Within the pantheon of female vocalists today, stands Alicia Keys — leagues above her contemporaries — commanding a sonic revolution that combines jaw-droppingly effortless artistry with ingenious business acumen.
Unlike the over-marketed and obscenely attention-seeking moves of Beyoncé or the sob-circus PR of a part-time recluse, part-time marketing maven like Adele, Keys has frequently relied on simply the powerhouse nature of her voice, her soulful songwriting and instrumentation par excellence, without compromising on her lion’s share of the business side either.
She is part of a lucrative yet unenvious female singer club that not only has such phenomenal talent but also has to cope with the overwhelming pressure of looking erotic and ethereal at all times (swathed in makeup with fillers and tucks and lifts and whatnot). Obviously, in typical Alicia fashion, she has finally made the decision to not wear makeup in public, signalling her growing intolerance to rampant superficiality.
In her latest offering Keys, Alicia gives us access to a sonic weekend with the singer, traversing genres and sounds while packaging her specific brand of devil-may-careness in the process. Divided into the Originals and the Unlocked sections, this double album has been described by Alicia as a Saturday and Sunday where the original songs form the relaxed Sunday vibe, and the remixed versions are unlocked for a party-loving Saturday night.
The richness of her melodies shines through in the Originals section with the delightful love song 'Billions,' and the eternal nature of 'Love When You Call My Name.' For a singer who has not shied away from bringing her politics to her music and being a champion of women’s rights, this album is an all-heart effort from the Queen of Hip-hop that takes a close look at the idea of love, a sense of belonging in a relationship, desire, and emotional isolation.
You feel you are in Alicia’s grand living room as she tinkles the ivory and our sentiments with it, transcending musical eras and cultures, blending piano classicism with modern-day hip-hop. In 'Dead End Road,' she makes every effort to hold on to a dying relationship, channelising Aretha Franklin’s specific gospel style of “call and response” singing. 'Is it Insane' is a beautiful jazz-steeped track which sees Alicia showing off her most commanding piano chops, as she overanalyses and mulls over an ex. 'Only You' is another beautiful song that feels like Alicia is creating it as she goes; its shifting tempo making you play catchup with her creative genius.
If Originals is the Alicia we love, then Unlocked is the Alicia who wants to fit into the heavily digital world of today. And surprisingly, in true Alicia fashion, it works.
It works because even when she is rearranging her work for a more shuffle-friendly contemporary listener, she is unapologetically herself. Her voice comes into greater, sharper focus even as the instrumentation from the original goes through various kinds of engineering and processing. 'Skydive' is one of those songs that holds its own in the remixed version despite the original being such a wonderful number. Even 'Old Memories' moves not just sonically but also thematically into a more positive celebration of personal triumph. Great thought has gone into why a song is being remixed, and it makes perfect sense for two versions of the same to show as much musical evolution as there is personal growth.
Of the 26 songs in the album, several repeat themselves in newer avatars that befit this digitised world. Interestingly, they do not appear in sequence in the Unlocked side either, allowing you to shuffle as you go along. It is in her quintessential piano balladry that we find ourselves in awe of Alicia, reminding us of why we have all fallen in love with her in the first place. Originals, prima facie, is the better half of the two parts containing within it some of her most organic, unabashed, and self-assured works, helmed by her outstanding piano-playing skills.
Yet, in our predictable penchant for veering towards her original compositions — out of sheer love and respect for her music — we may do a disservice to her willingness to put herself out there, in an avatar that may seem out of character in Unlocked. Despite the wide range of genres that this double-album encapsulates, the experimentation in Unlocked stays with us longer than the similar fare that Originals becomes on multiple listens. Unlocked is not just a remix of Originals; it is the redemption of the struggles that Originals tackles head-on. Unlike her 2020 eponymous album, which had a plethora of collaborators, Keys is less glitzy in comparison.
With vocal collaborations from Khalid, Lil Wayne, Pusha T, Swae Lee, Brandi Carlile, and Jacob Collier, Keys appears to be an evening with close friends, reminiscing over malts and timbres, turning into a raucous party as the evening progresses.
This is a robust effort from Alicia that ticks all the boxes sonically and thematically for us fans. But it falls short of being a career-defining album like her previous outings in its inability to reverberate much longer.
You can listen to Keys here.
Senior journalist Lakshmi Govindrajan Javeri has spent a good part of two decades chronicling the arts, culture and lifestyles.
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