It’s a well-known fact that adversity in an artist’s life can often lead to their most inspired work. Amy Winehouse wrote the album of the decade while coked up to the eyeballs, and Mary J Blige similarly was at her highest point artistically when she was at her highest point narcotically. Alicia Keys, newly ensconced in a relationship with producer Swizz Beatz, may well prove an exception to this rule with her fourth album, The Element of Freedom. Her loved-up status oozes from practically every note.
Fortunately, Alicia is too classy let the album descend into an outright cheesefest. Like her previous albums, Element merges a piano-heavy neo-soul vibe with hip-hop beats. This time out though, there are forays into other genres with a little faux reggae on the almost anthemic opener, Love Is Blind, and pure, military-beat driven pop on Put It In A Love Song, a duet with the ominpresent Beyonce which is ready for the singles chart Top 10. The mellow slow-jam Unthinkable (I’m Ready) seems to channel 80s Anita Baker.
It’s not entirely a shiny, happy album however. There’s musings on the perennial downside of being a tourist artist – separation from a loved one – on the retro This Bed and outright yearning on the sublime Distance and Time. Even the songs of heartbreak allude to missing a lover, exhibit A being the stunning single Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart. Here her breathy vocals ride hip hop beats enveloped in lush atmospheric synths, culminating in the most beguiling piano breakdown since the last Keys album. Doesn’t Mean Anything received criticism for being a weaker reheat of her massive hit No One, but the mournful piano and plaintive vocals work much better in the context of the album than on the radio.
There are a couple of filler moments (Love Is Like the Sea springs to mind) and Alicia’s lyrics, while on point can’t hold a candle to the clever if sometimes impenetrable musings of, say, Winehouse. Vocally, however, Keys sounds more comfortable these days, working within what range she has. She’s not a belter, but the fragility and her vocal shadings make this a far more personal and moving record than most of her contemporaries have released recently. So while heartbreak may be good for artistic output, Alicia proves there can be no greater inspiration than good love.
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