As I Am [Enhanced]

Alicia Keys | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 13, 2007)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: J-Records
• ASIN: B000VEYJP2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (345 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,575 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #15 in Music > R&B > Contemporary R&B
  • #85 in Music > Pop > Adult Contemporary > General AAS
  • #88 in Music > R&B > Soul > General AAS

Track Listings

1. As I Am (Intro)

2. Go Ahead

3. Superwoman

4. No One

5. Like You'll Never See Me Again

6. Lesson Learned (featuring John Mayer)

7. Wreckless Love

8. The Thing About Love

9. Teenage Love Affair

10. I Need You

11. Where Do We Go From Here

12. Prelude To A Kiss

13. Tell You Something (Nana's Reprise)

14. Sure Looks Good To Me

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

By the time this long-awaited album saw its release date, most fans had probably read at least a couple of interviews with Alicia Keys in which she explained that first single, "No One"--a firestorm of a song clearly born of a sore heart and steeped in serious soul-searching, was about her decision to retreat from the obligations of stardom when she found out a loved one was in need of her care. The anecdote sticks not just because it explained the song so well--you can actually hear the pain, commitment, and determination in her sultry voice--but because it gets at what makes the woman behind the music so appealing. There's only one way R&B artists grow to become legends, and it's by drenching the words they sing with feeling (think Gladys Knight, Roberta Flack). The skeptical listener might have had her doubts before As I Am, but there's no mistaking it now: Alicia Keys is well on her way to sharing a category with them. This record radiates not just old-soul maturity, the kind Alicia fans say makes her modern rarity, but real soul. Vintage-leaning hooks and horns grab hold on "Where Do We Go from Here" and an assortment of other songs, but Keys can also get by just fine without them, as she proves on more pop-flavored numbers like "Lesson Learned," with John Mayer, and "Superwoman." The genres may be smearing, she seems to say, but bring them on: she won't shrink back. Her commitment is not to a single style but to what's stirring her soul. Because of it, she's moving R&B, or something like it, from the hips back to the heart. --Tammy La Gorce

Product Description

2007 release from the R&B/Pop diva. As I Am is Alicia's most innovative album to date, a collection of music with no boundaries. Influenced by everything from Hip Hop to Soul to Rock to Classical music, As I Am is every bit a sense of rebellion and empowerment. Features collaborations with some of the biggest hit makers in music (Linda Perry, Jack Splash, Mark Batson, Swizz Beats and Kerry Brothers) and includes the first single 'No One.'

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Lush & New? She Is Still The Best Artist Out There. December 21, 2007

By SUPPORT THE ASPCA.

Format:Audio CD

This was new & different from "Songs In A Minor & The Diary Of Alicia Keys." Which is fine, I just do not think that the album in total is equal to the aboves? From slow to midtempo these songs are hard to classify other than their having a 60's-70's R&B sound. But, this album does seem to be her most personal & intimate. Some complain about her overuse of the Piano? I could not disagree more, it is a very neglected instrument. Alicia also plays it exceptionally well.

"Like You'll Never See Me Again, No One, I Need You, Tell You Something, & The Thing About Love," are my five favorites from this album. The latter has an Al Green early 1970's feel to it with an angry middle which most folks at some time in their lives can relate to. While the former may eventually challenge "Fallin" as her best song to date? It has lucid lyrics & a depth of feeling to it that many modern tunes lack. "I Need You has Alicia pulling you into the song & "Tell You Something" is a thoughtful get you to think tune. While "No One" is a sensual speaks for itself song. I'm not big on top forty hits since so many songs that make it are awful. But in this case, "No One" flew to the top for a reason.

I did not care for the Intros. "Prelude To A Kiss," was too short, "Lesson Learned & Sure Looks Good To Me" were pretty good, & the rest of the album was rather good. In closing, I think it is overly harsh to constantly compare her music to what came before as so many of the negative reviews harped on. She is not even thirty, & may have a few more decades to grow as an artist. I would wager that when many of her contemporaries are just a memory, she will still be producing fine music?

32 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I'll take Alicia Keys 'As [She] Is'............ November 18, 2007

By D. Pawl VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Grammy winning singer/songwriter, poet, philanthropist and visionary Alicia Keys proceeds to outdo herself with AS I AM, her third and finest album, to date. This 2007 release showcases her range as a musician. Keys is a classically-trained pianist, as well as being a true soul/r&b artist, and the album kicks off on a beautiful note with her original song "As I Am (Intro)," a classical piece. From there, we hear the influences and inspirations that guide this great musician to combine her poetry and eloquence as a lyricist with her flare for hooks and ear-catching instrumental (with a little help from her friends). Some of the best cuts include "Superwoman," (co-written with Linda Perry and Steve Mostyn), an anthem for strong women everywhere and an ear-catching chorus that will get you singing along, the beautiful, reggae-inspired "No One" (co-written with Kerry Brothers, Jr. and George M. Harry), the first single from the album and "Wreckless Love" (co-written with Matthew Kahane and Harold Lilly) which sounds like a throwback to the Motown soul era of the 1960s.

On another note, Alicia Keys' voice has never sounded better. It's deeper and raspier, but, that only adds flavor to her delivery of the more poignant pieces (particularly, "Tell You Something (Nana's Reprise)"). This young woman has been blessed with many talents and we are lucky and privileged that she is sharing them with the world.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Alicia Keys Is Rolling Right Along November 13, 2007

By Andre S. Grindle TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD

Alicia Keys is an artist I have been keeping a strong eye on since she first appeared in Ebony magazine's "artists to watch" cololm just prior to the release of her debut Songs in A Minor. And I am very glad I kept on track with her because I now have the pleasure to enjoy 'As I Am'. Not only couldn't it be any more different from that first CD but for what is her third studio album there is not only an enormous sense of emotional growth in this material but her musical aspirations have also increased by leaps and bounds. Within these 14 songs Alicia Keys manages to exhibit every positive quality in her music and actually discovered a few new ones. As common with all of her albums she opens with a classically inclined introduction before moving into the song cycle chronicaling the disolving and beginning of a relationship. Many of the songs on this album such as "The Thing About Love" and even the bouncy "Teenage Love Affair",a highlite of the album regardless. Now I am not one to focus on the hits but one of the big highlites here is,yes the hit "No One"-the lyrical challange is met by the equally compulsive drums-in fact one thing that might make this album controversial is the fact the very live drums are mixed up so high.The same thing happens on the title cut and "Go Ahead".And for those of you who confused "Prelude To A Kiss" with the famous standard it's not at all-it's a song of Alicia's own creation. There are many isolated highlites taken outside the concept-"Lessons Learned" actually melds the sounds of Alicia's poppy soul and John Mayer's soulful pop,works like a charm.My personal favorite is "I Need You",with an interesting melodic phrasing and arrangement the really points to a distinctive sound for her. 'As I Am' as a whole finds Alicia Keys in a place,far from the somewhat constraining arms of Columbia Records who steered her in a musical direction that appealed more to the modern,ProTool infected hip-hop/R&B crowd ,where she can develope her own distinctive sound based entirely on the things she does best and her own talents.