What Do You Think of "Alicia Keys's" Voice?

[Fat Ass Kelly Price]

And thus the trend continues...

Vote.

[S. Carter]

Average.

What really shocks me is how she allows herself to go out of tune on some of her recorded songs. Especially since she is a musician, you are supposed to have an ear for this kinda stuff. And no -- I don't consider this to be justifiable as "raw" or "emotional" elements.

[dbt88]

I agree. Her voice is Average, but she definitely has some lungs and talent to back it up. The problem I have with her is that sometimes she sounds so strained singing that just by listening to her I feel like I'm getting a sore throat.

[Baby In a New Dress]

Painfully average

Why? Range. Or lack of it. She can't handle anything beyond her tiny range. She strains all the time- most notably on her biggest hits, If I Aint Got You and No One. To hear people say she's a better vocalist than Gaga is insanity... why? Because she can play piano? Because she "composes" her own material- which she almost always has collaborators on. Keyshia Cole has a better voice. Let's not even get into Monica and Brandy. She doesn't even deserve to be anywhere near Beyonce territory. At this point, she's not even as good as Rihanna. Someone please explain to me why Righanna gives a better vocal performance on Russian Roulette than Ms. Keys gives on Try To Sleep With A Broken Heart? Why she iis she put on this crazy pedestal, as though she's a first class vocalist? This chick isn't good enough to make the alto section in my highschool women's choir. Trust me.

I will say that when she does not strain (which is rare), her tone is very nice.

[realityBITES]

Good

[Tanisha Thomas.]

LOL @ Keyshia or Rihanna having a better voice than Alicia? F*uck outta here.

[Baby In a New Dress]

Nov 7, 2009 17:57:16 GMT -5 Tanisha Thomas. said:

LOL @ Keyshia or Rihanna having a better voice than Alicia? F*uck outta here.

Keyshia has a better voice. She's not a great live singer... but in the studio, she outperforms Alicia. They BOTH strain, bit Keyshia's range is wider and I prefer her tone.

As for Rihanna... she currently sounds better than Alicia. Alicia sounds like shit on Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart. Rihanna sounds great and emotes wonderfully on Russian Roulette. How can anyone say otherwise? Do you really think Alciia sounds good on the new song?

[Tanisha Thomas.]

Nov 7, 2009 18:06:54 GMT -5 Baby In a New Dress said:

Nov 7, 2009 17:57:16 GMT -5 Tanisha Thomas. said:

LOL @ Keyshia or Rihanna having a better voice than Alicia? F*uck outta here.

Keyshia has a better voice. She's not a great live singer... but in the studio, she outperforms Alicia. They BOTH strain, bit Keyshia's range is wider and I prefer her tone.

As for Rihanna... she currently sounds better than Alicia. Alicia sounds like s**t on Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart. Rihanna sounds great and emotes wonderfully on Russian Roulette. How can anyone say otherwise? Do you really think Alciia sounds good on the new song?

Neither one of those broads have better voices than Alicia. I do admit that Alicia hasn't been sounding right, possibly because of the straining, but she still sings better than Keyshia and Rihanna, PERIOD! Of course Keyshia sounds better in the studio. WHOOPIE! Her vocals are altered and it was proven on her reality show. Plus, she has a generic voice. Blah. Rihanna doesn't sound better than Alicia and won't even get into why she doesn't.

Alicia>>> those two you mentioned.

[Baby In a New Dress]

Nov 7, 2009 18:10:54 GMT -5 Tanisha Thomas. said:

Neither one of those broads have better voices than Alicia. I do admit that Alicia hasn't been sounding right, possibly because of the straining, but she still sings better than Keyshia and Rihanna, PERIOD! Of course Keyshia sounds better in the studio. WHOOPIE! Her vocals are altered and it was proven on her reality show. Plus, she has a generic voice. Blah. Rihanna doesn't sound better than Alicia and won't even get into why she doesn't.

Alicia>>> those two you mentioned.

How?

Have you heard "Love?" Autotune free, correct? And I've also heard Keyshia it live flawlessly. Could Alicia handle that song? No, she couldn't. She'd be screaming more than she already does just to hit half of those notes. Oddly enough, Keyshia and Alicia are quite similar in that they both strain. But Keyshia technically could cover any Alicia song. Alicia doesn't have a big enough range for most of Keyshia's songs.

As for Rihanna, I' just want you to explain to me... why does she sound better on her new song than Alicia does on hers? I'm just curious, you know... because Rihanna is in that category of "broads who can't sing," While Alicia has been put up on Beyonce's level by some fools. So please explain to me how Rihanna can manage to give a stronger vocal performance than a supposedly great singer like Ms. Keys.

[Hefty Hanna]

I think she has a great voice, but I think it's ridiculously overrated simply because she sits behind a piano.

[muzikfeak]

Great, but she holds back some imo. She stays in her comfort level too much for her to be an incredible singer. Right now her voice is much more raspier than it was when she first started but I guess that comes with age.

[#LisaRinna]

Just good. And not even that good, she strains a lot.

[Rican@]

Nov 7, 2009 19:04:14 GMT -5 @muzikfeak said:

Great, but she holds back some imo. She stays in her comfort level too much for her to be an incredible singer. Right now her voice is much more raspier than it was when she first started but I guess that comes with age.

You are totally right. I feel she hold back too, I think she has more range than what she displays on her studio tracks. I feel she's one of the best live performer (and her tour is totally amazing).

dangerousbaby, what is your purpose? You do this all the time, it is annoying. We get it, you don't like the chick, stop being repetitive about it. Like really.

[K Newman]

Her voice is decent/good.

Her timbre is wonderful and soulful. Her voice is rich, she has some power, her range is VERY limited (just listen to "No One").

Some people say that Alicia's music is mostly the same stuff. Part of that is because her range is very limited and thus cannot pull of a variety of different styles of songs.

[S. Carter]

I don't think A.Keys holds back at all, she already STRAINING with the little that she does. lol

[dbhmr]

She's definitely good, sometimes great. I love her soulful tone, though her voice seems to have deteriorated a bit from when she first started. When she came out, it was definitely great, for me. Still very strong and talented, though her music, while good, is overrated.

[muzikfeak]

Nov 7, 2009 23:56:45 GMT -5 S. Carter said:

I don't think A.Keys holds back at all, she already STRAINING with the little that she does. lol

When she first came out I think she was holding back. I haven't listened to ALL of her songs but the one's that I did hear including live performances she would sing and you could tell that she had it in her to really blow the song open, but didn't. Of course she's never gonna hit some high soprano note duh, but I think if she tried especially earlier on she could have been reaaally good. If she really thinks that she can't push herself in terms of range then it's ok. I'd rather her excel in what she's good at rather than "strain" to reach something that's not there. I think some people get "straining" confused with her emotional delivery. For example, when she sings something like "ooooh baby" The ooooh isn't gonna be some Mariah or Whitney type of big note. It's more emotion and power driven if that makes sense. I also want to add that A. Keys really isn't an ad-lib or vocal run type of singer.

[Live Your Life]

Nov 7, 2009 14:20:48 GMT -5 S. Carter said:

Average.

What really shocks me is how she allows herself to go out of tune on some of her recorded songs. Especially since she is a musician, you are supposed to have an ear for this kinda stuff. And no -- I don't consider this to be justifiable as "raw" or "emotional" elements.

[Rican@]

I never get this strained talk. I hope people know, most of the time, she does intentionally make herself sound a certain way, Alicia always plays with her voice (you can listen to her first album to this one, she does not sound the same, intentionally). She has a very rich tone, again I will say this, she's a great live singer, one thing she can do is demand someone's attention with her voice and no gimmicks. That's real talk.

I'm so stanning but props need to said when people want to throw around the word "overrated". Often times, I wonder do people know the definition of "overrated". It is when it is widely praised with exaggerations involved with it as well. I have not seen any comments of such of her music in this forum or anywhere else. Nobody calls her a second coming to music but she is good at what she does.

Anyone who can compose (simple or not) gets a lot of props from me because that is very difficult to do, no matter how effortless some producers/artists make it out to be.

[muzikfeak]

Yeah Alicia isn't overrated at all. I respect her craft. She's sooo good at writing, composing and producing. I love that about her. I even learned how to play one of her songs on the piano lol.

[Tanisha Thomas.]

Nov 7, 2009 18:37:53 GMT -5 Baby In a New Dress said:

Nov 7, 2009 18:10:54 GMT -5 Tanisha Thomas. said:

Neither one of those broads have better voices than Alicia. I do admit that Alicia hasn't been sounding right, possibly because of the straining, but she still sings better than Keyshia and Rihanna, PERIOD! Of course Keyshia sounds better in the studio. WHOOPIE! Her vocals are altered and it was proven on her reality show. Plus, she has a generic voice. Blah. Rihanna doesn't sound better than Alicia and won't even get into why she doesn't.

Alicia>>> those two you mentioned.

How?

Have you heard "Love?" Autotune free, correct? And I've also heard Keyshia it live flawlessly. Could Alicia handle that song? No, she couldn't. She'd be screaming more than she already does just to hit half of those notes. Oddly enough, Keyshia and Alicia are quite similar in that they both strain. But Keyshia technically could cover any Alicia song. Alicia doesn't have a big enough range for most of Keyshia's songs.

As for Rihanna, I' just want you to explain to me... why does she sound better on her new song than Alicia does on hers? I'm just curious, you know... because Rihanna is in that category of "broads who can't sing," While Alicia has been put up on Beyonce's level by some fools. So please explain to me how Rihanna can manage to give a stronger vocal performance than a supposedly great singer like Ms. Keys.

Honey, I heard "Love" and it's atrocious. Keyshia sounds a hot ass mess on the live version and the recorded version. Keyshia was sounding a mess recording her third album and the people in the studio had to use a pitch corrector or whatever throughout the album.

Why would Alicia need to take on "Love" when she has had better vocal performances such as "If I Ain't Got You," "Fallin," "Samsonite Man," "You Don't Know My Name," "When You Really Love Someone," "Never Felt This Way," etc. Keyshia could NEVER EVER take on those songs. All she can do is the same generic one note ballad she's BEEN doing since 2004. She don't want it!

Rihanna? Seriously, Rihanna could NOT pull a flawless vocal or even "Russian Roulette" off live, and you know this! I think Alicia sounds just fine on her new material, and she sounds way better than she did last era. That's for sure. Have you heard "Doesn't Mean Anything" live? She killed it. Alicia knows the straining thing ain't working this era.

[S. Carter]

Nov 8, 2009 1:02:25 GMT -5 Rican@ said:

I'm so stanning but props need to said when people want to throw around the word "overrated". Often times, I wonder do people know the definition of "overrated". It is when it is widely praised with exaggerations involved with it as well. I have not seen any comments of such of her music in this forum or anywhere else. Nobody calls her a second coming to music but she is good at what she does.

I've heard so many people hail Alicia Keys as a "musical genius" more times than I can think of. To me, that is a great exaggeration. In the beginning, Clive or whoever promoted her as the female Stevie Wonder. Another great exaggeration. For other people, she's not a remarkable pianist, writer, or composer because nothing ends up sounding creative.

[Deleted]

I'm not really impressed with her voice right now... She sounds like b***sh*t on Trying Sleepin Bla Bla & Doesn't Mean Anything; that those songs sound uninspired doesn't help at all...

Hopefully she scraps the whole project for now; relased the album in spring 2010 or fall 2010; releases those two tracks on an EP and calls it a day.

[Crazytowel]

Average. A lot of the time it sounds like shes struggling to keep up with her rivals.

[Rican@]

Nov 8, 2009 9:39:38 GMT -5 S. Carter said:

Nov 8, 2009 1:02:25 GMT -5 Rican@ said:

I'm so stanning but props need to said when people want to throw around the word "overrated". Often times, I wonder do people know the definition of "overrated". It is when it is widely praised with exaggerations involved with it as well. I have not seen any comments of such of her music in this forum or anywhere else. Nobody calls her a second coming to music but she is good at what she does.

I've heard so many people hail Alicia Keys as a "musical genius" more times than I can think of. To me, that is a great exaggeration. In the beginning, Clive or whoever promoted her as the female Stevie Wonder. Another great exaggeration. For other people, she's not a remarkable pianist, writer, or composer because nothing ends up sounding creative.

Hmm well I haven't read any those comments or even seen the marketing strategy of calling her the female Stevie Wonder. I just know the chick has a hear for music. I never get the comment, why people feel she's not a remarkable pianist, the chick knows how to play pretty much every classic record there is out there. One thing she has admit that she loves to keep her composing music very simple (which why I like her so much, I know she can do more than what she puts out), "Stolen Moment" displays one of her best piece of playing th piano/keyboard. I don't think she's trying to be any sense of creative but pay tribute to those who became before her. She has an old soul and it is showcase in her music, that's why she does not follow the trend of most mainstream artists.

Okay, I'm done.

[ratchet]

its oke, i remember back in the day when she could belt to G#5 ,

kinda like xtina screaming out of there range

[Forever ♥ Young]

Nov 8, 2009 10:54:21 GMT -5 Crazytowel said:

Average. A lot of the time it sounds like shes struggling to keep up with her rivals.

THIS!!!!!

[jdanton2]

Great

[ismokedope]

Average. But she knows how to use it well.

[Sir Benji]

Average to Good. i don't like when she sings outside her range though she sounds so hoarse