Alicia Keys` “The Elements of Freedom”-Two Star Effort
January 5, 2010
Filed under Music
The Element of Freedom, the new album of Alicia Keys, was just released on December 11th. Alicia says about it: 
“It feels emotional and vulnerable but there`s also a kind of freedom in it.” The record immediately went to number 2 on the Billboard 200, selling 417,000 copies in the first week alone. These are a collection of R & B pop songs with a generous use of electronic keyboards and generic drum machine.
How It Feels To Fly is a nice ballad; Alicia has a beautiful voice and puts some cagey twists and turns in her voice. The production behind her sounds is a little thin, mixed homogenously you see. Maybe this was done on purpose? Doesn`t Mean Anything is the single and the best song on the record. Something about riches and fame mean nothing when you lose your honey. Bass has an actual pulse on this track.
Upon a first listening of The Element of Freedom, it seems a bit generic and uninspired. The ending of Doesn`t Mean Anything is simply an empty electronic drum track. Why? The drum track on Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart is intrusive, irritating and monotonous…The songwriting is mediocre here. It`s not a good sign when you can`t wait until the song is over with. I better check out of this hotel before I`m tarred & feathered…good musak for La Quinta Inn though…
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I wanted the Elements of Freedom albumn for Christmas and got it! I wanted it because I’ve loved just about everything she’s put out. However, I was disappointed and am consigning my cd toa local shop. The first half of the albumn sounds like an old LP sped up – I actually checked to make sure my cd player was not on the fritz and speeding through songs!
The first several songs feature almost frenetic piano accompaniment to frenetically-sung lyrics – Was Alicia in a hurry?
On the 2nd half of the albumn she sounded a bit more like herself – and hey, I’m always for artists growing & evolving, but this sound was too much too soon! I like Alicia’s sound the way it has been…
New York sounded good, though…but it would have been the only track on the albumn that would have prevented me from selling the cd to the re-sale shop
Alicia Keys has a crystal clear voice that sounds beautifully,’.