“Two tracks into her surprisingly fresh sixth album, Alicia Keys issues a mission statement: “Gotta speak the truth when I’m up in the booth.” For the next 45 minutes, the piano-playing New Yorker barely falters as she shows a more honest and socially conscious side to her songwriting. Most of the time, it suits her. From an early reference to her humble upbringing “in a tenement… listenin’ to the”
“On her new album, Alicia Keys inhabits the personae of multiple characters but still doesn’t tell us much about herself.”
