Girl On Fire by Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys returns with her blazing new album - Girl on Fire, the follow-up to 2009's The Element of Freedom. In her absence, the soulful songstress married hip hop producer Swizz Beatz, with whom she had her son Egypt with.. Professionally, she produced a TV-movie and a stage play, but in 2012 she decides to give us this new collection of soulful r&b music..

Alicia's musical style is very much appreciated and easily noticeable, so it is surprising to hear the musical direction she experiments with on New Day and Girl on Fire, the former being her buzz single to launch the new era and the latter being the official first single - which comes in three versions, the most popular which features Nicki Minaj. The aforementioned tracks happen to be the weakest songs on the album - but it is a relief to say they do not set the tone for the rest of it. She shines bright on the stripped down and beautifully arranged Not Even The King and new single, Brand New Me (both songs were co-written with Emeli Sande), on the last-mentioned, she declares "It's been a while, I'm not who I was before, You look surprised, Your words don't burn me anymore, Been meanin' to tell ya, But I guess it's clear to see, Don't be mad, It's just a brand new kinda me". She delivers her signature soulful vocals and musical arrangement on 101 and Listen to Your Heart. Undoubtedly, the highlight of this album is her very sexy duet Fire We Make with fellow soul-crooner Maxwell - whom she opened for on tour when she just started out.

Girl on Fire is another solid effort from 'Keys, although it lacks the grammy winning formula that she used when crafting her first three studio albums (not counting the MTV Unplugged Sessions). It is sort of unfortunate that on songs where she tries something new - she falls flat, but stands strong on songs where she stayed true to her musical style.