By Odeisel
Alicia Keys burst on the scene with phenomenal success, delivering songs that expounded on the virtues of womanhood and self-worth. A decade later, with a few incredible stylistic changes, a major controversy and some brilliant professional choices, we find her once again exploring these themes on her latest opus, Girl on Fire. The album features some striking production with meager songwriting to form a meandering work with a few highlights but no homeruns.
The instrumental intro, “De Novo Adagi” does nothing for the album but add an air of pretention. The real album begins with the soft piano melody of “Brand New Me,” as Keys revels in the self-discovery that has become her calling card. Alicia chronicles her journey through disappointment and lies and the resistance of a lover that was stunting her growth and can’t handle her ascension. Humming distortion, live, off-kilter drums and loopy atmospherics color the should-be-better “When It’s All Over.” The song wanders aimlessly, never finding its rhythm nor arriving at a destination.
“Listen To Your Heart” has an ephemeral grooviness and well-arranged background vocals but also fails to find a real direction. Alicia Keys’ vocals lack the soul or funk to take this composition someplace special and it settles into an unfortunate meh. Lead single “New Day” brings some much needed energy to the album. Despite its omnipresence, “Girl On Fire” is a screamfest whose only saving grace is Nicki Minaj who leaves the schizophrenia at home for a solid verse. Keys is further out of her range on the refrain than ever before and it’s so overpowering that you don’t really remember any of the actual words to the song.
Alicia Keys is much more comfortable and effective on her Maxwell duet, “Fire We Make.” Keys’ breathy whisper toys with the acoustic guitar and is a few levels lower in pitch than Maxwell’s falsetto. There should be some lower notes from Maxwell to balance out the highs and some of the horn samples in the background are not in rhythm but the song is cool. “Tears Always Win” brings us a smokier grainier Alicia Keys on a bluesy track. The problem, as on other points in the album is the lack of grit in her voice. Mary J Blige would be perfect on this. Unfortunately…nevermind.
“Not Even The King” is another nicely structured song musically that is poorly executed vocally. The lyricism is saccharine and sanguine but when paired with the vocal, it doesn’t reach the heights that it could. The rocking chair squeak of the acoustic guitar and the rhythm of “That’s When I Knew” are just enough to cover her deficiencies. Keys musters up enough funk to drive the song home. Besides having the worst title in a while “Limitedless” is a painful attempt at getting island with it that would make even the hard-boiled Rihanna cry. Rife with cliché’ (mercy mercy mercy) and weak lyricism, the song is just a mess that can’t even get it together to fall apart.
The pace slows with “One Thing,” with more of the piano and acoustic guitar combo, this time with a boom bap two note drum and a buttery bassline to make it palatable. This is probably the best executed song on the record; seriously good listening that hints at what this album could have been. “101” closes the album with a somber piano and a slow burn that continues a good run of Keys within her range and ability. If only the entire album was more like these two songs.
As an album, Girl On Fire is anything but. Alicia Keys is too often outside of her ability and as a result out of a winning position. She has a helluva team behind her so the album won’t lose, but as an artistic endeavor, it’s very regular.
Out of 5
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