“Girl on Fire” topped
the charts around the world after its release and contains some pretty
astounding singles. I would classify the album as mainly R&B but it
definitely has a wide variety of songs and sounds. I was surprised by the album
length as it seemed VERY long. A majority of her songs are four minutes or
longer! When listening to each of the songs individually, however, it doesn’t
seem slow or laborious to listen to. Everything seems to flow nicely and her
musical ability enables her to keep the listener’s attention for that elongated
amount of time. Few artists are capable of doing this and need to compensate it
with flashy unsubstantial sounds that don’t add anything to the musical arc or
message.
At heart, Alicia Keys is a vocalist. She has no band or
instrumental ability to speak of. Therefore, her songs revolve around her
extremely talented and polished vocals. I personally feel that this enables her
songs to have more depth than songs by bands because she only has to focus on
the vocal dynamic of the song. There are thousands of guitarists and drummers
and bassists, but what makes a song come together is the musical talent of the
vocalist. A great example of this in my opinion is comparing The Stones and The
Beatles. While this might be a controversial example and you may disagree with
it, I think it identifies an interesting point. The Stones and The Beatles both
had extremely talented instrumentalists. When it came to the vocals (especially
in the early days of both bands) the Stones lacked seriously compared to the
Beatles. For this reason, their songs seemed less organized and the melody
seemed not to maintain as effectively. While I kind of went off on a tangent
there, my point is that Alicia Keys’ developed voice is the key to her massive
success as a musician.
Alicia Keys is also very versatile. Because her voice is so
polished, she can sing in a variety of different genres and alter her sound
ever so slightly to give a completely different vibe while still maintaining an
effective message in her songs. As you’ll see later in this blog, she has
composed “Girl on Fire” with a variety of R&B, ballads, and even some
hip-hop! I think the diversity is another aspect of her music that appeals to
the masses. She isn’t one-sided.
Keys also highly values lyrical depth. Hallelujah! Finally a
modern artist that has developed music that is empowering and deep in its
meaning. While others have come close, none have been as powerful as Alicia
Keys. With several of the songs on her latest album, I was so moved that I had
to literally stop typing notes just to absorb the pure passion and soul from
the music. The combination of her brilliant lyrics and her passionate voice makes
her a very well rounded artist.
Now it’s time for me to prove the grandiose claims from
above. The first song I’d like to highlight is the hit single and title song of
the album, “Girl on Fire”. This song has a driving beat accompanied with a
simple piano countermelody. Despite the atrocious decision to feature Nicki
Minaj, Keys makes up for this lapse in judgment with her impressive vocals. She
really can belt out a great note and this raw vocal talent enables the song to
be driven forward. Keys ultimately brings vocals to the forefront of the
listeners’ mind.
The next single is “Brand New Me”. This softer piano ballad
sharply contrasts the sheer power of the previous song but preserves the same
passion and meaning. The soft tone represents to me a feeling of rediscovery
and I feel very connected to the music.
Just for fun, I’m going to throw in one of her hip-hop songs
from the album. “New Day” has a funky and catchy beat and vibe with modern
instrumentals and an awesome beat. This spices up the album and once again
proves Keys’ versatility. Even this hip-hop song though is chock full of
meaning!
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