For an album by the name of The Element of Freedom, the latest effort by Alicia Keys sounds remarkably restrained. The twelve-time Grammy Award winning singer certainly didn't forget her songwriting skills, but she did manage to neglect one of her greatest strengths–her extraordinary voice.
When it's used to its utmost potential, there's an undeniable power in Keys' voice. Her biggest hits, "No One" and "Fallin'", are her biggest hits for a reason. On both songs, there's a very controlled grittiness that she uses to convey her emotions. Though "Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart" and "Love Is My Disease" come close to achieving this level of passion and sincerity, the majority of this album seems to focus way too much on control without the grit. It's a little too refined.
On top of that, Keys seems to have taken a step back from innovation territory into straight-up emulation. "Like You'll Never See Me Again" was a fantastic homage to Prince, but "This Bed" sounds like a complete rip-off. Even an amazing lyric like "these king size sheets need more than just a queen between them" doesn't make up for the fact that she even seems to jack the purple one's vocal style. To add insult to injury, "Doesn't Mean Anything" sounds like a carbon-copy of yet another accomplished musician–herself.
Although as much as one can gripe about these various discrepancies, it's impossible to say that The Element of Freedom is an overall "bad" album. Beyonce saves the day on "Put It In A Love Song", turning out a song that's the perfect marriage between "Single Ladies" and Keys' trademark piano-pop. It's exactly how it should sound, with both artists successfully showcasing their individual styles without overpowering one another (unlike Knowles' recent collaborations with Lady Gaga).
Other highlights include the epically empowering "Wait Til You See My Smile", the stripped-down "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down" and the quite seductive "Un-thinkable (I'm Ready)". If the rest of this album had come close to touching these selections, it could have been considered a classic.
– Dewitt
On the deluxe edition of the album there is a song called “Pray for Forgiveness” that is quite amazing.
This album was amazing. Miss Keys outdid herself on this one, very impressed with the caliber of music on TEoF.
That being said ‘Put It In A Love Song’ was the ugly duckling of this album, great uptempo song that’s most likely going to be the only #1 off this album but it had no place in the lineup. Everything flowed freely until #10.
‘Doesn’t Mean Anything’ was indeed a rip-off of ‘No One’. I cringed the first time I heard it and after listening to the album I couldn’t believe A. Keys released it as her first single.
‘This Bed’ is great! I wouldn’t call it a bad homage to Prince. If anything it made me excited for what’s next for Alicia.
One more highlight on the album was ‘How It Feels to Fly’, that song had me hooked right from the piano intro. =)