were presented on April 3, 2022, at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, where she won for Best Immersive Audio Album.[87]

Notes

• ^{^[a]} denotes co-producer

Information is taken from the album credits.[7]

• Alicia at Discogs (list of releases)