Alicia Keys – KEYS (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Alicia Keys – KEYS (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:33:37 minutes | 1,00 GB | Genre: R&B
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA Records Label

Alicia Keys has revealed details for her next record, Keys, which is out December 10. There are two versions of the album: Originals and Unlocked. Accordingly, she’s shared two versions of the first single from the project, “Best of Me.” Listen to the “Originals” and “Unlocked” versions of the song below.

“The Originals come from that classic side of me! It’s that AK that we WANT!! A homecoming,” Keys wrote. “The Unlocked side, I wanted to sample The Originals to create a whole other sonic experience. So, [Mike Wil Made-It] and I connected and made magic.”

Following last year’s Alicia, Keys appeared at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony to give remarks for Whitney Houston’s posthumous honors. She also joined Brandi Carlile on a new single titled “A Beautiful Noise,” released as a get-out-the-vote effort last fall.

Going by title and release proximity — never before had Alicia Keys released studio albums in consecutive years — Keys seems set up to be pitched as a sequel to Alicia. Conversely, it’s another ball of wax. Make that conjoined balls of wax. Disc one is essentially a standard Alicia Keys LP, while the second disc is an album of remixes plus two more new songs. It starts like a mixtape with Keys’ anticipatory piano trailed by the stern voice of Pusha T and an equally menacing beat recycling the one from Beanie Sigel’s “The Truth” (with that charged Graham Nash organ). Keys testifies her faith and gives thanks, and through the rest of the first set sings to a lover in varying states of their relationship, often with words of devotion and pleas to make it through the not-so-good times. The songs are more likely to evoke a feeling than have a clear meaning; to wit, “Somebody never told me there’s a last time for everything/Even a landslide is an opening/Turning metal into gold” requires some interpretive skill to comprehend what Keys is putting across. The originals peak with “Best of Me,” a crisp and sighing slow jam with a writing assist from Raphael Saadiq and a hint of Sade’s “Cherish the Day.” Two of Keys’ most moving vocal performances are contained in “Is It Insane,” an anguished torch song done acoustic jazz-trio style, and “Love When You Call My Name,” a levitating ballad out of time. Keys produced most of the first disc on her own, and for the second disc teams almost exclusively with Mike WiLL Made-It and associates for the alternate versions. The makeovers range from subtle to fairly extreme. “Nat King Cole” is turned into hip-hop soul with an obvious debt to early Portishead (and an insignificant verse from Lil Wayne). The “Skydive” remodel, which likewise evokes the mid-’90s, is much craftier, retaining some of the bass from Taana Gardner’s “Heartbeat” but smoothing it out to be in a class with Mary J. Blige’s “Mary Jane (All Night Long)” or Groove Theory’s “Tell Me.” The latter half’s new songs are two of the album’s higher-profile collaborations: a tentative-sounding missed opportunity with Khalid and Lucky Daye, and an intoxicated duet with Swae Lee where Tyrone Davis’ coasting 1979 hit “In the Mood” does most of the work. – Andy Kellman

Tracklist:

1. Alicia Keys – Plentiful (Originals) (03:08)
2. Alicia Keys – Skydive (Originals) (03:04)
3. Alicia Keys – Best Of Me (Originals) (03:59)
4. Alicia Keys – Dead End Road (Originals) (03:32)
5. Alicia Keys – Is It Insane (Originals) (06:21)
6. Alicia Keys – Billions (Originals) (03:19)
7. Alicia Keys – Love When You Call My Name (Originals) (03:37)
8. Alicia Keys – Only You (Originals) (03:15)
9. Alicia Keys – Daffodils (Originals) (04:33)
10. Alicia Keys – Old Memories (Originals) (02:59)
11. Alicia Keys – Nat King Cole (Originals) (03:39)
12. Alicia Keys – Paper Flowers (Originals) (03:24)
13. Alicia Keys – Like Water (Originals) (03:57)
14. Alicia Keys – Interlude (Originals) (01:25)
15. Alicia Keys – Only You (Unlocked) (03:11)
16. Alicia Keys – Skydive (Unlocked) (03:03)
17. Alicia Keys – Best Of Me (Unlocked) (03:43)
18. Alicia Keys – LALA (Unlocked) (04:31)
19. Alicia Keys feat. Lil Wayne – Nat King Cole (Unlocked) (04:05)
20. Alicia Keys – Is It Insane (Unlocked) (04:27)
21. Alicia Keys – Come For Me (Unlocked) (03:29)
22. Alicia Keys – Old Memories (Unlocked) (03:52)
23. Alicia Keys – Dead End Road (Unlocked) (03:32)
24. Alicia Keys – Love When You Call My Name (Unlocked) (03:15)
25. Alicia Keys – Daffodils (Unlocked) (03:04)
26. Alicia Keys – Billions (Unlocked) (03:00)

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