The fuss that greeted the arrival of Alicia Keys three years ago faded fast (like all true stars, she didn't whore herself around every chat show or pop programme going). Tellingly, however, the song that echoes from every reality pop show audition is her 'Fallin'. Her impact may not have been on a par with Beyonce's, but certainly her songs will last longer, because - like 'Fallin' - they are already coming to be recognized as certified classics.
She was groomed for five years before the release of her debut, the superb 'Songs In A Minor' - and it felt like a lifetime's work. Every note, rhyme and vocal nuance was perfect. Naturally, then, you get worried that she'll never be able to follow it up. But there's no need: 'The Diary Of Alicia Keys' is another masterpiece.
You knew everything was going to be alright when that elegant, magisterial lead-off single, 'You Don't Know My Name', was debuted on Top Of The Pops. Only someone as brazen and ridiculously talented as Keys could return after all this time with a sprawling six minute old skool soul ballad that has a bloody spoken word section right in the middle of it. It's a work of genius, though; and if, by the end of it you aren't totally in love with this girl, then you'll never know what love is.
It's a track that's matched again and again throughout 'The Diary...'. Keys approaches melodies like she's writing standards. In doing so, she walks a perilously thin line between 'timeless' and 'Whitney Houston', but thankfully never toppling toward the latter. 'If I Ain't Got You' is a perfect example - on first listen, it could be any one of a number of identikit '80s soul belters, but after the devastatingly pure chorus melody has burrowed into your cranium you're powerless to resist. This is Keys' strength - taking the blueprints of the past and pinpointing the moments that work, and jettisoning everything else.
Only 'Slow Down', with its lazy filch from the Isley Brothers' 'Summer Breeze', fails to impress. But it hardly registers on an album that throws out incredibly slinky r'n'b like 'So Simple', stormy, sexy torchsongs like 'Diary', and swaggering hip-hop like 'Heartburn'. With both Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott still AWOL, and Beyonce unable to cut it over an entire album, there's only one lady right now who can truly claim Aretha's crown.
by Christian Ward