Courtesy of en.hungertimes.com
3 December 2012
By Shelby Clemons, Staff Writer
After almost three years since her last album, The Element of Freedom, R&B singer Alicia Keys is back with another successful album. Her fifth studio album, Girl on Fire (not of the Katniss Everdeen variety) is an impressive album that earns Keys her deserved title as a queen of soul. Though the album’s R&B/Soul genre is not for everyone, it makes clear one indisputable fact about the Grammy-winning, Billboard chart-topping singer: girl can sing.
In these last three years, Keys has had some dramatic life changes, including marriage and motherhood, so it’s no wonder Girl on Fire is filled to the brim with personal touches. In “Brand New Me,” Keys sings: “It’s been a while, I’m not who I was before […] it’s just the brand new kind of me.” These life changes make for a confident, empowered Keys, who produces a soulful, emotional album that listeners can relate to.
Much like her 2009 collaboration with Jay Z, “Empire State of Mind,” the album’s title track has garnered the album the attention and hype that it deserves. “Girl on Fire” mixes the strong sound of drums with Keys’ signature piano to create an instant hit that makes anyone yearn to be “hotter than a fantasy, longer like a highway.” Also important to the popularity of the album are the various collaborations with singers like Maxwell and Nicki Minaj, which successfully juxtapose old-school R&B with new-school hits.
A few songs on the album seem to steer away a bit from softer ballads, but songs like the reggae-esque “Limitedless,” which sounds like a toned-down version of a song M.I.A. would sing, keep the album interesting. Consistent with her lyrical theme of change and empowerment, “New Day” is another faster ballad that proves Keys’ dynamism.
If 14 Grammys and millions of album sales aren’t proof enough that Alicia Keys is a dominant figure in music, Girl on Fire proves that this girl is here and ready to take her throne as the new queen of Soul.
7/10