Did anyone see Alicia Keys last night in New Orleans?
She was at the Superdome...40,000 people(she said).

She worked really hard, gave it all she had.

The audience's responses?
Groooan
Yawn
Pleese!

The audience's next responses after she kept performing:
Can anybody say Luther? (the next performer)
"I'll say Luther, Y'all say Vandross!" (chant)


The response when she said goodnite?...
There is a God!


At one point, Alicia said I have never heard 40,000 people
say love at the same time. I'm gonna count to 3 and
everybody say LOVE!
She counted 1, 2, 3...and maybe 5000 people shouted love
leaving her doing the MORE gesture with no response.

I think she learned a lot about Diva-ism last night.
-

SensualMelody said:

Lauryn Hill begins her tour in a few weeks,and I predict it will be a disaster for her.She is appearing on a hip-hop tour with Outkast,Cee-Lo and The Roots.The problem is,she WON'T be doing any tunes from her 'Miseducation of Lauryn Hill' CD.Instead,it will just be her and her acoustic guitar playing the new "Unplugged" songs.I doubt that this type of performance will go down well with young hip-hop kids who came to get wild,smoke blunts and party all day with their friends.

Alicia Keys is being pushed as a superstar before she has earned the title. Why is she performing in front of audiences that are 20,000 to 40,000?

A year ago, she was playing theaters and now she's playing in huge venues.

She has done only 1 album and she's playing venues with tens of thousands of seats? People know that the hype machine has been working overtime for Alicia Keys.

The best thing for a musician 2 do in these times is 2 just b alone and/or perform where they are known and wanted. Every1 is too picky these days.


Peace,

JD

Alicia Keyes is wonderful. If the audience wasn't appreciating her like they should have it is really just their loss. She's a great performer. Too bad for them.

Vagina said:

Vagina, you need to get those lips SEWN SHUT!

SensualMelody said:

how sad. if she played good, why would ppl. act like this?

Why do guys sooo harsh on Miss Keys??

She isn't Prince(Well, who is??)

She don't have that strong vocal range like other sistas[Mariah-Whitney] BIG DEAL, I don't hear ppl say shit about Erykah's voice or Jill Scott's Behaviour on stage not that I have a problem wit it cuz I really don't.

She's HYPED like a mother fucker, so what?? LOL I would be glad to watch her 1000 times a day more than to see a glimpse at Bitchney's/Christina's pics on some magazine.

PLEEEAAASSSEE

Whateva happend to the 'Thank god we're blessed wit a female who can write her songs through her musical instrument'??? I suppose ya'll didn't say that, c'mon ppl THANK GOD before you get hyped again by some Ashanti or Shitney or whateva her name is.

I'm waiting 4 the day when you're gon to say 'Bring Miss Keys back we'd rather to watch her than this mess in that damn screen'

AnotherLoverHoleinYoHead said:

Ouch!

I really don't get all of the Alicia bashing I see and hear either. I think she's a breath of fresh air amidst a woeful Top40 scene. Considering her age and the fact that she's done one (very good) album, I think she's got a bright future ahead of her and quite a bit of actual musical talent to go with it (now THERE"S a concept. Musicians in the top 10).

I haven't heard all that many debut albums that offer up as much quality as hers. "Songs in a Minor" is certainly superior to "For You", so give her time. I hope the industry and a fickle buying public don't crush her before we really find out if she can blossom. Winning all those Grammy's was the worst thing that could've happened to her career. Too much, too fast.

Booking her into the Superdome and amphitheaters is not a good idea either.

I think Alicia has a RERESHING style of music and as a young woman in the hip-hop scene. I agree with those though that say she needs time to blossom, and not to quickly.

What I wanna know is why is someone on a headlining tour with 1 album. I just saw somewhere that she's starting a headlining tour. She should be the opening act for someone for a good six month run, take a break, and work on her next album. That's it

Janfriend said:

Yes, I agree with you. I don't understand how an artist who has released only 1 album goes from playing theaters to headlining 20,000 seat venues in less than a year.

I'm not in the music industry, but it seems to me that Alicia Keys' handlers are trying to get as much out of her in a short amount of time as possible. They are treating her just like the disposable teen idol stars.

Managers and record companies know that with teen idols, they have to put them out on the road and keep them there while they are hot. They have to sell as many tickets as they can while the teen audiences are interested.

It's the same strategy that was used with New Kids on the Block, Boys II Men, and Backstreet Boys. Their management kept them out on the road constantly for a 3-5 year period so that they could milk their popularity and cash in within that short period of time when their popularity was high.

It looks to me like the same thing is being done with Alicia Keys. Instead of nurturing her talent, giving her time to develop her craft and time to work on a new album, she is back out on the road in support of the same album that she was promoting less than a year ago on her theater tour.

AnotherLoverHoleinYoHead said:

sewn, stapled, locked in a specially-made straightjacket...

NikkiDarling said:

"They" do this with everything, not just musicians. That's why people tire of things so fast. If something catches on (hell, sometimes even if it doesnt - Scooby Doo, anyone?) it'll get jammed down your throat at every turn, slapped on soda cups, t-shirts, MTV, lunchboxes and Larry King Live before you can even breathe. Suddenly, it's played out and the inevitable swift and brutal backlash kicks in.

Capitalism run amok.

Yeah, but what's really sad is all those people paying money to not be amused. If they weren't into Alicia Keys, then why buy a ticket to her concert or was she on the bill with someone else? If it was just her on the ticket, I doubt I'd be buying a ticket to see someone that I didn't much care about - that's dumb.

LQ

I like Alicia Keys although I do not care for her version of Prince's song. She is in very dangerous territory right now, she is being hyped so much that she could suffer a terrible backlash if her management team is not careful this could hurt in the long run.
She is without doubt talented but they are really overrating her at this point so early in her career like it or not the comments made by Rick James about Alicia has some validity. I mean where does go from here??? How do she duplicate this much success again??? Talk about pressure!!!

Another comment. This did not happen to Prince because he had complete artistic control of his career. A lot of people may call him a serious control freak but what is happening to Alica is a perfect example why Prince was such a control freak!!!

Touring behind just one album, no matter how many hits it has, seems a bit premature.
Plus, she has been on just about every award show, 9/11 tribute show, store openings, etc., etc. At one point it seemed like every time I turned on the TV, there was Alicia Keyes.
She seems like a nice woman, but you can only stretch one so-so album so far.

What's sad is it isn't entirely her fault. I read an article where the record labels are taking less time for artistic development and are pretty much taking these artists and throwing them out there, spending all their money on hype and less on the quality. They figure for the artists that don't make it their first album are pretty much dropped. In the past, it usually took about three albums to establish an artist in the big league. Record A&R executives are shipped out as well if they don't produce hits in a short amount of time adding to the pressure. That is why they sign these artists so young, the more naive and workable they are opposed to an older artist who has some experience and know what they're dealing with.

Alicia definitely has talent, but not enough to push her as an idol who hasn't really paid any dues. It's all about marketing strategy. We'll just see with her next album. Funny about Rick James, he is warranted in a way. Teena Marie's first album was pretty much what you would expect out of a first album, the second one was much better and the third one (my favorite) was the bomb. She had truely shown how much talent she had by exploring other areas of music beyond R&B. Unfortunately, with Alicia, she was laid out bare naked on a platter (pretty much shoved out on a busy streetcorner 24/7 - what else is there to see? Like a stripper who comes out with totally nude. Getting honors it took many musicians years to accomplish. It might have been a beautiful thing to have her come out and just sing and note on the album that she wrote and produced it and then say, the next album show her playing the piano and singing.

The mastery of Prince was he was constantly reinventing himself with each album and adding fashion sense to go with it. First album, just a normal Black guy with talent, but different; second album, okay he's a little strange; third album, he's definitely weird; fourth album, he's weird, but definitely funky - that kind of thing. There was always something to discover about Prince that I enjoyed during that time. He didn't talk much in interviews, so you were scrambling for any and every picture or writing you could get ahold of. Ah, those were fun times.

LQ

Hmmm. Strange.

Why would anyone pay their hard earned money 4 a ticket, pay 2 park, gas, (plus - if it's a date) drinks, dinner, etc...just 2 go and "groan", "yawn" and utter "please"?

I feel sorry 4 her 2.

...her fans suck.

shygirl said:

Not really. It's not really uncommon. If the demand is there a rookie tours behind his/her first album all the time.

LadyQ said:

Great post. You hit the nail on the head. Prince had a gradual buildup to stardom. He didn't come right out of the gate being pushed as as superstar.

It usually takes musicians years to get the kind of recognition that Alicia Keys is getting for her first album. It took Carlos Santana 30 years to get a boatload of Grammy Awards. It took Madonna 15 years before she was taken seriously as an artist. Michael Jackson had paid his dues in the Jackson 5 before Thriller happened.

Alicia Keys has not had time to develop a core fanbase. The hype surrounding her needs to be turned down a notch before pop fans decide that she's played out.

I was at the concert. I didn't stay for her set Me'shell Ndege'Ocello was playing elsewhere in the dome so I left as soon as Alicia started in on How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore, fresh off the celebration I just couldn't stomach her version. Me'shell was grooving by the way. However, my girlfriend, who is a die hard Alicia Keys fan said the show just wasn't very good. Her words were "Alicia's show is meant for smaller venues not for arenas like this." Whatever interaction she has in those settings could have been good but I'll never know. And she wasn't headlining the show she was on the bill with India Arie, Gerald Levert, Cedric the Entertainer and Luther Vandross. There were also four lounges with two artists each performing in them. Folks didn't have to sit through her set but a lot of folks were waiting to see her though and from my understanding she didn't do Fallin which ain't exactly the best piece of advice to win over a bored crowd. The next night folks weren't all into Mary J.'s set until she got to No More Drama. And honestly anyone that has ever been the Essence Music Festival knows there may only be one artist that folks really want to see on the main stage but they sit bored through the rest of the show cause they paid for the tickets and folks will attempt to take your seats if you leave.

Alicia Keys played a show in my city last week. She was booked into a 20,000 seat venue and the newspaper said less than 10,000 tickets were sold.

You're right, but I think they're hyping her so much because an actual talented musician and songwriter managed to crack into the homogenized and studio created BS that permeates the top 40. Who the f**k else are they gonna' hype, really, at least among artists that managed to sell.

I like her, but I predict the industry will swallow her up.

NikkiDarling said:

Great Point but with the Clive Davis Hit Factory Money Machine in High Overdrive they are gonna Milk Her to the Last drop&if that means a Early Career Exit so Be it.they got another Piano-Playing Babe on the way.Clones are waiting in line&She has to Earn her end on all the Grammys&Hype that She has been given.time is now.