Alicia Keys
' debut album,
Songs in A Minor
, made a significant impact upon its release in the summer of 2001, catapulting the young
singer/songwriter
to the front of the
neo-soul
pack. Critics and audiences were captivated by a 19-year-old singer whose taste and influences ran back further than her years, encompassing everything from
Prince
to smooth '70s
soul
, even a little
Billie Holiday
. In retrospect, it was the idea of
that was as attractive as the record, since
fans were hungering for a
who seemed part of the tradition without being as spacy as
Macy Gray
or as hippie mystic as
Erykah Badu
while being more reliable than
Lauryn Hill
.
Keys
was all that, and she had style to spare -- elegant, sexy style accentuated by how she never oversang, giving the music a richer feel. It was rich enough to compensate for some thinness in the writing -- though it was a big hit,
"Fallin'"
doesn't have much body to it -- which is a testament to
' skills as a musician. And, the fact is, even though there are some slips in the writing, there aren't many, and the whole thing remains a startling assured, successful debut that deserved its immediate acclaim and is already aging nicely. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine