I Don't Want to Come Down, Hope My Wings Don't Fail Me Now

They say you cannot judge a book by its cover, but you can surely judge an album by its first single. Like earlier this year when John Mayer released the lackluster Who Says which led to the lackluster Battle Studies. When Doesn’t Mean Anything was the first released by Alicia Keys off her upcoming The Element of Freedom it was hard no to think, “That was kind of boring.” Yeah, it is a decent baby-making song and a deeper album cut, but certainly not first single worthy.

Which is why the record label probably rushed Dreaming with a Broken Heart but again a song that fell a little flat with an over exaggerated beat who Keys coos a little too much over. It didn’t help very much that the two singles were vastly overshadowed by her contribution to Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind. The Element of Freedom even features Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down, a more melancholy (albeit Jay-Z less) version of the song.

Mrs. Jay-Z does make an appearance and continues Keys streak of underwhelming duets with other singers (see John Mayer, Jack White) for Put it in a Love Song which might as well been called Put a Ring on It (Part II) I’m Going to Break You Down. Love Is Blind doesn’t sound like Alicia Keys for most of the song and is too dark of a song then the singer should try. Then Like the Sea just gets to repetitive to listen to it multiple times.

That’s not to say The Element of Freedom is a bad album, “bad” Alicia Keys is still better than ninety-five percent of R&B released this decade, it just doesn’t stand up to the rest of the catalogue. There is still plenty to listen to on the album. That’s How Strong My Love Is is a classic Keys love songs. Alicia lets loose on Love Is My Disease which in a lesser hand could have come off as another clichéd metaphor, but her voice makes you believe every word. This Bed could have been a long lost Prince song.

How it Feels to Fly should become a requirement for every high school choir to learn. Distance and Time is where the entire album comes together and is exactly what you expect and want from an Alicia Keys song. Romantic, touching and something you want to play when that someone special is near you, and with the theme of the song, it is a perfect song to put on when they are not near to make them closer than they are.

Song to Download – Distance and Time

The Element of Freedom gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.