Linnethia Monique
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Post by Linnethia Monique on Aug 30, 2016 13:43:42 GMT -5
I'm fine with the whole no-makeup movement or whatever because she's naturally beautiful so gone head with yourself. Now as for her randomly busting out into song before announcing the nomination. I felt like she was coming for her Jesse Williams moment at the BET Awards. You could hear her in her own head like, "They won't give me a performance slot, but I'm still going to shout my message. They will hear me tonight." It was just such a random moment.
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Post by Queen of Insomnia. on Aug 30, 2016 14:18:14 GMT -5
It happens sometimes that some acts get carried away. They become delusional. Too bad Alicia is now one of them. I wish I didn't know her 'reasoning' beyond not wearing makeup. It really made me cringe. What not wearing makeup has to do with soul & dreams? It seems she assumed the more universal terms she uses the better, but it's just ridiculous. I wish she would take a good care of her voice & quality of her albums instead.
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Rican@
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Post by Rican@ on Aug 30, 2016 14:48:30 GMT -5
It happens sometimes that some acts get carried away. They become delusional. Too bad Alicia is now one of them. I wish I didn't know her 'reasoning' beyond not wearing makeup. It really made me cringe. What not wearing makeup has to do with soul & dreams? It seems she assumed the more universal terms she uses the better, but it's just ridiculous. I wish she would take a good care of her voice & quality of her albums instead. But did she say all of this? Calling the woman delusional, when the delusional ones are the responses to her self expression. I noticed many are taking her "no make-up" too serious because that is not her intention. It is just a "do you" moment.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2016 15:29:23 GMT -5
She's welcome to have a "do you" moment. The main criticisms have been when this version of Alicia Keys comes out in her art, she's just not very good at it. The "woke" urban poet comes off like a 20 year-old college student. She's not Nina Simone or Erykah Badu. It's not where her strength lies (and not what her best songs are made of, and not why "In Common" was such a great song). She's free to do whatever she wants, but as a performance artist, her art is not immune to criticism. As far as how she wants to look or dress, I couldn't care less if she wants to wear no make up and dress down.
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Rican@
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Post by Rican@ on Aug 30, 2016 16:46:34 GMT -5
She can speak though. I don't want her messages in her songs either and I have stated that before. However, the complaint is about her speaking on different matters. The focus is not precisely on her songwriting at hand. I don't understand that criticism.
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Ling-Ling
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Post by Ling-Ling on Aug 30, 2016 17:01:15 GMT -5
She can speak though. I don't want her messages in her songs either and I have stated that before. However, the complaint is about her speaking on different matters. The focus is not precisely on her songwriting at hand. I don't understand that criticism. All I know, is over the past two years she gave us "In Common," which was amazing. But she also gave us "We Are Here," "We Gotta Pray" and "Hallelujah." No thanks. Like I said, she needs to stick with what she's good at.
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Post by Queen of Insomnia. on Aug 30, 2016 17:44:36 GMT -5
Speaking on different matters is fine. But she really needs to take notes from people that are really experienced in this to be believable & engaging. She got there as a presenter. She had every right to put her 2 cents in. Her speech started casually, I was all her for that Martin Luther King reference, and then when she said she wanna share a little poem I just knew it means no good. Don't get me wrong I have nothing agains poetry, there are artists that made it a part of their persona. Like Badu & Simone also Jill Scott gets my honorable mention. But imo, it comes of as rudimentary when Alicia Keys randomly decides to recite a poem at the VMAs. I had so much secondhand embarrassment for her even before suddenly she started yelling like an emotionally unstable person.
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Rican@
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Post by Rican@ on Aug 30, 2016 18:15:19 GMT -5
I see it this way if Kanye can go on stage and mumbling whatever he was mumbling then Alicia has free range to be crazy or whatever on the stage too.
Again, I liked her poem in which is an actual song and I read the words she spoke that night, maybe I'm simple minded, but I enjoyed her words. She has the tendency to settle on general expression, but at least what she is saying was clear. Can't say the same for some (mostly Kanye) in that department
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on Aug 30, 2016 18:44:15 GMT -5
Does anyone here actually know Alicia or what her true intentions are or nah? I actually believe (I don't know her either so this is just pure speculation on my part) that this is who she has been, behind the street girl meets Beethoven (LOLOLOL; notice how gradually, she has been reduced to just plinking random keys here and there?) facade all along. Let's not forget that her Svengali, Big Papa Clive, is a Gepetto in this industry. Most people who breakaway from his strings become their authentic selves, for better or worse. Since the same old criticisms keep coming up and she doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon, I would think it would be more beneficial to move on from her completely but...I guess that would be less fun? I always found the Clive/Alicia dynamic so interesting because her original brand (songwriter/pianist/all around artiste) is so counter to his misogyny. He really had a level of fondness for Alicia that I don't think he has had for any other woman he's worked with, not even Whitney. As for this hotep thing she has going on now...well I just called her a hotep so that says all there is to say for how I feel about it. I do think this is the 'real' her - not to say her previous image was not authentic either, but it's only realistic to grant that 15 years of life experiences will change and mold someone. IIRC Alicia used to have serious esteem issues about her acne so I can also see how the no-makeup stance is an important step in her personal growth arc. But I agree with Ling-Ling that she's not very good at pulling off the earth mother teas, especially as a songwriter. This is the time where, if she is going to insist on being a statement artist, she needs to let someone else pen the songs. There is no shame in that and won't make it any less authentic as long as the lyrics represent causes she believes in. I hate you for Hotep. As for Papa Clive...I just think, as with all of his other discoveries, he had no choice but to hitch himself to a hot wagon. This wagon just happened to be a street-smart, piano "virtuoso." I have never particularly found Alicia to be a strong songwriter so the fact that he didn't demand songwriters for her from the get-go actually does surprise me but like I said, I think he saw something raw in her that, against his usual judgment, decided to leave as is. If anything, she is probably straying from his original vision of her but again, I think she is just becoming who she was always destined to be. It's unfortunate that maybe she has lost a lot of fans along the way but I don't think she has lost her core spirit, and again, respect anyone who is constantly pushing positive vibes when she doesn't have to be. Chicken Soup for the Soul via Alicia isn't for everyone, obviously, but GOF is actually my favorite of hers, front to back, so obviously, I am here for her in this current incarnation. As for her classically trained piano credentials...well...I stay waiting for those receipts. Even in her infancy, I was never impressed with that side of her.
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Caviar
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Post by Caviar on Aug 30, 2016 18:48:58 GMT -5
I miss the "Element of Freedom" Alicia. Her look, sound, and vibe just worked. She was always innovate and ahead of her time. A shame that she's had a messy career lately. I keep hoping she puts a lid on it and deliver a good album.
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Post by Samsonite Man on Sept 1, 2016 2:51:54 GMT -5
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music89
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Post by music89 on Sept 1, 2016 3:49:17 GMT -5
Smh...i guess people would drag Nina Simone if she was still alive.
If you dont like the new Alicia Keys dont listen to her. That's her. She isnt fake. Actually i think she is the realest of her generation.
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music89
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Post by music89 on Sept 1, 2016 4:05:56 GMT -5
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music89
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Post by music89 on Sept 1, 2016 8:02:29 GMT -5
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music89
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Post by music89 on Sept 1, 2016 8:06:48 GMT -5
Alicia Keys: New Album, The Voice, Makeup Free - Time
After Fifteen Years, Alicia Keys Has Found an Entirely New Voice
"For so long, I was looking for other people's approval," she says. "I've never allowed myself to be vulnerable before"
Alicia Keys has sung many songs about New York City, but she’s never released an ode to the Big Apple quite like “Gramercy Park.” The track, which she recently recorded as she prepares for her upcoming and still-untitled new album, is a marvel of a thing, with warm guitars and buttery vocals built around a hook that fits the star’s current mind-set like a glove: “Now you’re falling for a person who’s not even me,” goes the chorus. In a West Hollywood, Calif., recording studio, Keys cranks up the volume and grooves along to the steady backbeat, a beatific smile on her face. “There were times when I didn’t even know who I was anymore,” she says. “I’d spent so much time trying to be who I thought you wanted me to be.” Whether she’s referring to a specific person or the world at large hardly matters. For Keys, 35, this album is about returning to her true self. In photo shoots and appearances, she’s going makeup-free. At the intimate live concerts she’s been playing, she’s banned the use of cell phones to encourage her fans to be more present. And she insists all of it has helped her make the best music of her career. “It was the craziest combustion of magic and energy,” she says. “Whimsical, spiritual, electric, thunderbolt-struck. Boom! Music is there. Boom! I’m on my knees on the floor, praying. It dropped from the sky. Everybody was there to receive it. Boom! There it was.” In an interview for the issue of TIME on stands Sept. 2, Keys—who’s just embarked on a brand new chapter of her career as a coach on the 11th season of The Voice, premiering Sept. 19—opened up about her process in these recent recording sessions, how a list of frustrations inspired her new material and why you should put your phone away. This is the most honest she’s ever been in her music. “For so long, I was looking for other people’s approval,” she says. “I’ve never allowed myself to be vulnerable before.” In new songs like the haunting “Kill Your Mama” and the pounding anthem “The Gospel,” her lyrics explore themes ranging from institutional racism to the environment—but she’s also not afraid to interrogate her own faults. “There’s certain lessons in our lives that we’re going to keep experiencing until we get it right,” she says. “I’m a rescuer—a terrible rescuer. I want everybody to be good. I want everybody to be happy.” This period in her life, she says, has been about leaning into those imperfections. “Look—some of it’s not going to be okay,” she says. “Everything’s not going to be good. What is the most important thing? That you’re conscious and aware of yourself.” Her new material was inspired by a lengthy list of frustrations she felt needed addressing. After parting ways with her management, Keys let her longtime friend and business manager, Erika Rose, help direct her career. “She asked me if I was ready to make the record I was born to make,” Keys says. “She was like, ‘Bob Dylan. Nina Simone. Bob Marley. Marvin Gaye. That type of record.’ We started to get to this place where I was able to verbalize this list of things I wanted to write about.” What made the cut? “You know all the s–t I’m sick of? I’m sick of the way women are treated in the world. I’m sick of myself. I’m sick of putting myself in this box because I don’t want to say anything that’s going to be taken the wrong way. Every time anyone asks me a question, I have to perfectly craft [my response] so it offends no one. I’m sick of that s–t, too! I’m sick of the way boys can’t paint their nails. I’m sick of the bulls–t stereotyping that we do to people.” Her no-phones policy at shows is all about preserving the experience for fans. Since she began performing her new material live in small venues—like the Highline Ballroom in New York City and the Troubadour in Los Angeles—she’s introduced a system by which fans have to check their phones at the door, meaning no Snapchatting the entire show. She insists it’s the best way to take in a concert. “They want to be there with you,” she says of the audience. “You want to be there with them. You’re singing. Every time you say scream, they scream. Their hands are in the air. They’re closing their eyes. They start crying. It’s spiritual! It’s like a church!” She’s sensitive in different ways now that she’s a parent. Keys gets emotional when talking about the recent deaths of young black men at the hands of law enforcement. “No mother or father should watch their child be killed for no more reason than having on a hoodie,” she says. When it comes to her own children, she’s thoughtful about the traits she hopes she passes on. “There’s a lot of me I don’t want him to have,” she says of her son. “And I’m a great person, by the way—I’m amazing, I’m unbelievable!” she laughs. “But I don’t want him to be too accommodating. I don’t want him to be too nice. I want him to be kind. I want him to be genuine. I want him to be truthful. For the longest time, I had to shuffle it in. Wait a minute. Let’s not get too emotional.” When it comes to her release strategy, expect the unexpected. “We’ve created at least two hundred songs,” Keys says. “There’s going to be a way that they’re experienced that’s going to be different from any other time I’ve ever given people music.” That said, she’s loath to keep her fans waiting. “I swear I never meant to take this long,” she says. “I think that’s going to change now.” For more with Alicia Keys, pick up the issue of TIME on stands Sept. 2. time.com/4475023/alicia-keys-new-music-interview/
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doak
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Post by doak on Sept 1, 2016 23:51:34 GMT -5
You know what, the voice preview and other interviews, I think Alicia is naturally postive. It's just comes off as overly cheesy in 2016. When she would speak on the voice I would smile, she has this vibe about her that's hard to find in people.
I'm not that biggest fan of her style, clothing wise, but she has my support make up wise. Like she said "do you" and if you don't want to waste your money and time on make up, then hey, do you. I'm just antsy for some new music. Must admit, I don't wanna hear we are the world type songs but it doesn't hurt if it's properly written with solid production.
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Post by Samsonite Man on Sept 2, 2016 9:32:57 GMT -5
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Rican@
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Post by Rican@ on Sept 2, 2016 15:39:52 GMT -5
I love "Back to Life".
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music89
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Post by music89 on Sept 3, 2016 5:20:17 GMT -5
The first half of Back To Life is beautiful. I wish the whole song sounded like that :'(
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Rican@
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Post by Rican@ on Sept 3, 2016 9:04:27 GMT -5
I like that it kicks into a beat. The transition is fun and was quite shocking at first listen. I may not enjoyed it as much as I did if it was slow the whole time.
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Post by Queen of Insomnia. on Sept 3, 2016 13:46:08 GMT -5
I like Back to Life. But I think this change in instrumental is so random & unneeded.
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music89
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Post by music89 on Sept 4, 2016 3:43:01 GMT -5
I like Back to Life. But I think this change in instrumental is so random & unneeded. I agree with you. It sound like a remix of the song to me LOL.
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music89
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Post by music89 on Sept 4, 2016 3:47:39 GMT -5
Love this version of In Common!
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Rican@
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Post by Rican@ on Sept 6, 2016 20:12:32 GMT -5
I think "Back to Life" should be sent to urban AC.
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music89
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Post by music89 on Sept 10, 2016 3:56:49 GMT -5
Great performance!
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music89
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Post by music89 on Sept 12, 2016 17:28:28 GMT -5
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Dreams
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Post by Dreams on Sept 12, 2016 20:35:20 GMT -5
Is this album still scheduled for this year or was it pushed back to 2017?
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SHOOTER
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Post by SHOOTER on Sept 12, 2016 23:33:19 GMT -5
Is this album still scheduled for this year or was it pushed back to 2017? The Voice is the best exposure and promo she's gonna get so they best to capitalize.
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Rican@
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Post by Rican@ on Sept 13, 2016 0:36:25 GMT -5
I wouldn't understand why they wouldn't. Honestly, "In Common" is one of the most unknown hit in recent times. I don't know how often I run into others playing the song. You would really assume it was a huge hit that it should have been.
I still love it a lot and feel it is still very fresh. I wish she would release the acoustic version she did on the Today show.
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music89
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Post by music89 on Sept 13, 2016 16:59:53 GMT -5
I hope she will sing a few new songs at the Apple Music Festival (i wanna hear Pawn It All, She Dont Really Care and Illusion of Bliss) because i'm tired of all this mess.
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