Alicia Keys sings that she is a ‘girl on fire’, however, the same cannot be said for her new, self-titled album. Keys has never been an overly exciting musician.
After debuting with ‘Fallen’, she achieved her wildest heights with Jay Z on ‘Empire State of Mind’ and with Jack White on the James Bond soundtrack ‘Another Way to Die’. Everything else is simply described; Keys lightly plays the keys on her piano and sings ‘soul’ songs about herself and her loves. Such is the new album. With the exception of ‘New Day’ and possibly ‘Limitless’, it consists of soft, sometimes intimate, sometimes philosophical, but mostly predictable songs. Interestingly, she sounds most sincere on these, because when, for example, in ‘When It’s All Over’ she starts mixing musical-stylistic elements, the result is confusing and unconvincing. Some of these ballads suffer because the audience has already heard them, some because the message in the lyrics is trivial. In ‘Not Even The King’, Keys sings that the rich who are obsessed with money do not have the love that others have. A poor consolation for those who count kuna by kuna in their wallets all day long. It is undeniable that Keys is a virtuoso on the piano and in singing, but if something ‘fiery’ is sought, her promise is a fool’s delight.
