The Diary Of Alicia Keys

hands down to alicia keys again.. some artists are fake like britney spears.. actually i can't even rate alicia keys in the same catagory as her because britney spears could never compare to alicia keys.. not only is she beautiful but she has the true talent to back it up... have you heard her sing live?? well i haven't but you can sure as hell believe i would be first one in line to buy her tickets if she ever came to calgary.. listen to her music.. listen to her words and you'll understand why alicia keys has so much hype surrounding her.. like she said.. watch her when she's 31.. 41... and 51 she'll still be around.. this woman is so talented.. writes her own music, own lyrics.. plays the piano and sings at the same time.. unsurpassed.. if you're debating whether or not to buy her album.. you're a fool.. and don't buy it.. because if you have to debate.. you don't have enough love for her talent to buy her cd in the first place

I admit, I was one of the people who was calling Alicia "overrated!" after she received all the hype for her debut, SONGS IN 'A' MINOR. I thought it was overhyped and overrarted, and I still do. But she surely made a fan out of me with this album. When I first heard 'You Don't Know My Name' I was in love. I wasn't too sure about buying the album b/c I didn't want to be duped again, but I did it and I'm very glad I did because you can tell she had more creative reign on this album, and she is coming into her own. Every song on a scale of 1-10:
1.Harlem's Nocturne [Intro] - 10 (Great intro,even the name of it is beautiful.)
2.Karma-9 (This song has a phat beat with gorgeous strings in the background. It's a club banger which is something I am not used to hearing from her)
3.Heartburn-10 (This Timbaland produced track is definitely one of the highlights of the album. It is very old school, it reminds you of the Supremes and the lyrics are great)
4.If I Were Your Woman/Walk On By- 9 (At first I did not like this one because it was not as good as the original, but after listening a few times you can see she puts her own stamp on it and it turns into a nice club joint)
5.You Don't Know My Name - 10 (The first single, the thing that made me buy the album. Not much to say except it is a beautiful love song)
6.If I Ain't Got You- 10 (This is a fiery blues joint. Alicia's iano playing is great on this, and this is probably her best vocal performance ever)
7.Diary-10 (Probably my favorite track on the album. The melody is gorgeous and the vocals are so seductive)
8.Dragon Days-9 (This is another track that took a while to get used to. I thought it was wierd at first but now I love it. It's very funky)
9.Wake Up-10 (This is a Motown style song through and through. The beackground vocals are very nice on this. You can tell how influenced she was by that period)
10.So Simple-8 (This song is pretty good. I like the voice distortion, it's very Kanye-esque. It's a nice listen, but nothing too special.)
11.When You Really Love Someone-10 (This is classic Alicia doing the sound that made her. Excellent song, nice lyrics.)
12.Feelin' Me, Feelin' You-8 (This is a nice interlude. I love how her interludes are music and not silly convos.)
13.Slow Down-6 (This is my least favorite song on the album. It sounds like a Mary J. Blige throwaway. Why this was included I don't know.)
14.Samsonite Man-9 (This is a pretty mellow song. Good lyrics about a man who is a rolling stone)
15.Nobody Not Really-10 (Why oh why wasn't this a whole song?!? It is so beautiful, it is reminiscent of Marvin Gaye. Alicia definitely needs to do more of this music on her next album which I am already looking forward to.)

So there you have it. An excellent album that I was *quite* surprised with, and I look forward to hearing the next one.

I heard Alicia Keys's song If I Ain't Got You on the radio and was just amazed. When I found out that she played piano and wrote her own songs in addition to singing well, I just had to go get her CD. It was so worth my money. The best song on the CD is probably If I Ain't Got You but they are all awesome except for So Simple. It has a weird high pitched computer sounding voice on it that is really quite bizarre. But I think that this is an AWESOME CD.