Songs in A Minor Alicia Keys Artist

{|Alicia Keys|}' debut album, {|Songs in A Minor|}, made a significant impact upon its release in the summer of 2001, catapulting the young {|singer/songwriter|} to the front of the {|neo-soul|} pack. Critics and audiences were captivated by a 19-yea... Read more

{|Alicia Keys|}' debut album, {|Songs in A Minor|}, made a significant impact upon its release in the summer of 2001, catapulting the young {|singer/songwriter|} to the front of the {|neo-soul|} pack. Critics and audiences were captivated by a 19-year-old singer whose taste and influences ran back further than her years, encompassing everything from {|Prince|} to smooth '70s {|soul|}, even a little {|Billie Holiday|}. In retrospect, it was the idea of {|Alicia Keys|} that was as attractive as the record, since {|soul|} fans were hungering for a {|singer/songwriter|} who seemed part of the tradition without being as spacy as {|Macy Gray|} or as hippie mystic as {|Erykah Badu|} while being more reliable than {|Lauryn Hill|}. {|Keys|} was all that, and she had style to spare -- elegant, sexy style accentuated by how she never oversang, giving the music a richer feel. It was rich enough to compensate for some thinness in the writing -- though it was a big hit, {|Fallin'|} doesn't have much body to it -- which is a testament to {|Keys|}' skills as a musician. And, the fact is, even though there are some slips in the writing, there aren't many, and the whole thing remains a startling assured, successful debut that deserved its immediate acclaim and is already aging nicely. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Less