Alicia Keys - Alicia review: A rich, multifaceted portrait

It's traditional for musicians to release a self-titled album as their debut, as a clear introduction of themselves to the world. This is the seventh long-player from New York’s 15-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys, so the forename on the cover means something slightly different: is this finally the real her? The album was supposed to arrive at the same time as More Myself: A Journey, her autobiography published by Oprah Winfrey’s imprint in March, so she’s definitely in self-examination mode. “Me, me, me, me, me, me, me/It needs to be about me,” she sings on Me x 7.

But this collection is also about Jill Scott — another song both features and is named after her fellow soul singer — as well as key workers, who are praised on both Good Job and Underdog, and black people who are killed without consequence. The piano ballad Perfect Way to Die finds her singing: “Just another one gone/And they tell her, ‘Move on.’”

As on her previous album Here, it feels like she’s finished making tasteful piano music for your dinner party and needs to tackle bigger topics. But that doesn’t make the music less appealing. She travels widely in style, from throbbing reggae on Wasted Energy to classy dance pop on Authors of Forever and woozy guitar minimalism on the exasperated So Done.

Guests range from Sweden’s Snoh Aalegra to Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz and a rare appearance from Londoner Sampha. It’s a multifaceted, rich canvas, as a truly effective portrait should be.