Alicia (album)

Alicia
Studio album by Alicia Keys
Released	September 18, 2020
Studio	Conway ELBO Record Plant (Los Angeles) Fieldwork (London Los Angeles Nashville) Jungle City Oven RAK (New York) Triangle Sound (Atlanta)
Genre	R&B soul orchestral pop
Length	54:40
Label	RCA
Producer	Jonny Coffer Larrance Dopson Ludwig Göransson Alicia Keys Rob Knox Sebastian Kole Morgan Matthews Johnny McDaid Jimmy Napes P2J Sampha Sean C Tricky Stewart Khirye Taylor Ryan Tedder Noel Zancanella
Alicia Keys chronology
Here (2016) Alicia (2020)
Singles from Alicia
"Show Me Love" Released: September 17, 2019 "Time Machine" Released: November 20, 2019 "Underdog" Released: January 9, 2020 "Good Job" Released: April 23, 2020 "Perfect Way to Die" Released: June 19, 2020 "So Done" Released: August 14, 2020 "Love Looks Better" Released: September 10, 2020

Alicia is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Alicia Keys. It was primarily recorded at Oven Studios and Jungle City Studios, both in New York, and released by RCA Records on September 18, 2020. Written and produced largely by Keys, the album also features songwriting and production contributions from Swizz Beatz, Ludwig Göransson, Rob Knox, Ed Sheeran, and The-Dream, among others. Alicia's mostly low-tempo and subtly performed music is rooted in the R&B and soul styles of Keys' earlier work, while her lyrics explore sociopolitical concerns and forms of love with ideas shared in her memoir, More Myself (2020), written in the same period as the album's recording.

Alicia was originally scheduled to be released on March 20, 2020, then May 15, before being delayed further in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven singles were released from the album prior to its release, including the Miguel duet "Show Me Love", "Time Machine", "Underdog", "Good Job", and "So Done", featuring Khalid. In its first week of release, Alicia debuted at number four on the American Billboard 200 and became Keys' eighth top-10 record in the US, while charting in the top 10 in several other countries. It was also a critical success, with reviewers applauding her nuanced vocal performances and the balanced quality of her healing messages, as well as the music's accessibility. In further support of the album, the singer will perform in concert from June to September 2021 on Alicia – The World Tour, which was postponed from the previous year due to the pandemic.

Recording and production

Jungle City Studios, where all but one of Alicia's songs were recorded

Alicia Keys was reported to have returned to Oven Studios, her personal studio in New York City, to record Alicia. However, several other studios were also credited for its recording, including NYC's Jungle City Studios, where recording for 14 of the album's 15 tracks took place. Alicia was produced primarily by Keys, with alternating contributions from an assorted group of record producers and songwriters, including her husband Swizz Beatz, Ludwig Göransson, Ed Sheeran, Tory Lanez, and The-Dream. While the album was being completed in May 2019, Keys wrote her memoir, More Myself: A Journey (2020). She said that working on both projects served as "the best therapy" ever for her.

Musical style

Musically, Alicia departs from the loose experimentation of Keys' previous album Here (2016). Instead, the music revisits the styles of her earlier work, including her distinctive piano-based ballads and bass drum-driven R&B songs, albeit with less emphatic hooks. The music throughout has largely downtempo and subtle dynamics, except for "Love Looks Better", which is produced in a loftier pop-soul style. According to The New York Times chief pop critic Jon Pareles, the music "often hollows itself out around her, opening deep bass chasms or surrounding sparse instrumentation with echoey voids".

The album's direction, which Keys describes as "genreless", is oriented toward evoking a particular mood rather than conforming to a singular sound. In the process, individual songs incorporate elements of particular styles, including downtempo R&B ("Show Me Love"), old-fashioned funk ("Time Machine"), folk-influenced soul ("Gramercy Park"), dub ("Wasted Energy"), Caribbean music ("Underdog"), and country ("Gramercy Park"). A section of Alicia's middle tracks substitute Keys' piano for acoustic guitar within a more free-form style of neo soul.

Altogether, Alicia is described by The Line of Best Fit writer Udit Mahalingam as a collection of "orchestral pop, acoustic soul, and jittery contemporary R&B". In comparison to Here, Shakeena Johnson of Clash says it is "less pop and more R&B". Although deeming it often a work of contemporary R&B, Helen Brown of The Independent believes the album conveys traditional soul melodies "through some stranger—and certainly more eclectic—sounds than she's tried before".

Lyrics and themes

Alicia continues in the socially-conscious thematic vein of Here, featuring personal narratives that make sociopolitical connections between the singer's view of herself and the world around her. Keys says the album reflects different dimensions of her relationship to people as a whole and that writing it encouraged greater introspection. "I never realized how much I relied on only one side", she explains. "How much I had hidden away the parts that expressed anger, rage, sensuality, or vulnerability." In Pareles' observations, the singer advocates equanimity "but it's often tinged with ambivalence", reflecting "misgivings, recriminations and regrets" shared in her memoir.

Keys (center right) at the 2017 Women's March. Alicia reflects on sociopolitical concerns and the singer's relationship to the world around her.

Alicia opens with "Truth Without Love", which puts forth the idea that truth in society has become "elusive". The next song, "Time Machine", addresses fears of introspection and advocates the pursuit of free thought, rather than longing for the past, as a means to achieve peace of mind. "Underdog" is an ode to "young teachers", "student doctors", and "single mothers waiting on a check to come". Songs such as "Authors of Forever" convey more positive pleas for "hope and change". A more desperate sense of hope features in the album's closing series of unadorned piano-and-vocal performances, "Perfect Way to Die" and "Good Job", which thematize police brutality and essential work, respectively. The former is written from the perspective of a mother in grief over her son, who was shot to death by the police, while the latter is written in tribute to "the mothers, the fathers, the teachers that reach us", and other people simply trying to get through an ordinary day.

Among Alicia's love songs, "3 Hour Drive" is a duet between Keys and Sampha, who both lament a lover's separation over a descending chord progression, while "Show Me Love" and "Love Looks Better" express more confident relations between lovers. Both the waltz-like "Gramercy Park" and the Khalid duet "So Done" feature Keys trying to make peace with having struggled to appease the expectations of other people, with the latter expressing a departure from "fighting myself, going to hell" in favor of "living the way that I want".

Marketing and sales

On September 17, 2019, Keys debuted the album's lead single, "Show Me Love", and its accompanying music video at Dolby Soho in New York City. The first live performance of the track took place that weekend as part of her set at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Festival. In November, Keys was joined by Miguel, Pedro Capó, and Farruko at the 20th Annual Latin Grammy Awards for a medley of a Spanish version of the song and "Calma" (2018). On November 20, "Time Machine" was released as the next single.

Miguel appeared on the album's lead single, "Show Me Love", and joined Keys for her performance at the 2019 Latin Grammy Awards.

In December 2019, Keys revealed the album's title in an interview with Billboard, and she formally announced Alicia on January 20, 2020, posting the cover art to her Instagram account. The album was originally scheduled to be released on March 20, 2020. However, earlier that month, streaming services listed the date as May 15. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic (declared in March), the release was postponed for September 18.

In January 2020, Keys returned as host for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards and performed "Underdog" (released as the third single on January 9) at the ceremony while joined by Brittany Howard. The single was also featured in a TV ad for Amazon Music and performed by Keys on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Graham Norton Show, the Live Lounge segment on BBC Radio 1, and the iHeart Living Room Concert for America (staged in response to the COVID-19 pandemic). Prior to the pandemic's declaration, "Underdog" moved up on the record charts and became Keys' most successful single since 2012's "Girl on Fire". "Good Job" (released as a single on April 23, 2020) and "Perfect Way to Die" (released on June 19) were performed for CNN and the BET Awards 2020, respectively. Keys premiered "Gramercy Park" for NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts, alongside "Underdog", "Show Me Love", and her 2001 song "Fallin'". Two more singles were then released, "So Done" on August 14 and "Love Looks Better" on September 10, with the latter being debuted by Keys that same day at the NFL Network 2020 Kickoff concert. During the telecast, she also performed a cover of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" to critical acclaim.

During Alicia's first week of release, Keys made appearances at Good Morning America and the iHeartRadio Music Festival. She also headlined a virtual concert in partnership with American Express to coincide with the album's worldwide release on September 18, 2020. Further promotional appearances included a week long engagement on the The Late Late Show with James Corden from September 21 to 24, and a performance at the 2020 Billboard Awards on October 14.

In the week ending September 27, 2020, Alicia entered the US Billboard 200 chart at the number four position on the basis of 62,000 album-equivalent units. The recorded units included 51,000 traditional album sales, 10,000 streaming-equivalent units (or 13.6 million in on-demand streams of album tracks), and 1,000 track-equivalent units (sales of individual tracks). It was Keys' eighth album to reach the top 10 of the chart and, according to Billboard, received a sales boost from "a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer with her upcoming U.S. tour". In the UK, Alicia became her eighth album to chart within the top 40, debuting at number 12 on the Official Albums Chart, while in Canada, it debuted at number two and was her highest-charting release since As I Am reached the same position in 2007. In its second week on the Billboard 200, Alicia registered a drop of one-hundred-and-four places, falling to number 108. Altogether, the album spent three weeks on the chart.

Keys will embark on Alicia – The World Tour in 2021, which was originally scheduled for the previous year but delayed due to the pandemic. The tour will begin in June in the UK and continue through Europe into mid July. On July 27, she will begin a US leg of the tour that spans through late September.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.2/10
Metacritic	77/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Arts Desk
Clash	7/10
The Independent
Mojo
NME
The Observer
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
The Times

Alicia was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 77, based on 12 reviews. AnyDecentMusic? assigned it a score of 7.2 out of 10, based on the site's assessment of the critical consensus.

Reviewing for NME, Nick Levine was impressed by the cohesive musical feel throughout and the skill behind Keys' ballads, which he said emanate well-intentioned positive energy and empathic political engagement. He also believed that the album's postponed release amid the pandemic made the subject matter more timely and therapeutic for listeners. Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani also applauded the content and compared it to "the most effective political pop", saying Keys "strikes a careful balance between hope and despair". While highlighting the more radically styled collaborations in "Wasted Energy" and "Me x 7", he concluded that Alicia is "at once her most accessible and forward-minded album in years". In Rolling Stone, Jon Dolan regarded it as among Keys' "most musically engaging" records and cited her strong suit to be coping ballads such as "Perfect Way to Die" and "Good Job". "Generosity tempered with humility is a rare and welcome look", he wrote of her performance. "It takes knowledge of self, care for others, truth through a lens of love, to get it right." Will Hodgkinson, in a review for The Times, declared Alicia "songs in the key of modern life from R&B royalty" and welcomed Keys' return to the sophisticated sounds of her first album, Songs in A Minor (2001).

Several reviewers highlighted Keys' singing on Alicia. In The Sunday Times, Dan Cairns said the compositions are on-par with the "classic" songwriting of her earliest albums and that they accentuate her vocals, which he described as "soaring, swooping, scatting, richly nuanced, deploying full-throated passion and pin-drop restraint". The Arts Desk journalist Joe Muggs singled out Keys' performances on "Perfect Way to Die", "Wasted Energy", and "Time Machine", where her "multi-octave range is put to fantastic use harmonizing with herself". While observing a few instances of flashy singing techniques elsewhere, he speculated whether the album as a whole hints at "a Keys album where she drops the showbiz and kicks out the jams the whole way through". AllMusic reviewer Andy Kellman found Alicia to be performed "with some of her most nuanced vocals", but was less impressed by the material, the best of which he felt had already been released as singles. Ultimately, he deemed it "Keys' most moderate work, seemingly hedged with an objective to appeal to as many listeners as possible". Mojo magazine's James McNair griped about Keys' altruistic politics being "at times a tad cloyingly expressed" on an album otherwise impressive for her "exquisitely malleable voice, slickly inventine production tics, and winning vocal support" from artists such as Sampha and Diamond Platnumz.

Track listing

Alicia track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Truth Without Love"	Alicia Keys Larrace Dopson Khirye Taylor Kasseem Dean Terius Nash Justus Alexander West Damien Romel Farmer	Dopson Taylor	2:34
2.	"Time Machine"	Keys Sebastian Kole Tadross	Keys Rob Knox Emile Haynie[a]	4:26
3.	"Authors of Forever"	Keys Johnny McDaid Jonny Coffer	Keys McDaid Coffer Mark Ronson[a]	3:37
4.	"Wasted Energy" (featuring Diamond Platnumz)	Keys Richard Isong Ariowa Irosognie Nathaniel Warner Kali McLoughlin	P2J	4:19
5.	"Underdog"	Keys McDaid Ed Sheeran Foy Vance Coffer Amy Wadge	Keys McDaid	3:24
6.	"3 Hour Drive" (featuring Sampha)	Keys Sampha Sisay Jimmy Napes	Keys Sampha	4:01
7.	"Me x 7" (featuring Tierra Whack)	Keys Christopher A. Stewart Patrick William Postlewait Samuel Kirk Thomas Jeremiah Bethea J. Pierre Medor Tierra Whack	C. "Tricky" Stewart Postlewait[a] Medor[a] Thomas[a]	3:32
8.	"Show Me Love" (featuring Miguel)	Keys Daystar Peterson Morgan Matthews Miguel Pimentel	Keys Matthews	3:08
9.	"So Done" (featuring Khalid)	Keys Ludwig Göransson Khalid Robinson	Göransson	3:54
10.	"Gramercy Park"	Keys Napes Sam Romans	Keys Napes	3:12
11.	"Love Looks Better"	Keys Ryan Tedder Dopson Noel Zancanella Christopher "Brody" Brown	Keys Tedder Zancanella Dopson[a]	3:23
12.	"You Save Me" (featuring Snoh Aalegra)	Keys Snoh Nowrozi	Keys	3:41
13.	"Jill Scott" (featuring Jill Scott)	Keys Delano Matthews Dean Jill Scott	Sean C	4:05
14.	"Perfect Way to Die"	Keys Kole	Keys Kole	3:31
15.	"Good Job"	Keys Nash Dean Avery Chambliss	Keys	3:53
Total length:				54:40

Digital bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
16.	"Three Hour Drive – A Colors Show" (featuring SiR)	4:04
17.	"A Beautiful Noise" (with Brandi Carlile)	3:19
18.	"Wasted Energy" (featuring Diamond Platnumz & Kaash Paige)	4:37

Japan bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
16.	"Show Me Love" (featuring 21 Savage and Miguel)	Keys Peterson Pimentel Matthews Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph	Keys Matthews	3:59
Total length:				58:45

Apple Music live bonus edition

No.	Title	Length
16.	"Love Looks Better" (live from the 2020 American Express Unstaged)	4:06
17.	"Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready) / 3 Hour Drive" (live from the 2020 American Express Unstaged)	5:00
Total length:		63:46

Notes

• ^{^[a]} denotes co-producer

Personnel and credits

Information is taken from the album's liner notes.

Recording locations

• Conway Recording; Los Angeles, California (recording: track 9, 11)
• ELBO Studios; Los Angeles (recording: track 9)
• Fieldwork Studios; London, UK (recording: track 3, 5)
• Fieldwork Studios; Los Angeles, California (recording: track 5)
• Fieldwork Studios; Nashville, Tennessee (recording: track 5)
• Jungle City; New York (recording: track 1–2, 4-15; mixing: track 12, 15)
• Larrabee Sound; North Hollywood, California (mixing: track 1–2, 4–5, 7–9)
• Mixstar Studios; Virginia Beach Virginia (mixing: track 3, 11)
• Oven Studios; New York (recording: track 1–4, 8, 10–11; mixing: track 12)
• RAK Studios, New York (recording: track 6)
• Record Plant; Los Angeles, California (recording: track 4, 7, 12, 14)
• Triangle Sound; Atlanta, Georgia (recording: track 7)

Musicians

• Alicia Keys – lead vocals, Moog bass (track 2, 11–12), piano (track 3, 5–6, 10, 12, 14–15), keyboards (track 3, 5–6, 10–11), background vocals (track 5), drum programming (track 6), vocal arrangement (track 8)
• Diamond Platnumz – featured artist (track 4)
• Sampha – featured artist (track 6), keyboards (track 6), piano (track 6)
• Tierra Whack – featured artist (track 7)
• Miguel – featured artist (track 8)
• Khalid – featured artist (track 9)
• Snoh Aalegra – featured artist (track 12)
• Jill Scott – featured artist (track 13)
• John Benthal – electric sitar (track 2)
• Jonny Coffer – programming (track 3, 5)
• Alexandria Dopson – background vocals (track 1)
• Larrance Dopson – keyboards (track 1)
• Dammo Farmer – bass (track 1)
• Ludwig Göransson – keyboards (track 9), bass (track 9), programming (track 9)
• Emile Haynie – additional programming (track 2), programming (track 5), drum programming (track 6)
• Jukebox – programming (track 5), drum programming (track 11)
• Rob Knox – keyboards (track 2), programming (track 2)
• Tory Lanez – vocal arrangement (track 8)
• Morgan Matthews – guitars (track 8)
• Johnny McDaid – bass (track 3, 5), vocoder vocals (track 3), programming (track 3, 5), background vocals (track 5)
• Pierre Medor – keyboards (track 7)
• Ann Mincieli – bass guitar (track 11)
• Jimmy Napes – piano (track 10), drums (track 10)
• P2J – keyboards (track 4), programming (track 4)
• Patrick Postlewait – bass (track 7)
• The Picard Brothers – programming (track 3)
• Will Reynolds – electric guitar (track 5)
• Sam Roman – guitar (track 10)
• Mark Ronson – bass (track 3), guitar (track 3), programming (track 3)
• Davide Rossi – strings arrangement (track 14), strings (track 14)
• Raphael Saadiq – guitars (track 8)
• Ed Sheeran – acoustic guitar (track 5), background vocals (track 5)
• Ash Soan – drums (track 5)
• Tricky Stewart – keyboards (track 7)
• Ryan Tedder – drum programming (track 11), keyboards (track 11)
• Sam Thomas – keyboards (track 7)
• Khirye Tyler – keyboards (track 1)
• Justus West – guitar (track 1)
• Steven Wolf – drums (track 5), programming (track 5)

Technical

• Alicia Keys – executive production, production (track 2–3, 5–6, 8, 10–12, 14–15)
• Graham Archer – engineering (track 3, 5)
• Jim Caruana – vocals mixing (track 12)
• Jonny Coffer – production (track 3)
• Riccardo Damian – engineering (track 3)
• Scott Desmarais – assistant mixing (track 1–2, 5, 7–9)
• Larrance Dopson – production (track 1), co-production (track 11)
• Chris Galland – mix engineering (track 1–2, 5, 7–9)
• Serban Ghenea – mixing (track 3, 11)
• Ludwig Göransson – production (track 9), engineering (track 9)
• John Hanes – engineering for mix (track 3, 11)
• Emile Haynie – co-production (track 2)
• Jeremie Inhaber – assistant mixing (track 1–2, 5, 7–9)
• Andrew Keller – assistant engineering (track 7–8)
• Kez Khou – assistant
• Rob Knox – production (track 2)
• Sebastian Kole – production (track 14)
• Denis Kosiak – engineering (track 9)
• Dave Kutch – mastering
• Manny Marroquin – mixing (track 1–2, 5, 7–9)
• Tony Maserati – mixing (track 6)
• Morgan Matthews – production (track 8)
• Johnny McDaid – production (track 3, 5), engineering (track 5)
• Pierre Medor – co-production (track 7)
• Ann Mincieli – engineering, recording (track 2, 8), mixing (track 4, 10, 12–15)
• Brendan Morawski – engineering (track 1, 7, 11), assistant engineering (track 2, 8, 10, 12, 14–15), assistant mixing engineering (track 4), additional engineering (track 5), assistant recording (track 5, 9), mixing (track 12–13)
• Jimmy Napes – production (track 10)
• P2J – production (track 4)
• Kevin Peterson – assistant mastering
• Patrick Postlewait – co-production (track 7)
• Will Reynolds – assistant engineering (track 3), assistant recording (track 5)
• Ramon Rivas – assistant
• Mark Ronson – co-production (track 3)
• Sampha – production (track 6)
• Sean C – production (track 13)
• Tricky Stewart – production (track 7)
• Ryan Tedder – production (track 11)
• Sam Thomas – co-production (track 7), engineering (track 7)
• Khirye Tyler – production (track 1)
• Noel Zancanella – production (track 11)

Art and design

• Alicia Keys – concept
• James Bailey – creative direction
• Jason Bolden – styling
• FISK – design
• Naivasha Johnson – hair
• Ramon Rivas – videography
• Romy Soleimani – skin
• Milan Zrnic – photography

Charts

Chart performance for Alicia

Chart (2020)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)	13
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)	10
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)	5
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)	18
Canadian Albums (Billboard)	2
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)	10
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)	73
French Albums (SNEP)	28
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)	14
Irish Albums (OCC)	72
Italian Albums (FIMI)	40
Japan Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)	40
Japanese Albums (Oricon)	43
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)	38
Polish Albums (ZPAV)	19
Portuguese Albums (AFP)	9
Scottish Albums (OCC)	12
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)	18
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	4
UK Albums (OCC)	12
UK R&B Albums (OCC)	3
US Billboard 200	4
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)	3

Release history

List of release dates, showing region, edition(s), format(s), label and reference.

Region	Date	Edition	Format(s)	Label	Ref.
Worldwide	September 18, 2020	Standard	CD digital download streaming	RCA
Japan	October 7, 2020	Japanese	CD
United States	October 9, 2020	Live bonus edition	Digital download streaming
	October 16, 2020	Bonus track
	December 18, 2020	Bonus tracks
	December 2020	Standard	Vinyl

External links

• Alicia at Discogs (list of releases)