Alicia Keys
KEYS
RCA
Listen Below
During the past two years, the songwriter, musician, producer, activist and entrepreneur Alicia Keys has been busy with the release of her self-care line, her most recent album ALICIA (2020), and the autobiography More Myself: A Journey.
However, as the singer recounts in a recent FADER interview, during the pandemic, she felt particularly uninspired, struggling with writer’s block. Though, finding her own space at the recording studio helped her unlock her creativity. “When I left there and kind of had my own space a bit, then I started to get really creative, like really creative, and then I found more of a well,” she confides. “And I had a little more time to process and just like be okay with everything.”
The result of the songstress delving deep within her creative zone is her eighth studio album KEYS, a 26-track masterpiece split into two sections: “Originals” and “Unlocked.”
With KEYS, the artist has gone back to her roots, returning to the piano, voice, and the jazzy energy of her early years—a fundamental step to let herself dive into her deepest, rawest emotions. Like her previous record, KEYS is one of the artist’s most authentic, profound works, which allows her to fully open and let her listeners catch a glimpse of her many sides, while she holds nothing back.
In both sections of the album, Keys explores love, life, and learning how not to dim her own light, while ultimately finding her inner strength and power. Every song on KEYS is a wholly unique, cathartic experience that unfolds so beautifully through words and sounds, inviting the listener into a particular moment in its creator’s life.
The “Originals” component of the album is jazz and piano-based, with elegant, 1930s-reminiscent harmonies, finding Keys displaying stunning, warm vocals, and some of her most genuine lyrics flowing almost as written diary pages. There is, in fact, nothing fictitious or artificial on the “Originals” compositions, as Keys dismantles every embellishment and nonessential element, keeping only the piano and her voice which allow her emotions to run freely and authentically. And it is precisely this level of authenticity—or “realness” as she might say—that makes her music so appreciated and felt by her loyal legion of listeners.
Songs like the syncopated “Skydive,” the mellow “Best of Me” (which samples the legendary Sade’s “Cherish the Day”), the rhythmic “Billions,” the reverberating piano chords of “Only You,” and “Love When You Call My Name,” which oozes gorgeous melodies while restoring faith in a too-good-to-believe kind of love, find Keys elaborating into music and lyrics inspired by her relationship with producer and rapper Kasseem Daoud Dean, professionally known as Swizz Beatz.
While singing about a past lover in the Nina Simone-esque “Is It Insane,” Keys displays all of her vocal nuances, shades, and extensions over a tastefully orchestrated jazz arrangement replete with vinyl scratch sound effects. On the same note, the noir-tinged “Nat King Cole” is a tribute to the jazz legend.
The highest points of the album are the gospel “Dead End Road” and the stunning layered vocals of “Daffodils,” which offers striking lyrics drawn from the artist’s perseverance, strength, and reliance on her inner power to push through the most arduous moments, because when “Winter is over here come the daffodils.”
After pouring her soul and heart out on the “Originals” side, Keys reveals another dimension of herself on the “Unlocked” songs, which are arguably more playful, joyous, and lighthearted, showing that her music, like her personality, is more complex than only one genre or signature sound.
Across the “Unlocked” portion of the album, producer Mike Will Made It reworks every song, sampling Alicia’s voice, then adding a broad selection of sounds such as upfront emphasized steady beats and vocals. The second half of the album is, as well, where we find a carefully selected number of guests jazzing up Keys’ warm tones.
Opening the second act of KEYS, “Only You” is sped up with a thumping pulse and snatched sampled vocals, while “Skydive” and “Best of Me” are rehashed with peppy R&B beats retaining the same tempo. The lavish “LALA” featuring rapper Swae Lee is arguably the best moment on the “Unlocked” half. The introductory, clever lines of “Nat King Cole” courtesy of rapper Lil Wayne perfectly capture the essence of the late jazz legend. Particularly creative is the rework of “Old Memories” with a poppy, accelerated, 80s-nuanced, tinkling beat.
Interestingly, the “Unlocked” songs work as the perfect counterpart to the “Originals.” The first half of the album serves as a therapeutic, soul-cleansing channel, where the artist can confront her demons, whereas after healing her unresolved wounds, with the second half of KEYS, she unlocks her inner strength and power. It is, indeed, only by facing challenging truths, unresolved emotions and struggles that we can liberate our inner determination and resilience. And with her brilliant new album, Alicia Keys is here to remind us of that.
Notable Tracks: “Best of Me” | “Daffodils” | “Dead End Road” | “LALA” | “Love When You Call My Name”
Note: As an Amazon affiliate partner, Albumism may earn commissions from purchases of vinyl records, CDs and digital music featured on our site.
LISTEN via Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube: