Is Alicia Keys actually any good?

"unthinkable" is kind of a classic, isn't it? that thing smolders

Sorry for the long post, but I think she's a paradox: she is very confident, but if she had some semblance of self-doubt she would fall apart, although she would become very good if she did have some self-doubt.

And the thing is, she shouldn't be confident, because she isn't good, but she's good enough that her confidence allows her to have it both ways: she can feel like a morally good person while dealing in a morally reprehensible status quo business.
A person on the other side of the spectrum is Chris Martin... he is genuinely able, and is actually modest in many ways, but he has a titanic blindspot that allows him to say, take a fee for playing at an Apple Computers conference, without going into the political ramifications of that. It reminds me of Charles Foster Kane, when he says "I could have been a great man if I had been poor" or something to that effect.

uh

"unthinkable" is kind of a classic, isn't it? that thing smolders

― The Reverend, Tuesday, October 5, 2010 10:26 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark

fuck, man, yesssssss

just heard this today and it's been killing me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhSaWaweRUc

"unthinkable" totally rules! I have been allergic to her so far but daaaamnn that song is the shit

more evidence that drake needs to stop doing rap music forever

it's perfect makeout music, or perfect driving-while-brooding-about-sex music, but whatever it is for, it works

for some reason it reminds me of "sleeping with the enemy" the movie -- when i first heard about that movie, more than the movie itself, and what the title suggested

a sort of epic mystery

The answer to the thread question is a resounding YES. Try Sleeping is my song of the year.

"love is blind" is the other keeper off the album, along with "unthinkable" and "try sleeping..."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/alicia-keys-is-done-playing-nice-your-phone-is-getting-locked-up-at-her-shows-now/2016/06/16/366c15aa-33af-11e6-95c0-2a6873031302_story.html?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_2_na

This is a “phone-free event,” he tells fans waiting in line. And that doesn’t mean airplane mode. Spanier holds a gray, rubbery pouch in his hand. Your phone goes in here, he says, and then we lock it.

“What?” one fan grumbles.

Quickly, Spanier adds an important addendum.

You keep that locked pouch with you. Spanier also explains that if you need to use your phone, you can just come outside and he can quickly unlock it by tapping it on a metal disk slightly larger than a bagel.

....

For DJ Walton, the manager, the only real issue is that Keys planned to premiere songs from her planned follow-up to 2012’s “Girl on Fire.”

“We don’t want the first time you ever hear a song to be some [lousy] MP3 somebody captured on their phone,” said Walton. “We have a 30-foot stage and you’re looking at it through a four-inch iPhone. We want people to come and almost forget about their phones for a moment.”

this revive caused me to listen to The Element of Freedom for the first time, and damn it's wonderful, thanks to everyone singing its praises on this thread

i want that to become standard practice at cinemas, concert venues, theatres...

Restaurants, cafes

Was killing time recently by watching those silly "reaction" videos. Laughed a lot at this guy in Koreans React To Black Female Celebrities saying "Her teeth are brighter than my future" in an expressionless voice.

almost forget about their phones

To answer the original question: she's a horrorshow.

My feeling about her, and particularly New York, which to me sounds exactly like something else I can't place, is that it suffers in songwriting complexity; it's essentially one hook, over and over and over and over. There's a lot of pop music around like this these days, and it's grating. Like, the hook is only good if it's contrasted against something else, then your ear craves it. when it just plays over and over, it's fucking annoying.

she's really pretty and has a great voice though.

shes a fantastic singer, just doesnt have enough songs worthy of that voice. i love her all the same though.

Debut album is pretty great start to finish, Diary has a lot of strong moments

"You Don't Know My Name" is my favorite, her "How Come You Don't Call Me" also p definitive imo

she always has a handful of standouts on every album.

a km/StillAdvance otm. Girl on Fire has what's probably a good hook but it just sits there repeating until I can't listen anymore.

i adore Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart.

when she gets it right, all my problems with her instantly vanish.

girl on fire, and her current one, feel like theyre hooks with no proper verses. girl on fire was basically just one big anthemic arena-R&B chorus, and not much else.

xpost Dave Chappelle pulled that phone move here when he had a 17-show residency and it worked fine.

im sure that if venues really wanted to, they could install a device/lead roof or whatever to prevent phone signals. but i suppose they too want people to post on social media about the great time theyre having.

No, she isn't.

rude! i do hate "no one" but she has a number of excellent songs, including "fallin'"

yeah, debut and Diary are both good albums

Can somebody please explain to me, as I sit here suffering through some ridiculous live version of “Empire State Of Mind”, how it is that a singer so famous, visible and widely regarded has allowed such garbage vocal takes to make it to radio?

I’m not trying to be snarky! Every note this woman sings is flat! Why? How has this been allowed to come to pass?

alicia off keys

^

I just don't understand it

I've warmed to the second album hits, but when she's bad, duck under the table.

I will The Hague “Girl On Fire” without any remorse whatsoever.

...but I love “In Common” off her most recent album. Not a hit, unfortunately.

damn this rules
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFCsuDcWqY0

oh god yeah that's great

my favorite alicia keys single in a decade

I liked “in common” a few years back

oh yeah that's right that song was very good too

ilx 2000s poll brought me back to "try sleeping with a broken heart" which <3

this is easily her best since in common yeah

I think I may have only really heard two of her songs: Falling and Girl On Fire. Both of those fill me with a sense of pure hate like I never imagined myself able to feel.

She has a few good songs.

I was in Rouen a few years ago for Bastille Day and the town put on a Joan-of-Arc-themed fireworks display set to "Girl on Fire."

Oh right! That was the day of the infamous Defenestration of Rouen..

I liked “in common” a few years back

*great

well produced but not completely won over by this one. however it is definitely better than her last single "show me love" which weirdly enough is gaining more traction than even "in common" managed (i really liked that one)

it's odd when i think about it but "like you'll never see me again" may be my favorite of all her singles