With one shapely leg planted in the world of neo-soul, and the other in the realm of the pop princesses, Alicia Keys was one more of the voices that made this a feminine decade. Gorgeous and talented, she connected with the funk that ruled the decade and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the pop sexpots, but while they went funkier and funkier, she pulled the music in the directions of soul, blues and gospel. The beginning of this video symbolizes it more than anything: the radio is playing one of her records, a rhythmic ditty about the jealousy between two women fighting for the same man, but then she turns it off, sits by the piano, and launches into a soulful ballad about the pangs of love.
Alicia has enormous potential, but throughout the decade, I got the feeling that she hasn't found her identity as an artist yet. Soul singers, as a rule, become finer as they grow older, so there is still hope that she will be one of the great ones. If and when this happens, this song will be a showstopper in every concert.
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