by Erica Anderson Minneapolis, MN Reviewed on January 21st, 2005
After the oversaturation of Alicia Keys' first album "Songs in A Minor", I was originally not interested in hearing Alicia's second album "The Diary of Alicia Keys". A year later, I decided to get the album because of Alicia's most recent single "If I Ain't Got You" which had grown on me considerably. I really am not a fan of r&b music so it is to my surprise that I found myself grooving to this album. "The Diary of Alicia Keys" is definitely a huge improvement over "Songs in A Minor". The sound is a lot looser and not as polished as its predecessor. There is less of a pop influence (although it is still there) but with a more r&b sound. I definitely can hear a little jazz in her music which I didn't hear on "Songs in A Minor". Thank heavens there is no "Falling" part two. That song got played into the ground no thanks to MTV/VH1 and radio. "Heartburn" sounds like it came out of the late '70s during the whole Foxy Brown, Shaft, Superfly funk era. I could definitely still here Alicia's classical influences like on the first track "Harlem's Nocturne". I wish the song was a little longer though. "Karma" is another favorite song of mine. The song had a really good beat and I really dug the melodies. The one song that I really didn't care for was "Diary" w/Tony! Toni! Tone!. I didn't really care for the dialogue interspersed with the music. That got on my nerves. "Dragon Days" was a bit silly lyrically. Good melody but the title and lyrics I just found to be a bit silly. Overall I found "The Diary of Alicia Keys" to be much more enjoyable than "Songs in A Minor". Alicia has proven to me (at least) she is not some one hit wunderkind as a lot of people probably thought she was when her first album came out. There is a much more cohesive, looser sound on this album than on "Songs in A Minor". I think Alicia will be a force to reckon for years to come if she continues to create music as good as what I just heard on this album.
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