No One

Wow Alicia can sing! I am definitely going to keep buying more of her songs! This is a wonderful love song.

Music pundits often talk about female artists having "grown up" when most of their clothes come off in videos, but to me a real grown-up woman is someone like Sade or Alicia who reaches into her soul and brings up pure and beautiful emotion. Love, compassion, loyalty and devotion for someone is timelessly beautiful. If we ever stop appreciating such expressions, then we have ceased to be human.

When you are in love, you can feel this song 5 fold. If you're not in love, but a dreamer like me, then you aren't left out.

Alicia picked a good single. Making it her first, to me, at first wasn't the smartest because this was not the song that impacted me on the first listen. The keyboard (or organ) in it is fantastic but it just wasn't what we were used to with her...it was really different. And the video was kinda too.

But the more I listened to it, the more I fell in love with the song! Her voice was (and still is!) very, very heartfelt. It starts out with your basic piano arrangement; pretty; lulling; uncomplicated. Then comes in the "organ" and it's nice; fitting. But you continue on, hear the chorus twice, and then the beautiful bridge comes in, and once you've heard it about 5x, you sing along;

"I know-ow....some people search the world..." "To fi-ind...somethin' like what we H A A A A V E." "I know-ow...people will try...try to define...somethin' so R E E A L. So till the end of time...I'm tellin' you that...No one..."

And that's the part that grips you, and makes you continue to sing it, along with Alicia...

Great tune. Will get stuck in your head after a few listens.

4.5 stars.

End Note: Great tune. Might have to sink in after repeated listens. Her second single, Like You'll Never See Me Again is even better, believe it or not..

Alicia Keys' "No One" is a soulful song,and,paradoxically,it's better as an instrumental than as a song. Then again, Keys is a talented,classically trained pianist. Her music is still organic, in contrast to the prefab pop. It's a song all about commitment and love despite adversity. It's the soulful yin in contrast to the yang of the one night stand dance hit "Low." Alicia Keys' message is strong. In a sense,it's stronger than her voice. She sometimes sounds strained,and her odd yodeling (?) of "ohhh ohhhh ohhh" at the end doesn't quite work. Overall,it's a strong&beautiful love song.

When it comes to really good R&B, there are very few divas that've shown that heart like Alicia Keys. After the mammoth success of her pervious albums, Songs In A Minor, Unplugged and Diary Of Alicia Keys, her first single from her fourth album As I Am, No One, is one of the best R&B songs I've heard this year. The song is very soulful, and ignites a real fire that is sophisticated and true to Alicia's soulful style. I absolutely love this song, because it is a great pop song that stands out. It really is one of the best songs of 2007 and 2008. Now that it is finally available as a MP3 download from Amazon.com, I absolutely recommend this as a must buy for your MP3 player.

Song: B+