She’s one who wows the audience with her powerhouse vocals. She’s known for her dexterity skills with her piano keys. Her fame never dies down as she’s got a strong foothold in the music industry. She’s a 9-time Grammy award winner. She’s known for her signature hit “Fallin‘”. This diva is none other than Alicia Keys.

Crowned as the queen of R&B with her greatest hits like “If I Ain’t Got You” and  “Karma” from her stellar album The Diary of Alicia Keys in 2003, and chart topping first single “No One” in 2007, the end of 2009 marks the return of her much-awaited fourth studio album, The Element of Freedom.

Alicia’s capable of outdoing her own success and once again, she proved that she’s powerless by pushing the boundaries with her sky rocketing hit “Empire State of Mind”, a collaboration with hip-hop legend Jay-Z for his 11^th studio album The Blueprint 3. The result of the dynamic duo’s partnership? Their ‘empire’ currently holds the highest rank on the Billboard Hot 100. Keys did her own version, a piano-driven sequel to the original song with “Empire State of Mind (Part II)” in her newest album.

The Element of Freedom is a good mix of the soft and vulnerable side of Alicia Keys matched with her powerful vocals. UrbanWire highlights the hits and misses of Keys’ new album that’s fresh out of the oven.

The Hits

The most notable hit of this album, “Empire State of Mind (Part II)” brings out the best of Alicia Keys’ talent and incredible vocal range, which is her powerful voice and her way with her piano keys. Ode to Keys’ hometown, New York, this inspirational track is a soulful and ‘heavenly’ version compared to the original ‘rough’ version done with Jay-Z. After listening to this track, the effect is that New York came across as the right place to be at.

Everyone loves a little more collaboration and Canadian rapper Drake joins Alicia Keys in this sensual song “Unthinkable”, which is about lovers wondering if they should do the unthinkable, and get together. Nicely balanced out, this track brings out the sexy and sultry side of Alicia Keys with Drake’s vocals providing a more masculine side to the song.

Another love-inspired tune, “Distance and Time”, is one track that tugs at your heartstrings, especially if you’re in a situation where you’re separated by, as the title suggests, distance and time to be with the one you love.

The Misses

When 2 big names (or even the most talented woman) in the R&B scene take on a song, you’d expect some killer tunes or something extraordinary that’ll make the headline. However, “Put It in a Love Song” featuring Beyoncé Knowles left me feeling utterly disappointed. The tune of the song was almost monotonous-like and it had a repetitive beat that was a little too characterless – and definitely not a signature tune. The song seemed pretty rushed and to put it bluntly, it was boring, and did no justice to the divas of R&B. In comparison to the hit by Keys’ collaboration with Knowles’ significant other, “Put It in a Love Song” falls below the benchmark.

That being said, if you’re looking for a heart racing song, the persistent drumming base line of this song sets the perfect upbeat feel.

Although her fourth album does no justice to honour her reputation in the R&B scene, it has a few noteworthy tracks that are out of this world. The Element of Freedom captures heavy emotions of love, pride, inspiration and strength, and is well balanced out just as how Alicia Keys puts it, “The music is really strong, and the drums are really aggressive, but my voice is vulnerable and delicate.”

Album: The Element of Freedom

Artist: Alicia Keys

Record Label: J Records

Language: English

Release Date: Dec 15

Rating: 3/5

Track list:

1. Element of Freedom (Intro)

2. Love Is Blind

3. Doesn’t Mean Anything

4. Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart

5. Wait Til You See My Smile

6. That’s How Strong My Love Is

7. Un-thinkable (I’m Ready)

8. Love Is My Disease

9. Like the Sea

10. Put It in a Love Song (featuring Beyoncé)

11. This Bed

12. Distance and Time

13. How It Feels to Fly

14. Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down

With the release of the multi-platinum selling Good Girl Gone Bad in 2008, the world crowned its newest pop princess. Robyn Rihanna Fenty seemed destined to rule the fickle kingdom of mainstream music.

The album was a career-defining moment for the Umbrella hit-maker, one that thrust her into the international spotlight thereafter. But just when the coronation ceremony was about done, ex-boyfriend and dethroned R&B prince Chris Brown quite literally knocked the mojo out of Rihanna with his primitive and violent behaviour.

Rated R, the album that comes hot on the polished heels of her abusive relationship, is unmistakably the 21-year-old’s response to the dramatic episode. Thematically, the concept isn’t unheard of, (think Janet Jackson with The Velvet Rope) except that the lyrical and production value of Ms Jackson’s critically-acclaimed CD are far stronger than what’s heard on almost-princess Riri’s new album.

These days, all that Jay-Z’s protégée looks and sounds like is a good girl gone really, really angry.

Granted, music is supposed to be an outlet of expression where the musician tells her side of the story. But for all 13 tracks on a commercial studio album to be dedicated to an outpouring of overdramatic grievances (“Photographs”, “The Last Song”), mad revenge fantasies (“G4l”, “Fire Bomb”) and unnecessary self-reprimand (“Stupid In Love”) is just plain pathetic to the point of self indulgence. When pop icon-turned-pop trash Britney Spears was more known for her wardrobe malfunctions and hair-shaving craziness, her record label knew better and channelled all of Spear’s personal troubles into the makings of the slick electro-pop Blackout, arguably her best album, both sonically and critically, to date. The singer’s emotional burden was carefully and cleverly layered into the modern sounds of the album that made all the difference. (Are you taking notes, Def Jam?)

Such a pity for the Barbados diva who used to command the club, urban, pop and Top 20 formats like no other – her chart-topping prowess rivalling even that of R&B queen Beyonce Knowles. With chart heavyweights like Britney’s dancefloor romp of “3”, Lady Gaga’s kickass single “Bad Romance” and Jay-Z’s hot collaboration with Alicia Keys “Empire State of Mind”, Rihanna’s lacklustre efforts simply don’t stand a chance – Not even with her label going full force in backing her up.

Before all you Rihanna-diehards condemn UrbanWire to the rat holes and dungeons of hell, there are a few tracks on Rated R that are worth a listen. “Russian Roulette” should be given credit for its shock value and artistic maturity. From its first note, the unsettling number doesn’t hit you like her previous hits of “Disturbia” or “Take A Bow”, but put the song on repeat and you’ll find yourself drawn to the hypnotic and broody imagery that it conjures.  If you ask us, either “Rude Boy” or “Wait Your Turn” should’ve been the lead single to precede the release of the album. The hard rock and club beats of the former stay in your head like a bad cold that won’t go away. We can’t say this enough, but on the latter track, the anthemic chorus is pure ecstasy when the lady purrs, “It’s getting crowded over here / But babe the wait is ova / Sometimes it takes a thousand tries to win / The wait is ova / Fumble don’t you fumble / That’s a flag on the play / Babe if you don’t wanna / Then you don’t have to wait / But together we gon’ be taking over”. Justin Timberlake appears and contributes lyrics to the curious “Cold Case Love”, which features a highly intriguing soundscape made up of groaning organs, melodramatic beats and orchestral-type strings.

And for all it’s worth, her immaculate sense of style and fashion remains on top of the game. For the cover art of “Russian Roulette”, Rihanna can be seen topless and provocatively wrapped in barbed wire that strategically hides her lady bits. She is even sporting a Mohawk-styled hair for her album promotional appearances.

Other than that, the overdramatic Rated R doesn’t quite fit in the current market that Lady Gaga seems to have dominated with her club-friendly melodies and eye-popping music videos. Even by her own standards, Rihanna disappoints with her fourth album, that’s better off in the discount bins.

The UrbanWire gives Rated R 2.5/5 stars.

Release Date: November 20, 2009

Artiste: Rihanna

Album Title: Rated R

Track List:

1. Mad House

2. Wait Your Turn

3. Hard (featuring Young Jeezy)

4. Stupid In Love

5. Rockstar 101 (featuring Slash)

6. Russian Roulette

7. Fire Bomb

8. Rude Boy

9. Photographs (featuring will.i.am)

10. G4L

11. Te Amo

12. Cold Case Love

13. The Last Song

With less than 25 hours from glorious 2009, it’s only fitting to leave you with Billboard’s Magazine‘s Top 25 music hits in this exciting 4-and-a-half-minute mash up by DJ Earworm: “United State of Pop 2008“.

The 25 songs:

• Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain – “Low”
• Leona Lewis – “Bleeding Love”
• Alicia Keys – “No One”
• Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major – “Lollipop“
• Timbaland Featuring OneRepublic – “Apologize“
• Jordin Sparks Duet With Chris Brown – “No Air“
• Sara Bareilles – “Love Song“
• Usher Featuring Young Jeezy - ”Love in This Club“
• Chris Brown - ”With You“
• Chris Brown - ”Forever“
• Ray J & Yung Berg - ”Sexy Can I“
• Rihanna - ”Take a Bow“
• Coldplay - ”Viva La Vida“
• Katy Perry - ”I Kissed a Girl“
• T.I. - ”Whatever You Like“
• Rihanna - ”Disturbia“
• Rihanna - ”Don’t Stop the Music“
• Natasha Bedingfield - ”Pocketful of Sunshine“
• Chris Brown Featuring T-Pain - ”Kiss Kiss“
• Ne-Yo - ”Closer“
• Colbie Caillat - ”Bubbly“
• Mariah Carey - ”Touch My Body“
• Madonna Featuring Justin Timberlake - ”4 Minutes“
• Pink - ”So What“
• Finger Eleven - ”Paralyzer“

“United State of Pop 2008″ is created in response to the resounding success his previous mash up received. Earworm said on his website that Mediabase reported that ”United State of Pop 2007” stayed as “one of the 100 most played songs” on many radio stations.

This year, Earworm said that he has chosen songs that are “sexy and defiant, less macho than in previous years”.

“I’ve selected Coldplay as the instrumental track, giving the whole year a sort of symphonic feel,” he adds.

This version is tentatively named  ”Viva La Pop”.

View a higher quality version at Facebook. Or download the MP3 version (.mp3, 10.4 MB)

All pictures and music courtesy of DJ Earworm.

In fact, even after the Pussycat Dolls sang their last notes past 11pm, she was no where to be seen backstage, where a group of her fans had been waiting patiently for her to show up at a meet-and-greet, which was scheduled to happen at 9pm.

“Oh my God, the Dolls are playing! Why isn’t Alicia here yet,” several fans could be heard complaining, as they were herded around into groups of 7, then 8, then 9, by her artiste management. There was even a big hoo-ha over the difference between pink and purple backstage passes.

UrbanWire was there to try and get some exclusive coverage just for you. Unfortunately, we were rudely (and roughly) chased out by Alicia’s artiste management on several occasions, who even tried to bar some fans, who had won the chance to meet Alicia in person, from meeting her.

Even when she finally arrived, the fans barely had 20 seconds with her, being herded into the media tent for photos, and back out even before they could do so much as to shake her hand.

Luckily, the fans were pretty forgiving.

“She was actually really sweet and tried to shake each of our hands. But they [her artiste management] chased us out before she could,” Heineken Green Room competition winner Julian Lim told UrbanWire as he clutched his unautographed As I Am sadly.

“She’s really not a diva at all,” he said.

So, does Alicia Keys need a better artiste management?

Yes, she does.

If you’re wondering why we only have 7 photos of Alicia’s performance, it’s because only 10 publications were allowed in the photography pit. These are the best our photographer Serena Chew managed to get whilst squished in the crowd.