New music: Alicia Keys vs Kaytranada

Swizz Beats has just updated his official Soundcloud page with a new track by Alicia Keys and Kaytranada...

Called Sweet F'in Love, it's a blissed-out soul jam - with Keys riffing various interpretations of the line "I'm talking about sweet, sweet f'in love" over a lazy piano figure and some of Kaytranada's trademark wobbly synths.

It's not clear whether the song is an off-cut from Alicia Keys' superlative 2016 album Here; or a brand new track. Either way, it's a euphoric beauty.

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Video: Alicia Keys - In Common

In Common is Alicia Keys' strongest single in years. Smooth and subdued, it's a world away from the larynx-busting gargantathons of her last few albums, with the vocals so muted they're barely there.

After premiering the song online and performing it on Saturday Night Live, Keys has now released the official video. Directed by fashion photographer Pierre Debusschere, it's a classy black-and-white clip that, unexpectedly, throws some breakdancing into the mix.

"Yes, yes," you must be thinking, "but does it also blend Alicia Keys' perspective of the raw humanity of the world? Does it celebrate individuality while looking at how we are all just human?"

Here's the press release to tell us.

"The video is shot in black and white and reflects her NYC roots and hip-hop culture while blending her perspective of the raw humanity of the world. It celebrates individuality, but also looks at how we are all just human and want the same things – love, freedom and to be true to ourselves."

Phew. Glad to have that cleared up.

Here is said video.

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Alicia Keys is back, Back, BACK!

Hands up who remembers Alicia Keys? Soulful singer of song and number 33 on VH1's "50 Greatest Women of the Video Era" list.

She's been off having a family for a couple of years, but now that her 5-year-old son Egypt has started producing tracks for Kendrick Lamar, she's been able to return to the studio to work on her sixth studio album.

The first single appeared online last night. A slinky, subtle ballad called In Common, it's a world away from the torch songs she's known for (Fallin, Girl On Fire, No-One). The lyrics are intriguing too. We open in a bedroom at sunrise. It's not her own. Against her better judgement Alicia has stayed the night, and not for the first time. Her partner is an acquaintance from "when we were young and had no vows". In the midst of their tryst, she informs him: "If you could love somebody like me, you must be messed up too".

You can hear the song, produced by The Weeknd's collaborator-in-chief Illangelo, below.


Alicia will perform In Common for the first time on Saturday Night Live this weekend, and a new album is expected in the summer, "reflecting her roots in NYC and hip-hop culture while blending her perspective of the raw humanity of the world and who she is today as an activist, woman and artist" (according to the press release).

That is all.

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Four songs for Friday night

It's been a busy couple of days, so apologies for the gap in updates. To make up for it, here are four songs you should sample before the weekend is through...

1) Prince - Stare
Released exclusively on Spotify, just a couple of weeks after Prince pulled his music from every streaming service except Tidal? Well, if there's one thing Prince fans have come to expect it's a lack of consistency.

This starts brilliantly, with a killer bassline and a lyrical reference to Prince's Controversy-era breakthrough: "First things first, we like you to stare / We used to go on stage in our underwear". But it goes downhill quickly from there. This is very much Prince on funky autopilot.





2) One Direction - Drag me Down
"I got a river for a soul, and baby, you’re a boat."

To be honest, this is anonymous, if likeable, europop until the chorus makes an unexpected u-turn and breaks out the guitars. Designed for stadiums and, presumably, an imminent greatest hits collection.




3) Duke Dumont - Ocean Drive
Thankfully not a cover of the Lighthouse Family track, this is a return to form by Sir Duke after the underwhelming, underperforming The Giver.

Featuring legendary Chicago house vocalist Robert Owens, it's from the first in a series of 4-track EPs Dumont intends to release in lieu of what he calls "the old format of the LP" (ask your dad).



4) Alicia Keys - 28 Thousand Days
An intruiging mix of hard beats and hippy dippy optimism, heralding Alicia Keys' first album in five years.

"I'm back from hell, with my angel wings," sings Alicia, sounding more like she's just come back from Waitrose.

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Three colours Alicia Keys

Talk about indecisive: Alicia Keys has just released three versions of her new single, which she'll be performing at the MTV VMAs this Thursday.

The song finds Keys in default power ballad mode but the title - Girl On Fire - is likely to make fans of The Hunger Games sit up and make this noise.

As far as I can see, the track isn't officially linked to the book/film (whose protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, is nicknamed The Girl On Fire) but there's nothing to suggest she wasn't inspired by it. Certainly, the lyrics would fit the story of the determined-but-troubled heroine perfectly:

Everybody stands, as she goes by

Cause they can see the flame that's in her eyes

Watch her when she's lighting up the night

Nobody knows that she's a lonely girl

And it's a lonely world

But she gonna let it burn, baby, burn

The three versions of the song aren't vastly different, but fans will find it difficult to choose a favourite. Here they are, complete with handy colour-coded artwork.

1) Version One - Red

Featuring a surprisingly subdued Nicki Minaj, "Inferno" is the urban mix.

2) Version Two - Blue

Much less bombastic. Sounds a bit like Phil Collins. Destined for Radio 2.

3) Version Three - Full colour mix

This is the "original", and is essentially the Nicki Minaj version minus Nicki Minaj. It will be played on rural radio stations who still insist that rap never happened.

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New music from Alicia Keys

Controversial but true: Alicia Keys is better when she goes uptempo. Oh yes, she's best-known for yawnsome mopefests like Fallin and If I Ain't Got You, but give her a sizzling drum loop and she's happier than a llama with a salt lick.

You want proof? I gots proof:



Then there's this:



See also this:



And you'd be an idiot if you forgot this:



So its good news that Alicia's first release since becoming a mum isn't a gloopy ballad about how breastfeeding really connects you with the elemental forces that underpin our universe.

Nonetheless, New Day is unashamedly positive – "a feeling in my heart that I can't get over" – but Alicia is in a triumphant, rather than reflective, mood. Over a lively military groove, by her husband Swizz Beats (why oh why didn't she take his surname?), she asks us to "celebrate and say eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh" - which is as exciting as it is nonsensical.

Listen below.



Alicia has also recorded a video message about her forthcoming album, which you can see below. It may prove to be of assistance if you’re suffering from insomnia.

A message from Alicia Keys

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Best bits from the Grammys

It wasn't a perfect night at the Grammys... Aside from the tragic events of Saturday justifiably casting a shadow over the ceremony, almost everyone chose to play the underwhelming fourth single from their latest album. Still, there were a couple of performances worth watching over your Monday morning teabreak and, if the internet police haven't taken them down, these are they.

Adele - Rolling In The Deep
Aside from the a capella intro that said "hello bitches, my voice is all better now", Adele seemed to be exercising more control over those powerhouse vocals. Sounds like she's had some coaching... but that doesn't stop the tingles running up and down your spine for a full four minutes. It's nice to have you back, missus.



Rihanna - We Found Love
"Make some noise for Whitney," screams Rihanna, whose "we found love in a hopeless place" lyric couldn't have been more appropriate given the circumstances.
WARNING: This video also contains Coldplay.



Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - We Take Care Of Our Own
This was the show opener - a huge, string-assisted behemoth. I haven't delved into the lyrics but I'm guessing the jingoistic overtones are delivered with a heavy dose of sarcasm, á la Born In The USA. You can't beat a bit of Bruce, you know.



Bruno Mars - Runaway
This is one of those "why didn't he do Grenade?" moments. The song is nothing to write home about, but Bruno's tribute to the hyperactive funk workouts of James Brown and The JBs is hugely exciting.



Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt - Etta James Tribute
Surprisingly moving, this low-key stroll through the blues was my personal highlight from the night's proceedings.




Taylor Swift - Mean
Taylor Swift is rocking the banjo. You've gotta love a girl who rocks the banjo.

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Prince does extreme seriousface

Prince was given the lifetime achievement prize at last night's BET Awards. To celebrate, the organisers made him sit through a 15-minute performance of his own songs by "major artists" you have probably never heard of, and Alicia Keys.

Up-and-coming R&B singer Janelle Monae gave her all to a performance of Let's Go Crazy, at the end of which she was dragged off the stage and committed to an institution; while Patti LaBelle delivered the worst performance of Purple Rain since records began.

Throughout, Prince pulled a face that suggested he'd just been stabbed in the liver and was desperately trying to use the power of his mind to stem the bleeding. Luckily, Alicia Keys managed to pull of a decent version of Adore (one of the best ballads of all time, and that is the truth) and he got up to give her a standing ovation without his liver plopping onto the floor with a soggy splat. It was truly a miracle.

You can watch the whole performance, and Prince's incoherent acceptance speech below. Unless the video has been removed. In which case, use your imagination to recreate the very things I have just described.

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Mini gig review: Alicia Keys

There's nothing like a record industry freebie to illustrate how certain performers feel a sense of entitlement and superiority over us peasants.

Last night, as Alicia Keys took to the stage in London, all the celebrities who'd been hanging back in the VIP section looking cool ran headlong for the stage in an undignified helter-skelter bargefest, all wearing the same "I deserve this, for I am better than you" expression. Imagine being pushed aside by Chipmunk. Chipmunk! The shame, the shame, the shame.

Anyway, this isn't all about me (he says, writing a blog and talking about himself in the third person). All the stars - from JLS to Dizzee Rascal to Will Young - wanted to be that little bit closer to Alicia, because she actually possesses that poise and authenticity they were busy trying to cultivate at the bar.

The only genuine soul star to emerge in the 2000s, she is self-aware enough to mock her supposed diva stature, arriving on stage with the announcement: "Hello London! Thank you for welcoming me to London! ...We are in London, right?". But she also knows enough about working the crowd to change the words of Empire State Of Mind (her version, not the Jay-Z one) to "Now we're in Londoooon!". Cue instant and humungous cheers.

I was surprised by her stage presence, though. Keys has always seemed somewhat inscrutable - distant, even - as a performer. But last night, she came alive, spinning around like a cowgirl during a reggaefied You Don't Know My Name, and leading a gutsy sing-along during the "woah-ah-oh-oh-ohhhh" coda to No-One.

Equally at home behind the piano, she trilled out the new single, Doesn't Mean Anything, and the evening's highlight, If I Ain't Got You - essentially a duet between Keys and a section in the middle of the audience who abandoned all sense of melody in favour of JUST SHOUTING THE WORDS VERY LOUDLY IN CASE SHE'D TEMPORARILY FORGOTTEN THEM.

Keys declared the whole evening to be "really fun" but barely stuck around for half an hour - perhaps because the claustrophbic, sweltering heat threatened to detune her piano. And she'd barely said her goodbyes before the "celebs" turned round and stampeded for the exit, arms flailing and manners once again forgotten (they'd been promised free food).

Then Alesha Dixon shared her ice cream with us, and restored our faith in humanity forever.

The End.

Setlist
Intro
New York State Of Mind Pt II
Doesn't Mean Anything
Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart
If I Ain't Got You
You Don't Know My Name
No-One

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Alicia Keys has healing hands

In her last video, Alicia Keys made solid objects disappear with a blink of her eyes. In her new one, she raises a puppy from the dead just by touching it.

We get it, Alicia. You're a superhero. But that still doesn't excuse the purple catsuit.

Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart

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"Big lights will inspire you"

When is the best time to release your video?

Some would say a couple of weeks after the single hits the airwaves - allowing the song to work its way into peoples' brains first. Others would argue for a simultaneous release for maximum impact. Others still would say blogs are the most important tool in the marketing arsenal these days, so you should hoik the video onto YouTube before you even think about "servicing radio" (nb these people are badly, badly mistaken).

For the definitive answer, let's turn to former record company boss Jay-Z. He's such a prominent, well-respected music mogul that the New York Times wrote a profile of him in their business pages. And coincidentally, he has a new single, Empire State Of Mind, with Alicia Keys. What is Jay-Z's plan for promoting this single? When will the video drop, as they say?

"Yo," declares Jay-Z*. "The song went straight into the top 10 when my album hit last month. This Sunday, it dropped down to number 13. So now I'ma rock the video for y'all, just as you've lost all interest in ever hearing the song again."

See? That's the outside-the-box thinking of a visionary soothsayer. And people say the music industry doesn't know what it's doing any more.


Jay-Z - Empire State Of Mind Ft. Alicia Keys

Jay-Z | MySpace Video

PS: We found this Google Map page that goes through all the song's lyrics and shows you exactly where the Jiggaman is singing about. It is potentially better than the video itself.

* Not really, we made this bit up.

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Holy smoke, Alicia

In Alicia Keys' new video, Doesn't Mean Anything, everything the singer touches is mysteriously vapourised, making her some kind of anti-matter King Midas.

The clip starts off in Alicia's loft apartment (furnished with an amazing crystal piano that I would like for Christmas), but slowly everything around her evaporates in a puff of smoke.

Alicia seems unphased by this. Her only reaction is a fleeting look of confusion when a photograph disappears in her hand. Do you remember what Marty McFly did when that happened to him? Yes, he totally freaked out and snogged his mum and set fire to a car with lightning. Alicia Keys does none of those things. Even when the entire planet is reduced to rubble and dust, she just mopes around singing about her ex-boyfriend. And then, for no good reason, she goes rock climbing.

It is probably the best video this year.

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We have listened to the new Alicia Keys single and this is what we think about it

It's hard to think of an artist as self-conciously inoffensive as Alicia Keys. Her records are about as dangerous as a sandwich. Unless it’s a peanut butter jelly sandwich and you suffer from a serious nut allergy, in which case Alicia Keys records are actually less dangerous than a sandwich. Amazing, but true.

Yet I've always had a soft spot for her. If I Ain't Got You, for example, is a power ballad so potent that it is directly responsible for more than six million pregnancies per day.

More excitingly / less disturbingly, there is a secret ghetto gangsta princess lurking within Ms Keys. I Need You, from As I Am, has the most exciting drum pattern this side of Stevie Wonder's Supersition. The Timbaland-produced Heartburn, from The Secret Diary of Alicia Keys, is funkier than a mosquito's tweeter.

Keys two most recent releases showcase both sides of her songwriting. Empire State Of Mind, her duet with Jay-Z, is a defiant, gargantuan love letter to New York. Keys belts out the chorus with the demented exuberance of Tigger on catnip. It is so brilliant that it entered the UK top 40 on Sunday on the strength of its availabilty on Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 album.

But Keys new solo track, Doesn't Mean Anything, is the polar opposite. A slightly anonymous "my-life-isn't-the-same-since-you-said-goodbye" relationship drama, it sounds like a neutered version of her gospelly powerhouse, No-One. A crowdpleaser, no doubt, but one we'll file under the heading "wake me up when this one ends".

Both are below for your delectation.





[if the above video doesn't work, here's the official "embedding disabled by request" version]

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New Alicia Keys material

Alicia Keys is releasing a cash-in special edition of her marvellous As I Am album for Christmas. It is called "The Super Edition" because, you see, one of the singles was called Superwoman. That's some clever marketing right there, people.

There's the usual slew of new tracks including the Worst Bond Theme Of All Time (except the Madonna one and that other one by A-ha) and somthing called Doncha Know (Sky Is Blue), which you can hear below...

It's all a bit Joss Stone to begin with, but hits its stride around the 2:30 mark with a "na na na" singalong and a ride-cymbal-tastic, gospel organ outro. Smashing.

Alicia Keys - Doncha Know (Sky Is Blue)

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Link me all over

Some distractions to last you the weekend...

:: Tina Fey lampoons Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live… And while it's brilliant, it's neither as funny nor as terrifying as the real thing


:: Here's a free download of Annie's superfantastic cover of Stacey Q's Two Hearts - Click here. Annie's album, Don't Stop, is due out this week, next week, sometime or never.

:: How popular is your name? Check out this site that tracks the popularity of first names (in the US) since 1880.

:: "When you hear a rhythm that is being played by an instrument you can’t identify but wish you owned, you are hearing Timbaland". A great profile of the super-producer, courtesy of the New Yorker

:: I was recently on a plane that was struck by lightning, and I'd have felt just a little bit safer if I'd had this guide to how land a jumbo jet handy.

:: Brad Walsh has remixified Britney's Womanizer and made it available for download. It takes a song that sounds like it was written by a computer program and makes it sound like the computer has had a psychological "episode". Full marks all round, particularly for (muso alert) "breaking it down in the middle 8" .

:: 10 People From Your Past Who Will Haunt You On Facebook.

:: The video for Alicia Keys and Jack White's Bond theme misses out on the one thing that would make it tolerable - footage from Quantum Of Solace.



:: Fans of Ferris Beuller are planning to recreate the film's iconic carnival scene at New York's Hallowe'en Parade on 31st October. If you're going along, get in touch - I'd love to get your photos on the blog at the end of the month!

:: Amazon's computers have begun phase two of their plan for global domination.

[via Photobasement]

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Quantum of Solace - the musical

While I was away, a colleague sent me the lyrics to the Jack White / Alicia Keys Bond theme. I took one look and thought "fake".

Turns out I was wrong, and this terrifically incompetent bag of balls is the genuine article.


JW: Another blinger with a slick trigger finger for Her Majesty
AK: Another one with the golden tongue poisoning your fantasy
JW: Another pill from a killer turn a thriller to a tragedy
AK/JW: Yeah, a door never open, a woman walking by, a drop in the water, a look in the eye, a phone on the table, a man on your side, someone that you think that you can trust is just another way to die.

(snip...)

To fade: Just another, just another, bang bang bang bang.

To be fair, the words work a lot better in the context of the down and dirty bombast of the song - which you can buy now on iTunes. But I still prefer the two spoof themes performed by Adam and Joe of… er, Adam and Joe fame. Here's a sample of Adam Buxton's chorus:

I'd like a quantum of solace, but no more than a quantum
I know they do big bags of solace... but I don't want'em
I only want a teeny, tiny slice of solace
Before I shoot you

Much, much better, I'm sure you'll agree.

Adam Buxton - Quantum of Solace


Joe Cornish - Quantum of Solace


Perhaps we could collect together all these themes, and the ditched Amy Winehouse one, and put on a show, Kids of Fame-style, right here, right now.

I'll call Bruno. Can you text LeRoy?

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Month old flop single news

It's been a relatively quiet day today, and still I haven't managed to track down any new music worth writing about.

I'm quite excited about the new Bond theme - from the combined genius of Jack White and Alicia Keys - but I can't find a decent Keys / White Stripes mash-up to iluustrate what it might sound like. My own attempt at making a No-One vs My Doorbell montage was a KFC family bucket of wrong.

I had more luck writing a quiz on previous Bond themes for my real job(yes, they actually pay me for this stuff). You can test your knowledge over here.

In the meantime, I stumbled across a new blog by the name of Hard Candy Music and while drilling down through their old posts, I came across a story that made my 80s cheese antenna prick up.

It concerns Denise Lopez, a floptastic US singer with Paula Abdul aspirations signed to A&M Records in the latter half of the Thatcher decade. She had precisely no hits, but one of her tracks - Don't You Wanna Be Mine - is regarded as a classic of the vocal house scene (think Ce Ce Peniston with Finally or Clivilles and Coles with A Deeper Love).

The song is still a staple of many DJ sets (Sasha is a big fan) and it's been given a fresh workover by the likes of Bimbo Jones and Soul Avengerz for the 2008 Ibiza crowds. It came out a month ago to complete indifference, but it's worth downloading the iTunes EP simply to get hold of the original C&C Music Factory remix which, in the parlance of the time, is "dope, yo".

Denise Jones - Don't You Wanna Be Mine (Bimbo Jones mix)


Denise Lopez - Don't You Wanna Be Mine (original single)


If anyone has some up-to-date tips, for the love of god let me know in the comments box.

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Battle of the ballads

Two US soul divas have weepy ballads lined up for their next single, but who's best?

Is it Timbaland protégé Keri Hilson, with the synth-heavy angst anthem Energy. Or is it Alicia "piano" Keys and her ode to female empowerment / Helen Slater, Superwoman?

Both artists have cleverly created visual metaphors for their song title in the video. Hilson is expending lots of energy by training for a boxing match, which is a bit like a troubled relationship, isn't it? Keys features several vignettes about women who are totally super, and stuff.

Watch the clips and cast your vote. The winner gets our eternal respect and a bowl of gummy bears.

Keri Hilson - Energy


Alicia Keys - Superwoman

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Alicia wants us to tap her Keys

When you think of Alicia Keys what three words come into your head? For me it's probably piano, slightly, and dull.

But not the people who run the soul star's website, oh no. They have squeezed their brain cells very, very hard and come up with the words: tetris, Tetris, TETRIS!



Yes, you can play the famed 1980s rotating blocks puzzle game on Alicia's website while being brainwashed seduced by her mum-friendly music (although surely they've missed a trick by using No-one instead of Falling?)

Why they've decided to offer this "feature" is a complete mystery. Unless they're trying to subtly reinforce the link between listening to Alicia Keys and boring, reptitive tasks.

PS: Here is Alicia's new video, for the literally quite-good-if-you-like-that-sort-of-thing Teenage Love Affair. The storyline combines the perfectly-matched topics of a college campus relationship and African Aids orphans. Tasteful!

Alicia Keys New - Teenage Love Affair

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New Music Monday

Some of the better video clips of the last few days:

Regina Spektor - Better

Regina's Begin To Hope album is two year's old now but she's still plugging away at the singles. Which is a good thing, because there's barely a duff track on her record. This single, which features him out of the Strokes on guitar, has been polished up to make it more radio friendly (i.e. slightly more bland) but it still rocks our socks.


Modest Mouse - Little Calm

The third single from their patchy, nautically-themed album We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, which features former Smiths guitarist Johnny "not Andrew" Marr. One of the most thoroughly depressing videos you will see all year.

The Killers feat Lou Reed - Tranquilizer

The first single from the band's outtakes and rarities album Sawdust, which comes out later this year. No proper video yet, sadly, but the song is packed full of meaty goodness like a rock sausage.

Alicia Keys - No-one

I still love this single and this storming live performance from Jay Leno's chat show is awe-inspiring. No-One stands a good chance of being my top R&B song of the year - beating Amerie and Rihanna into a cocked hat. Indeed they could be knocked into any type of hat, penis-related or otherwise.

Fergie - Clumsy

A bag of old pants. And that's just Fergie's face! (guffaw).

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