This heartfelt ballad has a strong jazz and blues influence and would do any soul diva proud.Here Alicia is able to show off the vocals skills which sometimes play second fiddle to her other musical talents. Songs to look out for are, 'If I Was Your Woman/ Walk On By' which is stylised in the classic Motown format and 'If I Ain't Got You'. If you're a fan of slow jams you will feel like a kid in a candy store, all angles of love are covered here. This beautiful overture can only be described as cosmic jazz, reminiscent of Herbie Hancock. Alicia's mastery of the ivories is also showcased in 'Feeling U, Feeling Me'. Lest we forget her classical brilliance 'Harlem's Nocturne' is a fitting introduction. Who can forget the Grammy award winning debut album Songs in A Minor? How do you follow that? Well just ask Alicia Keys because her sophomore album The Diary Of Alicia Keys does just that and much more. An MTV Unplugged performance, a book of poetry and an acting career was just around the corner.

However, it is easy to hear why The Diary of Alicia Keys was so popular - well-written, well-played and, although it boasts a cast list commensurate with all urban albums of the 21st century, it is unmistakably the vision of one person. There can be a level of suspicion about Grammy-gathering albums often subsequently reduced to their statistics - US No.1 618,000 US sales in its first week alone - as this often says little, and commemorates only the commercial accomplishment. Diary, which features Tony! Toni! Tone!, is faultlessly languid late-night soul with a superb 'your secrets are safe with me' hook. Titles such as Harlem's Nocturne and her cover of Gladys Knight's If I Was Your Woman (which merges into Isaac Hayes' version of Walk On By) make her nods to history explicit it's like some RnB relief teacher coming in and taking the class.īut it is so much more than just that - the album is all about mood and groove. With contributions from artists such as Kanye West, Timbaland and John Legend, at times this album is like an academic exercise in spotting her reference points. The meshing of modern street funk with its gorgeous, string-laden predecessors is hardly the freshest concept, but the subtlety - and Keys' stunning voice - carries it through. Lead single You Don't Know My Name is built around a sample from the 1970s New York group Main Ingredient's Let Me Prove My Love to You. They could so easily have been full of gauche heart-on-sleeve angst, but fortunately everything is kept in good measure with the listener being drawn into her world of contemporary takes on classic soul.

Keys states in her accompanying notes that the 15 pieces of music here are like diary entries. Released two years after the 20-million plus sales of her debut, Songs in A Minor, The Diary of… underlined 22-year-old singer and pianist Alicia Keys' increasing maturity and her significance to 21st century American music.

Alicia keys diary