Songs in A Minor
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| Release Date: |
November 30, 2000 |
| Label: |
J-Records |
| Rating: |
4.0 |
Description: She may be beautiful, but Alicia Keys is a musician first and foremost. She plants herself firmly behind the piano keys on her debut, unlike many of the booty-waggin' junior divas who are crowding the R&B videoscape these days. Though many of the tracks on
Songs in A Minor are embellished with adolescent angst, this 20-year-old's substantial, gorgeously soul-drenched alto putties the cracks between notes with astonishing ease. "Fallin'," the album's first single, showcases Keys at her best. She wails plaintively and passionately over rolling blues chords, in the tradition of the greats that this young talent clearly wants to align herself with--Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, and Aretha Franklin. She swoops and soars over the spicy, flamenco-fueled melody that opens "Mr. Mann," one of the many winning tracks gathered here. And she digs deep into a remake of the beloved Prince B-side, "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" packing more heat into her melismatic wails than most singers twice her age.
--Sylvia W. Chan
Tracklist of Songs in A Minor
Reviews:
...Living Legend...
This cd is exceptional. Alicia Keys emerges into tha music industry at tha tender age of only 19. With her unique style, original lyrics, and tremendous talent vocally and on the piano, Alicia Keys adds up to one great artist, better than all tha other r'n'b/soul artists out there today. Alicia Keys is a living legend, she's amazing, and so is this cd. The best songs (or my favorites) on this cd include:
Butterflies
Goodbye
Troubles
Never Felt This Way (interlude)
Why Do I Feel So Sad
Mr. Man
Jane Doe
These are just my personal favorites, the entire cd is excellent. I reccommend this cd to any fan of music, it's original, fresh, and moving. Also, check out her new cd: The Diary of Alicia Keys, it gets 5 stars too!
--Alicia Keys' #1 Fan
A True Talent
Songs in A Minor really pushed Alicia Keys to superstar status and for the right reasons. I mean Alicia is a master at the piano and she is an excellent songwriter, she wrote Fallin' all by herself and she did become the youngest artist to win in the Song of the Year category at the 2002 Grammy Awards, and with this combination comes a talent that is very rare in music today. She recaptures soul music like no artist today and she has every right to belong in the same musical category as Steve Wonder and Aretha Franklin. She is my favourite female artist, along with Whitney Houston and Madonna, and this album will forever be one of my favourites. I strongly recommend this album to anyone who is looking for some real R&B and soul music and not some fake garbage like Ashanti.
NOT ALL THAT
Alicia's debut album is weaker than her sophomore, FALLIN'is an overplayed song, not for the clever lyrics but for her voice wich I must agree is gifted. But After ROCK WITH U and A WOMAN'S WORTH, this album is pure boreness, is not even classy like those boring SADE albums, this is cheap and boring, if you want to buy a KEYS album buy her DIARY one, this is rush into the market one. HOW COME YOU CALL ME is another weak track. And is a fact that only FALLIN and A WOMAN'S WORTH made into the top 10...way different from DIARY wich manage 4 top 40 that's way better.