HERE
The R&B singer drops her guard for a powerful blend of the personal and political. Made with a close-knit team (mostly her, her husband Swizz Beats, and producer/songwriters Mark Batson and Harold Lilly), *HERE* shifts deftly from songs about the black experience (“The Gospel”) and societal strife (“Holy War”) to explorations of femininity (“Girl Can’t Be Herself”) and motherhood (“Blended Family”). It’s an album that taps the rich vein of soul and hip-hop that Keys has been working in for 15 years. And like all her best songs—“No One,” “Girl on Fire,” “Falling”—*HERE*\'s highlights end up being showcases for Keys’ voice, which conveys uplift and catharsis even in the most dire of circumstances: Just listen to her redeem the heartbroken addict on “Illusion of Bliss.”
On her new album, Alicia Keys inhabits the personae of multiple characters but still doesn't tell us much about herself.
Gone are the radio-devouring ballads, replaced by some looser, fresher, cooler tunes. Alicia Keys' 'Here' reviewed by the NME team.
For all of her talent and artistic ability, Alicia Keys has yet to put together a solid full-length record from start to finish. Despite tak...
Motivated by the social turmoil and political upheaval of 2016 America, Alicia Keys’ latest album, ‘Here’, is an attempt, according to
Alicia Keys seems at once more awake and relaxed than ever on her first album in four years.
A sprawling 18 tracks pit a raw-voiced Keys and her piano against a catalogue of intolerance and -isms – with astonishing results
When the world seems to be so politically off-kilter, fracturing before our eyes into a typhoon of misogyny and racism, Alicia Keys is singing out with a defiant voice, with positive songs about society and, in particular, women.