As I Am is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Alicia Keys, released on November 9, 2007, by J Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at various recording studios from 2005 until 2007. Production was handled primarily by Keys, Kerry Brothers Jr., Jack Splash, and Linda Perry, with a guest contribution from musician John Mayer.
Despite some criticism towards Keys' lyrics, As I Am received generally positive reviews from critics. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 742,000 copies in its first week, and was eventually certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album became an international commercial success, selling over five million copies worldwide. It spawned four singles, including "No One", which became the most-listened song of 2007 in the US. As I Am earned Keys several accolades, including three Grammy Awards and two American Music Awards.
Background and development
Keys released her second studio album The Diary of Alicia Keys in December 2003. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling over 618,000 copies its first week of release and scoring the largest first-week sales for a female artist in 2003.[1] Certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),[2] the album has sold 4.4 million copies in the United States and eight million worldwide.[3] While attending the Cannes Film Festival in May 2004, it was announced that Keys intended to make her film debut in a biopic about biracial piano prodigy Philippa Schuyler.[4] The film was to be co-produced by Halle Berry and Marc Platt;[5] however, it has never come to fruition. Later that year, Keys released her novel Tears for Water: Songbook of Poems and Lyrics, a collection of unreleased poems from her journals and lyrics. The title derived from one of her poems, "Love and Chains" from the line: "I don't mind drinking my tears for water."[6] She said the title is the foundation of her writing because "everything I have ever written has stemmed from my tears of joy, of pain, of sorrow, of depression, even of question".[7] The book earned over US$500,000 from sales, with Keys making it into The New York Times Best Seller list in 2005.[8] Keys performed and taped her installment of the MTV Unplugged series in July 2005 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.[9] During the session, Keys added new arrangements to her original songs and performed several covers.[10] The session was released on CD and DVD in October 2005, titled Unplugged, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with 196,000 units sold in its first week,[11] registering the highest debut for an MTV Unplugged album since Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York (1994) and the first Unplugged by a female artist to debut at number one. The album has sold one million copies in the United States, where it was certified platinum by the RIAA, and two million copies worldwide.[12]
In October 2006, she played the voice of Mommy Martian in the "Mission to Mars" episode of the children's television series The Backyardigans, in which she sang the original song "Almost Everything Is Boinga Here".[13] That same year, Keys nearly suffered a mental breakdown, as her grandmother had died and her family was heavily dependent on her. She felt she needed to "escape" and went to Egypt for three weeks, explaining: "That trip was definitely the most crucial thing I've ever done for myself in my life to date. It was a very difficult time that I was dealing with, and it just came to the point where I really needed to—basically, I just needed to run away, honestly. And I needed to get as far away as possible."[14] Keys made her film debut in the crime film Smokin' Aces (2006), co-starring as an assassin named Georgia Sykes opposite Ben Affleck and Andy García. Keys received much praise from her co-stars in the film; Ryan Reynolds called her "so natural" and said she would "blow everybody away". Smokin' Aces was a moderate hit at the box office, earning $57,103,895 worldwide during its theatrical run.[15][16] In 2007, Keys earned further praise for her second film The Nanny Diaries, based on the 2002 novel of the same name, where she co-starred alongside Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans. The Nanny Diaries had a hit moderate performance at the box office, earning only $44,638,886 worldwide during its theatrical run.[17] She also guest starred as herself in the "One Man Is an Island" episode of the drama series Cane.[18]
Recording and production
John Mayer (pictured) co-wrote, produced and was featured on "Lesson Learned".
Keys had been working on the album since late 2005, but focused on it to a greater extent in 2006. Keys opened a recording studio in Long Island, New York with her production and songwriting partner Kerry "Krucial" Brothers, called the Oven Studios, in which she recorded the majority of As I Am;[19] the studio was designed by renowned studio architect John Storyk, who had previously designed Jimi Hendrix' Electric Lady Studios. Every track was recorded in the United States, except for the "As I Am" intro, which was recorded at the Plus XXX Studio in Paris. In December 2006, Keys told MTV News: "It's coming together incredibly. I am in love with this album. It's very fresh and new."[20]
Other recording locations included Pie Studios in Glen Cove, Battery Studios, Legacy Recording Studios and The Mastering Palace in New York City, Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, and Conway Recording Studios, Henson Recording Studios, Kung Fu Gardens and Larrabee North in Los Angeles.[21] During the recording sessions, Keys decided to work on her own terms and take her time with finishing the album instead of following the label-set deadline, telling mixing engineer Manny Marroquin: "It'll be in when it's in. It's there when it's right, and that's when it's there."[22] Producers who worked on the album include–apart from Keys and Brothers–Mark Batson, DJ Dirty Harry, John Mayer, Linda Perry and Jack Splash.[21] After almost two years of recording, Keys confirmed As I Am had been finished the prior month at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards on September 9, 2007.
During the recording of the album, Keys' paternal grandmother Vergil DiSalvatore fell terminally ill in 2006, which caused the recording sessions to be cut shorter since Keys took care of her. Keys later said: "Somebody extremely close to me got very ill, and I was really the only one that was able to help care for them. This person was strong and my rock, and then, totally, not even able to walk without assistance. I had no choice but to stop."[22] DiSalvatore passed away the same year; her illness and death caused Keys to reconcile with her estranged father Craig Cook.[23]
As I Am is predominantly a soul and R&B album, exploring genres such as jazz, hip hop and soft rock.[27][28] It departs the urban contemporary sound of its predecessor The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003) in favor of 1970s–1980s-influenced traditional soul.[27] Its lyrical themes include situations and complexities in relationships, as well as dealing with loss and life transience. The album opens with the "As I Am" intro, a piano-driven instrumental track. The following track, hip hop beat-infused "Go Ahead", sees its protagonist confronting a deceitful lover.[28] On "Superwoman", the third track, Keys sings about being a "superwoman" regardless of her state or what she might be going through. Keys stated in an interview with MTV that "Superwoman" is her favorite track from As I Am, saying: "Every time I sing it, it makes me feel inspired to be however I am that day."[29] The fourth track "No One" is an R&B sentimental ballad about Keys' unstoppable love for her partner. Keys told MTV Canada that the song "is really talking about the way that in relationships, the way that so many things are around you all the time to try to distract you. And even though people may talk and say whatever they may want to say, but then no one can get in the way of this."[30] She also said that it was a song which "just wrote itself" and that it was one of the final songs written for the album.[31] "Like You'll Never See Me Again" is a soul-R&B ballad which, according to Keys, is "about living every moment as if it's your last. Because if it's our last time to say, 'I love you,' then let it be that we didn't forget that."[32] "Lesson Learned", a soul and soft rock track, features John Mayer on guitar and background vocals.
The seventh track "Wreckless Love" is a drum and horn-infused hip hop and jazz track speaking about its protagonist's desire for a "crazy love".[27] "The Thing About Love" features Keys singing about different sides of romantic relationships: "Everybody laughs / Everybody cries / Sure it could hurt you baby but / Give it a lil' try". "Teenage Love Affair" was constructed around a sample of The Temprees' 1972 song "(Girl) I Love You", written by Josephine Bridges, Carl Hampton, and Tom Nixon, and speaks about an adolescent relationship. The guitar-driven "I Need You" is the album's tenth track and is followed by "Where Do We Go from Here", which samples "After Laughter (Comes Tears)" by Wendy Rene. "Prelude to a Kiss" is a piano-driven interlude about needing God's guidance through life, and serves as a prelude to "Tell You Something (Nana's Reprise)", a ballad inspired by the death of Keys' grandmother. The album closes with "Sure Looks Good to Me", a soft rock and gospel track about life transience.[27] UK and Japanese editions of As I Am include the uptempo bonus track "Waiting for Your Love", while the Japanese limited edition's bonus disc includes a cover of "Hurt So Bad" by Little Anthony and the Imperials. The Super Edition of the album includes three bonus tracks: "Another Way to Die",–alternative rock duet with Jack White and theme song of the 2008 film Quantum of Solace[33][34]–"Doncha Know (Sky Is Blue)" and "Saviour".
Title and artwork
Keys first mentioned the album's title to E! News reporter Giuliana Rancic on June 26, 2007, at the BET Awards 2007 red carpet pre-show. In an interview for The New York Times during the album's production, Keys said the album was titled As I Am because she had grown far more straightforward in years preceding the album, stating: "I was becoming a very hidden person. I would just always try to keep everything even keeled and cool and just smooth everything over. That mask was getting very scary. And I didn't like it", adding: "I'm done with being a person that doesn't understand themselves because it's being detrimental to my health and my spirit and my mind. Everybody's in trouble now because I will tell it like it is."[22]
Photos for the album's cover artwork and booklet were photographed by Thierry Le Gouès.[21] The cover artwork features a black-and-white close-up shot of Keys looking straight into the camera; The Super Edition cover is the same but it's tinged purple.
Release and promotion
Keys performing in 2008
At Live Earth 2007's New Jersey concert on July 7, 2007, Keys performed then-unreleased "The Thing About Love", among other songs. Keys started the promotion of As I Am by performing a medley of the lead single "No One" and George Michael's "Freedom! '90" at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards on September 9.[35] The album was heavily promoted, and special advertising was arranged in collaboration with MTV before and during the week of release. The entire album was streamed on MTV's website, beginning on November 6, 2007, a week before the album's North American release date. Additionally, Keys was featured as MTV's Artist of the Week for the week beginning November 12, 2007.[36]As I Am was first released on November 9 in Germany; its CD+DVD deluxe edition was released simultaneously outside North America. MTV commissioned Evan Silver to direct a series of nine humorous advertisements featuring Keys being harassed by someone in a bunny costume;[37] in the final spot, the bunny is revealed to be John Mayer.[38]
"Teenage Love Affair" was released as the third single on March 31, 2008. It peaked at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.[52][55]
"Superwoman" was released as the fourth and final single on July 29, 2008.[58] It peaked at number 82 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 12 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.[52][55] It also won a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 2009.[59] On August 19, 2020, the song was certified gold by the RIAA for shipping 500,000 units.[60]
As I Am received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 66, based on 22 reviews.[61]Jon Pareles of Blender felt that the album "advances" from her previous two albums "by showing an experimental side."[63]Spin commented that Keys' songwriting has improvement from her previous work.[68] In a rave review of the album, Gregory Stephen Tate of The Village Voice praised Keys for her vintage soul influence and called As I Am a "complete work".[71]NME perceived the album as a departure from Keys' previous albums and described it as "streetwise, smoky set of real soul".[65]Entertainment Weekly's Neil Drumming described it as "Keys' most polished – if, at times, edgeless – album to date".[24]Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani wrote that "Keys isn't quite a superwoman come to save R&B from itself, but the timeless quality of As I Am is right on time."[28]USA Today called it Keys' "most cohesive studio album".[70] Nate Chinen of The New York Times stated "As I Am radiates not just confidence but also experience", and called it Keys' "strongest effort yet".[25] According to The Star-Ledger the album is "another solid effort" but "not the masterpiece that Keys seems capable of producing, someday".[72]
Keys' songwriting on the album received negative criticism from The Washington Post's J. Freedom du Lac, who called As I Am "disappointing" and wrote that it "reveals her considerable limitations as a lyricist".[26] Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian called Keys "crashingly dull... her vaunted self-belief seemingly leaves no room for vulnerability, humour, insight or any of the other qualities possessed by the soul giants to whose stature she aspires".[64] Writing for Rolling Stone, critic Robert Christgau found the album's prevailing mood "reflectively soulful and the prevailing tempo mid".[67] In his consumer guide, Christgau gave it a one-star honorable mention () and quipped, "Nice girl holds out," while citing "Teenage Love Affair" and "Wreckless Love" as highlights.[73] Despite commending the album for its "more traditional soul" and pop-oriented sound, The Observer writer Stephanie Merritt perceived Keys' lyrics as a significant fault and wrote "for the most part, the lyrics are so reliant on stock phrases – 'feel your touch', 'hold me', 'shoulda known', etc – that you could read anything you like into them without them carrying any personal feeling at all".[74]Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot felt that the "main problem is that Keys' songwriting has yet to transcend her obvious influences".[75] Marisa Brown of AllMusic also viewed its lyrical quality as a weakness, but stated, "even though As I Am is a flawed work – a little too poppy, a little too clichéd – it is also indicative of what Keys can and will do".[62]
As I Am debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 742,000 copies sold in its first week, then the largest amount for any female artist since Norah Jones' Feels Like Home sold one million copies in its opening week in 2004, while becoming Keys' fourth consecutive number-one album on the chart.[80] The following week, the album dropped to number two on the chart, selling an additional 349,000 copies.[81] In its third week, it fell to number three, with 257,400 copies sold.[82] It was ranked the best-selling album overall and the best-selling R&B album of 2008 in the United States by Billboard,[83][84] while its lead single, "No One", became the most listened-to song in the country that same year.[85] In late 2009, it was ranked the 76th best-selling album of the decade in the US.[86] On August 11, 2020, the album was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over four million units in the United States.[87]
Internationally, As I Am reached number one in Switzerland, as well as the top five in Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Portugal, and the top ten in Austria, Croatia, Germany, and Poland.[88][89][90][91] By May 2008, the album had sold over five million copies worldwide.[92]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^Christgau, Robert; Fricke, David; Hoard, DavidRob; Sheffield, Rob (December 17, 2007). "The Top 50 Albums of 2007". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 23, 2007. Retrieved December 20, 2007.
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 03.Týden 2008 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
