![]() “Rock Wit U” rocks like a sequel to Shaft, not simply mimicking Isaac Hayes’ signature orchestrations but engaging them critically. “And a real man can’t deny a woman’s worth.”Ī gifted vocalist and a pianist who treated hip-hop beats as metronomes, Keys proves an equally strong producer, using her knowledge of soul history to make each song sound distinct and self-contained. “A Woman’s Worth” slinks and crawls seductively, redeploying the slow jam as a feminist assertion: “A real woman knows a real man ain’t afraid to please her,” she sings. ![]() That direct approach gives debut single “Fallin’” its considerable emotional impact and allows Keys to claim Prince’s “How Come You Don’t Call Me” as her own. Unlike the pop singers of the late 1990s, who compensated for lack of vocal power with showy runs, Keys avoids melismatic fireworks in favor of a stronger, steadier style, sustaining and crescendoing notes carefully and intuitively. Keys was a student of classical music and classic soul, and songs in A minor dissertates on Curtis Mayfield, Gamble & Huff, Motown, and Aretha Franklin. In 2011 it’s still an immensely effective introduction. ![]() Is that Beethoven? Vivaldi? There’s a sampled choir, which registers today as especially corny, but at :49 the beat bumps in with an unbelievably punchy snare sound, completely redefining the song and forcing listeners to readjust their expectations for what urban soul could sound like in 2001. Barely a song at all, it begins with Keys sing-speaking slyly, mic’ed as if she’s whispering directly into your ear, before her piano comes in, hinting at a familiar theme. ![]() Just listen to “Piano & I,” the short opening track. In the liners to this tenth anniversary reissue, Keys describes singing on New York subways with her friends and studying classical piano at the Professional Performing Arts School, and her debut bridges the worlds of the streets and classrooms, savoring the friction between their different styles, concerns, and expectations. By the time songs in A minor was released in June, she was 19, but that doesn’t make her confidence and poise any less startling or any less compelling. ![]() “A minor” doesn’t simply describe the key of the music it also refers to the artist herself, who was underage when she wrote most of these songs. There’s a sly pun in the title of Alicia Keys’ 2001 debut. Songs in A minor: 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition ![]()
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