Review: Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys 'As I Am': Aidin Vaziri | Few artists can convincingly pull off 1974 Lincoln Continental soul these days, which is what makes Alicia Keys a bit of a treasure. Even though her albums have been spotty on the whole, she usually manages to deliver a cascading, beautifully orchestrated ballad, such as "You Don't Know My Name" or "A Woman's Worth," that lifts the whole thing up into the clouds. But her third album, "As I Am," is beset by so many synthetic, hopelessly cliched Linda Perry co-writes that nothing can really rescue it from its general horribleness, not even the satin-lined R&B of "Wreckless Love." A gospel choir pointlessly bawls on "Superwoman," John Mayer noodles through "Lesson Learned" and on "Sure Looks Good to Me," Keys actually sings, "Don't rain on my parade/ Life's too short to waste one day." You know things are bad when your songs make Britney sound profound.
posted by Aidin at 2:24 AM
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