2 posts tagged “alicia keys”

Audio: Share a song with powerful lyrics.

The songs I love, and that speak to me the most are I'm OK, by Christina Aguilera, and Superwoman, by Alicia Keys

I'm OK is such a sad but beautiful song, and I have my own personal reasons for identifying with it; I'm sure they'll be obvious to those who know the song.

It's dark, admittedly, but that's part of what makes it so powerful. It's not shameful, not shaming; it's just raw pain and sadness that ultimately reveals the heart of the performer.

Ms. Aguilera, love her or hate her, is an incredible woman.

Superwoman is a relatively new track from Ms. Keys' latest album, and I actually identify with it because it's exactly what I most often believe I'm not.

That song tells me that as much as I struggle as a woman, and as a mother, there are so many out there who feel/work/live/love/hurt the same way I do, and that even when I feel weak, I can find that strength inside to keep moving and keep going, and that the fact that I've continually done that all these years, even when I really felt I couldn't take another breath, shows just how strong I've always been.

I wish I could meet her, just so I could thank her for reminding me of my own self-worth just when I needed to remember it most.

I don't understand the hype that's going on with these girl group wannabes popping up all over the place. They all sound the same. All of them, including Danity Kane. I mean Candy Hill. Pussycat Dolls? Brick & Lace? Wait, that was Tiffany Affair. Whatever - same difference, really. Switch up the faces a little, and you have the same damn thing, and even though it may be the sound everyone loves (loves = has been listening to for way too long), that doesn't make it good, that makes it really old and boring. The first time this sort of thing was actually fresh and original was over 10 years ago, with Janet Jackson's "Control" album. The next was SWV, then TLC, and then Mary J Blige. Even the Spice Girls, who were annoying as hell, were at least different.

Right now, the only real female artists in the genre - at least, of the newer artists - are Corinne Bailey Rae and Amy Winehouse. And we're all aware of Angie Stone, India.Arie, and Alicia Keys. Christina Aguilera, whether you like her or not, has a voice most singers, aspiring or otherwise, would kill for. There are a number of others I won't mention - I'm sure you know actual talent when you hear it. Everything else seems to be a battle over who can wear the shortest skirt or tightest, teeniest top while shattering their vocal cords in a song written (obviously) for someone else over a beat that's way over-produced. As it stands now, half the so-called singers out there in the not-quite-R&B genre sound like the Chipettes on crack with laryngitis standing in a sandstorm with their mouths wide open. Or else they sound like these girls, which isn't really that much different.

Hopefully, people will eventually get it, and there will be something that's actually original out there to listen to. Until then, yeah, I'm over it, too.