Alicia Keys has carried a piano prodigy stigma throughout her career, yet her two studio albums and Unplugged album were punctuated with a hip-hop edge indicative of her Harlem upbringing. But with her latest, "As I Am," Keys' sound matures, often reaching adult contemporary. It's her most mellow, most boring album, but it's still pretty good.
"As I Am" is her most musical album yet. Classic soul samples are still thrown in for good measure, but much of the material has a live feel to it. "I Need You," the most upbeat track (and the album's best), pairs furious drums with a bed of sly bass, acoustic guitars and a crescendo of funky horns. Pop super-producer Linda Perry produced bland orchestral love ballads like "Sure Looks Good To Me," but she redeems herself with Keys' ode to feminine strength, "Superwoman."
Keys' songwriting primarily deals with the ups and downs of love, and her songwriting and vocal abilities shine brightest on "No One" and "Go Ahead," which both feature a Stevie Wonder-esque use of synthesizers, and on "Lesson Learned," a simple piano-and-guitar duet with John Mayer that chronicles the rebuilding process after a failed relationship.
"As I Am" is a solid body of work, but with the album's majority consisting of slow ballads, it's easy to relegate to background music.
