But the verses here are a problem she’s always been a shrill over-emoter because her voice is just so smugly unsympathetic, and here she sounds reined in, but even more so like she’s suffocating.Īlex Ostroff: For all her classical training and songwriting ability and commercial success, I’m never exactly sure who Alicia Keys is as an artist/persona/pop star. It’s good to hear her pick out some heretofore untapped warmth in her voice, and the bright arrangement is an unexpected surprise. I found the previous pledge of devotion more affecting than this pledge to endure (like her ability to overcome obstacles was ever in doubt), but the formula still works.Įdward Okulicz: Alicia Keys is, emotionally speaking, the girl who cried heartbreak once too often. And the sentiment is just weird - if “making it without you” is equivalent to “holding on to the times that we had,” is it really without you? Is it really making it? I’ve never respected the you-dumped-me-so-now-I-will-go-to-the-club-and-be-slutty genre as much as I do after listening to this dreck.Īnthony Miccio: “No One” is Alicia’s only previous single to excite me enough to look past her insufferable preening, and this one works much in the same way: Classical fanfare and classic breakbeat run through synth-filters until novel while Alicia gets endearingly – and humanizingly – close to bawling. Martin Kavka: The beat is so ordinary, and Keys’ voice so thin, that it makes the broken heart seem as serious as a misplaced Hello Kitty notebook.
I suppose that’s good news for Sony’s shareholders, but I miss the days when Alicia’s voice had grit and snarl and her music had more texture than a frappe. Must all be part of her growth as a commodity she’s just at home these days on 106 and Park or Lite FM. As of late, Keys has buffed her ragged edges and burliness down to an arena sheen. I say “worst way” because what “Broken Heart” gains in verisimilitude, it lacks in verve and personality. “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart” manages the odd feat of sounding more like it was written by Prince than her Prince cover does the growling intro, the breathy acrobatic vocal tenor, the corny 80’s synths, the clipped pacing, the drum machine percussion and the underlying simplicity of the theme all hearken back to Parade-era Purple in the worst way. Much of her music references his style and sound she even managed to eke out a minor hit with her remake of “ How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore”. John Seroff: Alicia Keys’ debt to Prince is obvious. But how on earth do some people hear Prince in this thing? “The Beautiful Ones” was weird this is co-dependent. This time she lets cold synthesizers and booming drums carry the emotion that’s beyond her voice and brain. The song is a cascade of spine-shivering moments: the plea of “well, you can try sleeping in my bed,” the peal of “you know that I’ll always be in love with you,” the explosion of the chorus, the implosion as a drifting piano line fades to black.Īlfred Soto: I hate this woman and her phony, pus-infused nuevo soul schtick. Appropriately, Alicia Keys delivers a tour de force performance, at once curl-up-under-the-duvet intimate and scream-it-from-the-rooftops desperate: she trembles with lust, gasps beneath suffocating loneliness, punches the air with anthemic determination.
And I rather admire where the song goes, lyrically.Īlex Macpherson: With its crashing drums and whirring bass reminiscent of “The Beautiful Ones”, “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart” revs up like a jet taking off. Matt Cibula: Okay, THIS is what A.Keys should be doing - mixing up the decades, nailing down a pretty song through careful singing instead of trying to show off her (overrated) pipes. And the tension between the contemporary production, the cheeseball tune, and the restrained but sexy vocal is what makes it work. Pharrell Williamsīut man, if ever there was a scene made for Shipley’s First Hypothesis, it may well have been the bit where Alicia heals a dead dog…Īl Shipley: This is more synth and drum machine-driven than the average Keys single, but the melody sounds like it was written for an Olympics opening ceremony. Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment.I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES.Email (song suggestions/writer enquiries).
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