Don’t feel alone if you’ve been wondering whatever happened to Alicia Keys.
It’s been nearly two years since the stylish R&B/pop singer-songwriter was at Staples Center in Los Angeles collecting five Grammys, a single-year total matched among female artists only by Lauryn Hill in 1999 and Norah Jones this year.
Unlike other young artists who seem obsessively driven to flame the publicity fires, Keys has been concentrating on making music that would live up to the enormous expectations generated by her debut album, “Songs in A Minor.”
She finally returned Tuesday with that long-awaited album, “The Diary of Alicia Keys.” The result is wonderfully reassuring for anyone who sensed in that first album that Keys is one of those rare pop figures these days who seems more concerned with artistic integrity than commercial standing.
In an age of dumbing-down in pop, Keys is an artist who, much in the manner of Jones, seems devoted to living up to the best pop standards. Measured against other twentysomethings on the pop charts, including Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, Keys and Jones are women among girls, creatively speaking.
Despite sharp differences in approach, Keys and Jones share a respect for tradition and personalized statement rather than merely trying to duplicate whatever happens to be popular on the radio at the moment. That’s why the commercial success of their first albums has been so remarkable. “Songs” has sold nearly 6 million copies in the United States alone, while Jones’ “Come Away With Me” has sold more than 7 million here.
The odds against Keys matching that figure again are extremely high. The music, however, continues to have such a classy, evocative edge that she may just do it.
About her creative independence, Keys said, “I’m a rebel at heart. I never want to be part of that thing that everybody else is always doing.
“I always want to make music that is different, that’s fresh–something that, when you say my name 50 years from now, people won’t cringe,” she said.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Kris Karnopp (kkarnopp@tribune.com)
