![]() ![]() Keys’ grounding piano anthems remain her calling card, and she ends the album with a strong one. The powerfully sung “Perfect Way To Die” offers a Black Lives Matter protest ballad in vividly personal terms. ![]() On the uplifting “Underdog,” she praises teachers and “student doctors,” but also “ hustlers trading at the bus stop” and “ single mothers waiting on a check to come,” linking the struggles of the too-often-unseen poor to a broader coalition of common folk and calling on all of us, over a lifting melody, to “rise up.” Not many artists could make a song called “Authors of Forever” come off as unpretentious as Keys does, singing “we’re all in this boat together and we’re sailing towards the future” over a light R&B glisten. She pays tribute to artistic bonds on “Jill Scott,” honoring the neo-soul singer as well as featuring her on the track. ![]() The songs that connect with larger issues are predictably down-to-earth. “Gramercy Park” combines folk, soul, and gospel as she meditates on her efforts to meet the expectations of others. Keys balances personal pleas with larger aspirational notes: On “I’m Done” she duets with Khalid, singing, “I’m done fighting myself, going through hell/I’m living the way that I want,” matching his mumble-croon as if awakening from a long slumber to get out there and seize life.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |