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As I Am

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This article is about the Alicia Keys album. For other uses, see As I Am (disambiguation).
Untitled

As I Am is the third studio album by American R&B and soul musician Alicia Keys, released November 13, 2007 on J Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at various recording studios during 2005 to 2007. Production was handled primarily by Alicia Keys, Kerry "Krucial" Brothers, Jack Splash, and Linda Perry, with a guest contribution from musician John Mayer.

The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 742,000 copies in its first week, and the highest first-week sales by a female R&B artist, and eventually earned triple platinum certification from the RIAA. It became an international commercial success and produced four singles that achieved chart success, including "No One", which became the most listened song of 2007 in America. Despite mixed criticism towards Keys' songwriting, As I Am received generally positive reviews from most music critics and earned Keys several accolades, including three Grammy Awards. It has sold over five million copies worldwide.

Background

Keys had been working on the album since late 2005, but focused on it to a greater extent in 2006. She first mentioned the album's name to E! News reporter Giuliana Rancic on June 26, 2007 at the BET Awards red carpet pre-show. During the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards she confirmed that her album was finished. Earlier Keys had said to MTV: "It's coming together incredibly. I am in love with this album. It's very fresh and new."[1]

The album was heavily promoted, and special advertising was arranged in collaboration with MTV before and during the week of release. The entire album was streamed on MTV's website, beginning on November 6, 2007, a week before the album's North American release date. Additionally, Keys was MTV's Artist of the Week for the week beginning November 12, 2007.[2] MTV commissioned Evan Silver to direct series of nine humorous ads of Keys being harassed by someone in a bunny costume.[3] In the final spot, the bunny is revealed to be John Mayer.[4]

A limited number of vinyl records were pressed on double red vinyl at Nashville's historic United Record Pressing. They contain the fourteen standard tracks divided into two vinyls with seven tracks each.

Singles

On September 11, 2007, Keys premiered the lead singles from the album. The first single "No One" peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Keys' third number-one single and was also successful in other international markets, peaking in top ten positions around the world, The singles were 3× platinum respectively by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Additionally, "No One" won two Grammy Awards at the 50th Grammy Awards: Best R&B Song, and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. A second single "Like You'll Never See Me Again" was released as a single and peaked at twelve on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The next single "Teenage Love Affair" peaked at number fifty-fourth in the US and Top 5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The fourth and final single "Superwoman" peaked at number eighty-two in the US and Top 20 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It also won a Grammy for the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance[5].

Reception

Commercial performance

The album became Keys' fourth consecutive number-one album on the Billboard 200, selling 742,000 copies in its first week; this amount is the largest ever first-week sales for any female artist since Norah Jones' Feels like Home sold one million copies in its opening week in 2004.[6] This made Keys' third consecutive multi-platinum studio album in the United States. The album spawned four singles; two of them became number-one hits on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while the others entered the top three and the top fifteen respectively. As I Am was ranked the U.S.' best-selling album overall[7] and the best-selling R&B album[8] of 2008 by Billboard, while its lead single, "No One", became the most listened song in America that same year.[9] As I Am has been certified triple platinum by the RIAA as of January 3, 2008.[10] It is the fourth best-selling album of 2007 in the United States and the best-selling album of 2008.[7] In 2010, Billboard magazine named it the seventy-sixth most successful album of the decade.[11] The album has sold over five million copies worldwide.[12]

Critical response

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[13]
Blender[14]
Entertainment Weekly(B)[15]
The New York Times(favorable)[16]
The Observer(favorable)[17]
Rolling Stone[18]
Slant Magazine[19]
Spin[20]
USA Today[21]
The Village Voice(favorable)[22]

As I Am received generally positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 66/100 from Metacritic.[23] Spin magazine gave the album four out of five stars and perceived Keys' songwriting as an improvement from her previous work.[20] Mark Edward Nero of About.com gave the album 4½ out of 5 stars and commended Keys for her musicianship and lyrical maturity.[24] Jon Pareles, writing for Blender, gave the album four out of five stars, saying that "Only 27, she has learned classic soul: "Teenage Love Affair" has the gleam of Motown, and "Where Do We Go From Here", built on an obscure Memphis-soul sample, turns into a vintage cry from the heart" and then adding "Her first two albums showed how well she could renovate an old structure. As I Am advances by showing an experimental side."[14] In a rave review of the album, Gregory Stephen Tate of The Village Voice praised Keys for her vintage soul influence and called As I Am a "complete work".[22] NME perceived the album as a departure from Keys' previous albums and described it as "streetwise, smoky set of real soul".[25] Entertainment Weekly's Neil Drumming described it as "Keys' most polished — if, at times, edgeless — album to date".[15] Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani wrote that "Keys isn't quite a superwoman come to save R&B from itself, but the timeless quality of As I Am is right on time."[19] USA Today gave the album 3 out 4 stars and called it Keys' "most cohesive studio album".[21] Nate Chinen of The New York Times stated "As I Am radiates not just confidence but also experience", and called it Keys' "strongest effort yet".[16]

Keys' songwriting on the album received negative criticism from The Washington Post's J. Freedom du Lac, who called As I Am "disappointing" and wrote that it "reveals her considerable limitations as a lyricist".[26] Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian gave the album 2 out of 5 stars and called Keys "crashingly dull... her vaunted self-belief seemingly leaves no room for vulnerability, humour, insight or any of the other qualities possessed by the soul giants to whose stature she aspires".[27] Writing for Rolling Stone, critic Robert Christgau found the album's prevailing mood "reflectively soulful and the prevailing tempo mid".[18] Despite commending the album for its "more traditional soul" and pop-oriented sound, The Observer writer Stephanie Merritt perceived Keys' lyrics as a significant fault and wrote "for the most part, the lyrics are so reliant on stock phrases - 'feel your touch', 'hold me', 'shoulda known', etc - that you could read anything you like into them without them carrying any personal feeling at all".[17] Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot gave As I Am a mixed review and wrote "The main problem is that Keys’ songwriting has yet to transcend her obvious influences".[28] Marisa Brown of Allmusic also viewed its lyrical quality as a weakness and gave it 3½ out of 5 stars, writing that "even though As I Am is a flawed work — a little too poppy, a little too clichéd — it is also indicative of what Keys can and will do".[13]

Accolades

The album was number thirty-six on Rolling's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.[29] The song "Teenage Love Affair" was number twenty-three on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.[30] As I Am received two Grammy Awards for the song "No One" at the 2008 ceremony for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song. The following year, she won the award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Superwoman" and received two more nominations for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Lesson Learned" along with John Mayer and Best Short Form Music Video for "Another Way to Die" along with Jack White at the 2009 Grammy Awards.

The album won a 2008 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Album, while "Like You'll Never See Me Again" won for Outstanding Song and Outstanding Music Video. At the 2009 NAACP Image Awards, the "Superwoman" was nominated for Outstanding Song and Outstanding Music Video; it lost both categories to will.i.am's "Yes We Can". "Like You'll Never See Me Again" was nominated for the BET Award for Video of the Year in 2008. The album won two 2008 American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Album. As I Am received a nomination for Album of the Year at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly ranked it number thirty-three in its Best Albums of the Past 25 Years list.[31]

Track listing

Keys co-wrote and co-produced all of the songs on the album; additional writers and producers are listed below.

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."As I Am" (Intro) Kerry "Krucial" Brothers1:52
2."Go Ahead"Mark Batson, Marsha Ambrosius, Brothers Jr.Mark Batson4:35
3."Superwoman"Linda Perry, Steve MostynKerry "Krucial" Brothers4:34
4."No One"Brothers Jr., George D. HarryKerry "Krucial" Brothers4:13
5."Like You'll Never See Me Again"Brothers Jr.Kerry "Krucial" Brothers5:15
6."Lesson Learned" (featuring John Mayer)John MayerJohn Mayer4:13
7."Wreckless Love"Harold Lilly, Jack Splash, Matthew KahaneJack Splash3:52
8."The Thing About Love"PerryLinda Perry3:49
9."Teenage Love Affair"Lilly, Tom Nixon, Carl Hampton, Splash, Josephine Bridges, KahaneJack Splash3:10
10."I Need You"Batson, Lilly, Paul L. GreenMark Batson5:09
11."Where Do We Go from Here"Lilly, Brothers Jr., Mary Frierson, Johnnie FriersonKerry "Krucial" Brothers4:10
12."Prelude to a Kiss"  2:07
13."Tell You Something (Nana's Reprise)"Brothers Jr., Steve Mostyn, Green, Novel Stevenson, Ron HaneyKerry "Krucial" Brothers4:28
14."Sure Looks Good to Me"PerryLinda Perry4:31
Sample credits

Bonus tracks

The Super Edition

The album was re-released on November 10, 2008 in the UK and on November 14 (as an import release) and November 25 (as a mainstream release) in the U.S., titled As I Am: The Super Edition. The album consists of three additional tracks and a second disc of five performances at The Coronet in London.[32][33] The edition's lead single, "Another Way to Die", was written as the theme song to the 2008 film Quantum of Solace.[34]

Personnel

Credits for As I Am adapted from liner notes.[35]

Musicians

Production

Charts

Chart positions

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by Swiss Albums Chart number-one album
November 25, 2007 – December 12, 2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
American Gangster by Jay-Z
In Rainbows by Radiohead
Juno (soundtrack) by Various artists
 U.S. Billboard 200 number-one album
December 1, 2007 (first run)
January 26, 2008 – February 2, 2008 (second run)
February 16, 2008 (third run) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Billboard Top Albums of The Year
2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by U.S. Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums number-one album
December 01, 2007 - December 29, 2007
February 23, 2008 – March 01, 2008 (second run) 		Succeeded by

Accolades

Year Awards Award
2008 50th Grammy Awards Best R&B Female Vocal Performance for "No One"
Best R&B Song for "No One"
American Music Awards Favorite Pop/Rock Album
Favorite Soul/R&B Album
NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Song for "Like You'll Never See Me Again"
Outstanding Album
Swiss Music Awards Best Urban Album International
World Music Awards Best Selling R&B Artist
Entertainment Weekly Best 100 albums of the past 25 years (#33)
Billboard 2008 year-end awards Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs "Like You'll Never See Me Again" ranked #1
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs - "No One" ranked #8
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs - "Teenage Love Affair" ranked #20
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums - As I Am ranked #1
Billboard 200 - As I Am ranked #1
Hot 100 - "No One" ranked #3
Top Digital Songs - "No One" ranked #15
Hot Adult Contemporary Songs - "No One" ranked #17
Hot Digital Albums - As I Am ranked #6
Hot Ringmasters - "No One" ranked #9
Top Artists - "Alicia Keys" ranked #4
2009 51st Grammy Awards Best R&B Female Vocal Performance for "Superwoman"
Soul and Jazz Awards Album of the Year for As I Am
Best Album of Soul for As I Am

Release history

Region Date Label
Germany November 9, 2007 J
Australia November 10, 2007
France November 12, 2007
United States November 13, 2007
Canada Sony BMG
United Kingdom November 19, 2007 RCA
Japan November 21, 2007 BMG
Brazil December 12, 2007 Sony BMG
The Super Edition
United Kingdom November 10, 2008 RCA
United States November 25, 2008 J

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