Alicia Keys` “The Elements of Freedom”-Two Star Effort
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…
Alicia Keyes Fights HIV/AIDS in South Africa with ‘Keep A Child Alive’!
A human interest story, filed by T.J.Holmes for CNN, really made me feel something positive, for a change. T.J. reports the work that Alicia Keyes is doing in South Africa to fight HIV/AIDS. It has been reported that 40% of the population is infected with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Alicia Keyes has founded the charitable organization, Keep A Child Alive, that builds clinics and provides medicine for many of these suffering children.
The twelve time Grammy Award singing star will release her 4th CD, The Elements of Freedom, in early December. The single Doesn`t Mean Anything, has already been released. Alicia is optimistic that a positive change can come about in South Africa, if people will come behind this cause. I heard her words on the video: “They`re going to change. This is my generation. We`re `bout to do something really big.”
This really brought me up this weekend. South Africa is a part of the world that has been stymied by Apartheid. And now Alicia Keyes is bold enough to attempt a reverse to this negative karma of history. I think she can do it, but we must help her! Forget ‘The Balloon Boy Incident’ and focus on Alicia. Can you do that?