Is Alicia Keys actually any good?

i love "if i ain't got you"

That was one of my favorites from the second album.

And I still "liked" the second album but some of it didn't work.

I did also like her remake of Gladys Knights "If I was Your Woman"

If I Ain't Got You is also solid.

really I think it's songs like "Heartburn" that didn't go anywhere

alicia singles ranking:

you don't know my name
like you'll never see me again
if i ain't got you
girlfriend
fallin'
diary
a woman's worth
how come you don't call me?
karma
no one

(was "heartburn" a single? I vaguely remember hearing it on the radio, if so it goes above "karma")

and if collabos count, "gangsta lovin" goes above "a woman's worth" and "ghetto story" is underneath "how come you don't call me"

I forgot about the "If I Were Your Woman" cover. Yeah, that was good.

I love "if I Ain't Got You", but it's such a blatant rip off of Aretha's "Call Me" :-\ Same with that song she wrote for Christina, "Impossible," it totally rips of "Ain't No Way"

"Fallin'" has always been the tune for me. very drone-y but effective.

although the first album really shined on its non-singles. The cover of "Never Felt This Way" by Brian McKnight...Butterflies....and "Goodbye", which was my favorite. lyrically nothing special but what hooks.

"i really feel that hearing the junior reid reggae rmx would go a long way to solving people's issues with 'no one'."

I didn't even see rtc write this at the time, but I said pretty much the exact same thing in the other keys thread on "no one" about a week ago.

the "teenage love affair" video is so great. love that song.

Back when it wasn't clear whether that or "Wreckless Love" would be the next single, I was like oh either would be fine, those are my 2 favorites off the album, but now that it's "Teenage" I'm starting to really wish it was "Wreckless."

did anyone see her BET Awards performance?!? ZOMG. She brought out SWV, EN Vogue AND TLC

Yeah, though tboz's voice was SHOT it was still interesting to see the group of them do waterfalls. Nice to see Dawn back with en vogue.

It's on YouTube.

Not bad

is "teenage love affair" a sample? it's so classic sounding

Released as the album's third single, it is produced by Keys and Splash and is based around a sample from The Temprees' 1972 song "(Girl) I Love You," written by Josephine Bridges, Carl Hampton, and Tom Nixon.

bummed that "Superwoman" is the next single, though, what a fucking awful song that is.

yeah seriously, they should've went with "wreckless love" or "i need you" or even "lesson learned"

That's her in the MONSTER vocal hook to Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind, right? Great single, and -- sorry, Jay-Z -- Keys is almost totally responsible for what makes it great.

i dunno, i like his verses as well. but yeah she sounds absolutely incredible.

Probably wrong thread for this, but I think its funny how this album seems to be bringing Jigga back in a huge way, at least as far as mainstream listeners go. I can't flip the dial without coming across either that song or "Run This Town", haven't heard this much Jay-Z on the radio in years.

I totally missed Jay-Z's radio-dominance days. I just got a few of his discs, tho, so I'll see what all the hoopla was about.

This song justifies the hype. But again, I can take or leave his verses. But Keys' chorus . . . wow.

i know. u can really see the lights.

"try sleeping with a broken heart" >>>>>>>> "empire state of mind"

yeah, and you're a few >'s short there

Does he really say "If Jeezy's payin LeBron, I’m paying Dwayne Wade"? Ha!

Okay, I kind of like his versus now. If he isn't Jeezy, who is? I'm woefully ignorant.

dude i'm telling u the verses are great. that jingle bell is perfect

I live in Coral Gables (South Florida), so the Dwayne Wade reference caught my attention. I just downloaded it from Lala, so I'll focus more on Jay-Z's lyrics.

Finally got around to listen to the new singles today and both are kinda great although it took me about halfway through "Doesn't Mean Anything" for me to drop my defences to it.

"Doesn't Mean Anything" seems almost disarmingly straightforward (though not in that slightly constipated sense that the original "No One" was - tho I like "No One" anyway) - I hope it works for her. Great sense of build.

'Empire State of Mind' is so good I was going to give it its own thread - my single of the year I think. I'm kind of sorry I didn't now.

What's the new album like? As awesome as Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart, or as terrible as Doesn't Mean Anything?

I like both those songs but don't really like the album

Its pretty meh. I thought her last album was quit good, like her version of the classic sixties soul sound. This new one contains some very groovy beats, but they can't disguise the very bland arrenbie. Very mediocre songwriting too, this time.

i have an immense amount of love for a ton of alicia keys singles - including "try sleeping with a broken heart" from this campaign, so huge and moving - but never for any of her albums as a whole. haven't heard this new one though

this album is a complete bore, "try sleeping" is incredible though

"try sleeping" is the fucking jam

'Try sleeping...' is excellent until the chorus kicks in. It's an intimate sound, she sounds pleasantly restrained and then wham! in comes the chorus with the crashing of the waves and the whole bravado and histrionism and all that jazz. It sort of ruins it for me.

It's all my fault... everytime an artist gets all emotional and histrionic while performing a ballad I can't help thinking of Disney soundtracks.

reminds me more of the never ending story

"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.

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

i was watching Olympics figure skating this morning while getting ready for work and a pair skated to "No One" and she really shoulda turned up the autotune on that one, woof

i have heard it is not actually her playing the piano or her singing remember milli vanilli!