Alicia (album)

''Alicia'' is the seventh studio album by American singer and songwriter Alicia Keys. It was released by RCA Records on September 18, 2020. Written and produced largely by Keys, the album also features songwriting and production contributions from Swizz Beatz, Ryan Tedder, Johnny McDaid, Ed Sheeran, and The-Dream, among others. Keys collaborated with more artists on the recording than in her previous albums, enlisting vocalists such as Sampha, Tierra Whack, Diamond Platnumz, Snoh Aalegra, and Jill Scott for certain tracks.

''Alicia''s mostly low-tempo and melodically subtle music reconciles the experimental direction of ''Here'' with her earlier work's bass drum-driven R&B and piano-based balladry. Throughout, individual songs incorporate sounds from a wide range of other genres, including orchestral pop, progressive soul, funk, ambient, country, and Caribbean music. Thematically, they explore identity as a multifaceted concept, sociopolitical concerns, and forms of love within the framework of impressionistic lyrics, personal narratives, and self-knowledge. Keys has described the album as therapeutic and reflective of greater introspection in herself, expressing ideas and feelings of hope, frustration, despair, ambivalence, and equanimity shared in her memoir ''More Myself'' (2020), which was written during ''Alicia''s recording.

The album was originally scheduled to be released on March 20, 2020, then May 15, before being delayed indefinitely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was marketed with an extended traditional rollout campaign that featured various media appearances by Keys and the release of seven singles, including the Miguel duet " Show Me Love", "Time Machine", "Underdog", and " So Done" (with Khalid). After a surprise announcement of its impending release in September, ''Alicia'' debuted at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200 in its first week and became Keys' eighth top-10 record in the US, while charting in the top 10 in several other countries.

A critical success, ''Alicia'' received praise for Keys' nuanced vocal performances and the music's accessibility, while her thematic messages were considered balanced, healing, and timely against the backdrop of unfolding world events. The singles " Good Job" and " Perfect Way to Die" resonated especially with the importance of essential workers during the pandemic and with the 2020–2021 racial unrest over police brutality in the US, respectively. The album also won the Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album at the 2022 Grammy Awards. In further support of the album, Keys embarked on Alicia + Keys World Tour, which was postponed from 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

Background

In 2016, singer-songwriter Alicia Keys released her sixth studio album '' Here'', a raw departure from the more sophisticated and anthemic R&B music of her first five albums. Sung with tougher vocals and against edgy sounds from hip hop, funk, and jazz, Keys' topical lyrics for the album explored themes beyond the uncertain romantic relationships that predominated her earlier music, such as sexuality, addiction, poverty, and environmental degradation. In another departure from her perfectionist inclinations, the singer stopped wearing makeup that year. After ''Here''s release, she took a break from recording music and served as a coach on the singing competition series '' The Voice''. She took a leave of absence from the show's 13th season in 2017 to focus on making ''Alicia''.

Recording and production

Keys reportedly returned to Oven Studios, her personal studio in New York City, to record ''Alicia''. However, several other studios were later credited for its recording, including NYC's Jungle City Studios, where recording for 14 of the album's 15 tracks took place. The studio was founded by Ann Mincieli, Keys' longtime recording engineer and studio director who also engineered much of ''Alicia''. The album was produced primarily by Keys, with alternating contributions from an assorted group of record producers and songwriters, including her husband Swizz Beatz, Ludwig Göransson, Ed Sheeran, Tory Lanez, and The-Dream.

For certain songs, Keys collaborated with guest vocalists such as Tierra Whack, Jill Scott, Miguel, Sampha, and Khalid. A few songs had been originally recorded for ''Here'', including the Sampha duet "3 Hour Drive" (recorded in 2015) and "Love Looks Better", which underwent various unsuccessful takes with different producers before Keys revisited the song on her own with contributions from Ryan Tedder. "It was Alicia, in the end", as Mincieli recounts, "pulling few pieces from Ryan and added 'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''some things on her own for you to hear her lyrics, vocals, and emotions without all the scratches, scribbles, stutters, and production that was overtaking the song". By May 2017, the album had been almost "halfway" finished, according to Keys.

During ''Alicia''s recording, Keys wrote her memoir ''More Myself">More Myself: A Journey'' (2020), reflecting on her life and career up to that point. In its final chapter, she explained how the album's creative process encouraged more collaborations than in her earlier recordings, when she had preferred to work alone from fear of being misunderstood, controlled, and vulnerable as an artist. She continued writing the memoir into May 2019, by which time the album was being completed. The singer said that working on both projects served as "the best therapy" ever for her, lending her a greater sense of artistic freedom and desire to collaborate with others.

Musical style

Musically, ''Alicia'' continues in the experimental manner of ''Here'' while revisiting the distinctive piano-based balladry and bass drum-driven R&B of Keys' earlier work. Altogether, ''Alicia'' is described by ''The Line of Best Fit'' as a collection of " orchestral pop, acoustic soul, and jittery contemporary R&B". In comparison to ''Here'', Shakeena Johnson of '' Clash'' says it is "less pop and more R&B". Although deeming it often a work of contemporary R&B, Helen Brown of ''The Independent'' believes the album conveys traditional soul melodies "through some stranger – and certainly more eclectic – sounds than eys hastried before". However, it avoids emphatic hooks and motifs typical of her past music. Instead, the album's "subtly melodic soul" experiments are embellished with ambient, electro, and textured sounds from music sequencers, according to A. D. Amorosi of '' Variety'', who adds that ''Alicia'' is "still a singer and pianist's album" but one that renders Keys' instrument in new forms. The music throughout has largely subtle and downtempo dynamics, except for "Love Looks Better", which is produced in a loftier pop-soul style. According to ''The New York Times'' chief pop critic Jon Pareles

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