How Alicia Keys Ditched the Anthem & Got Cool with Her New Single
Don't tell me you haven't shot your arm toward the ceiling with drunken vigor, waving it in slow motion to the high-flying chorus of "Empire State of Mind," at least once in your life. You have. It's a staple of 2 a.m. bar crawls and the call-to-action for anyone soaking up the magic of their ambitious dreams with the boost from a Fireball shot. Even if you've never stepped foot over New York's city limits, Alicia Keys and Jay Z's "Empire State of Mind" speaks for anyone who's ever wanted to BE something.
It's anthems like this that have taken Alicia Keys' career from the piano-ballad goddess of the early aughts and made her into the inspiring radio star that she is now. Her last few singles have taken on the same formula: a blazing chorus, a heavy bass beat, and the confidence that leaves you knowing one thing for sure: Keys is a girl on fire.
But with the release of her latest single, Keys is falling back on the vulnerability of her earlier songwriting—best showcased in the tenderness of 2003's The Diary of Alicia Keys—while giving it a sense of modern cool.
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