As I Am

Alicia Keys' more mature and confident work

Starting from the end of last year the talented American neo-soul and R&B singer Alicia Keys has been working on her third studio album As I Am. After two studio releases and an Unplugged collection it is now high time to present the audience with the newest material for she has turned twenty seven years and is ready to offer a really mature creation. Alicia's musical skills let her express all the warm feelings she has inside, all the power of her emotions and her special way to see the life. She is a well-known philanthropist who knows that only positive thinking can influence the world's events to the better, and the same goes about her music which can never be called aggressive and her texts hostile. And the record As I Am is not an exception, and still it is a much more confident work demonstrating the singer's full potentials. The one emotion that goes throughout As I Am is passion for whichever topic Alicia Keys touches upon she passionately believes in what she is singing and thus makes the listener hear the deep sense of her lyrics and the hearts beat together with her rich vocals.

Positive in every way As I Am

Optimistic and absolutely positive in every way album As I Am opens with an impressive introduction As I Am (Intro) without any words for the instruments speak for themselves preparing the listeners for an emotional journey. A somewhat bluesy song Go Ahead finds Alicia singing in a lower register encouraging a guy to act instead of being shy, and on Superwoman the singer dwells on the world's situation paying our attention to what we can do to improve it. Single No One is a very emotional song that really amazes with its power, whereas Like You'll Never See Me Again sees Alicia as a wise person who is able to value every day of her life and calls us to do the same. Another incredibly wise composition is Lesson Learned that is sure to help everyone who believes to have a broken heart for it shows the breakup from a different angle that cannot help inspiring. All of us have faced the problem of something missing in a long-term relationship, and Wreckless Love expresses the way one feels trying to bring back the freshness one felt at the beginning. Musically and vocally powerful composition I Need You grows into something beyond just a love confession, and Prelude To A Kiss is a most beautiful ballad that can support any lost soul and give hope. Tell You Something (Nana's Reprise) encourages us to pay more attention to our nearest and dearest, and the final Sure Looks Good To Me is Alicia's confession of an optimist, summing up everything she has sung of on this great album.

A regular romantic, optimist and a great performer

Unfortunately the modern world music has seen a vanishingly small number of performers like Alicia Keys. Whenever they sing about the relations, it is either about a breakup hard to survive, or adultery, or love without response. When it comes about the situation in the world, the government is given the blame and the world is depicted in the worst colors possible. One can hear an optimistic approach neither to relations, nor to life in general very rarely. That is why we cannot neglect a record as valuable as As I Am. It would be wrong to state that the singer is willingly ignoring the bad things in life and avoids singing of a breakup. Nevertheless Keys' approach is very constructive, and she is sure that any situation we consider bad or unfortunate should teach us how to leave and give strength to move on. Thus the singer's third album has embraced everything that is good in the singer's outlook and is sure to change the life of those who listens to it to the better. As for Alicia Keys she has definitely recommended herself as a regular romantic, optimist and a great performer.