I had a discussion with some musicians the other night whom all seem to LOVE Alicia Keys. I believe her 2 have some decent talent but she is way overrated in my opinion.

The following is why I believe her to be overrated:
1. Almost half of her songs are based on old classics regardless of how clever she tries 2 hide that fact.
2. Her voice during live performances ALWAYS goes out of key in EVERY song.
3. Her piano playing is very suspect 2 me. It's like she knows a hand full of chords and that's it. I'm not impressed with her CHOPS at all.

What do you guys think? I believe that if she were not CUTE, she would not be considered as "good" as she is. I'll take India Arie over Alicia everyday of the week.

Yes shes overrated

Graycap23 said:

Hmmm


I get your point and what pisses me off is that you are so right!!! She is no exception though, look at Beyonce, Jessica S and Co.

Except for Christina Aguilera, who is just plain ugly, all female performers are more than cute. I am not saying that talent and beauty don't belong together, but hey! Where are the ugly, overweight vocalists gone? Backsinging?

I don't want to give up on Alicia Keys. I think she's talented. Perhaps if she would challenge herself with some original music and some voice lessons...but hey what a minute, come to think of it, all these artists now a days need originality and voice lessons.

I don't know, music is dead.

If they were looking for an attractive singing Black female, trained piano-playin', writes-her-own-songs musician type to push...



...Rachelle Ferrell would've fit the bill perfectly.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

Overall I say yes.....

Yes, she's overrated. I've heard people say that she writes, plays, and sings so it's clear that she has talent. However, it's the type of music that she makes. It's the same R&B as everything else these days....either a ballad or midtempo. I don't rate people strictly on talent. If that's the case, then there's a lot of talented country artists out there. That doesn't mean I want to listen to them.

I enjoy her music, but yeah she is overrated.

But these days nobody can play an instrument so we glorify
the few who can

She's not so much overrated as she's fake (to me). And if she is overrated, it's just because most mainstream stars don't sing & play instruments well anymore.

I say yes as well. She's nothing but a slightly above-average R&B/pop diva, not an authentic soul singer/musician. If the genre she specializes in weren't so dead, mainstream-wise, she wouldn't be receiving half the praise and accolades she constantly does.

Yes she is. As someone mentioned she seems fake to me; like she's trying too hard. I do like some of her songs.

Yea, she is. She's grown on me over the years but they treat her like she's India Arie AND Jill Scott wrapped up into one & she's NOT I like her voice better than I like many of her songs...

Yeah, but I have to give her props for her talent and craft. I love everything she has done, especially that MTV Unplugged joint she dropped last year. I can't wait to hear what she has in store for us on her next album...

She is extremely overrated.Yes,she's talented but does she really deserve multiple Grammys for every album? Is her music really that deep or intriguing? The media goes crazy over her because she's pretty and can play piano,as if that's never been done before.Back in the day we had many female R&B artists who could write songs,play instruments and sing (Patrice Rushen,Roberta Flack,Teena Marie) but unfortunately,these ladies didn't get all the attention that Alicia is now getting.People act as if Alicia is the female Stevie Wonder,which is just absurd.

The key point has already been made twice now but it's worth making again. She....is.....FAKE!!! Also smug beyond belief. Her songs are without any originality. The lyrics are cornball. The melodies are all stolen. She has no more depth than Beyonce, Mariah, and the rest but she pretends she does. Because she plays piano and doesn't take her clothes off, people go along with it. It's style over content, but it pretends to be the opposite which is what makes it so insidious.

whoknows said:

Good point. I forgot 2 even mention the "FAKE" attitude she puts out. I agree 100% on that.

thekidsgirl said:

Right. The few who play instruments are looked at like they're god or something, sometimes so much so that people are blinded by the fact that these people play their instruments about as well as most current R&B singers sing.

whoknows said:

theAudience said:

Oh Lawd, you are truly my hero!

(as I turn up that duet w/her and Will Downing )

Graycap23 said:

You are sooooo right!

Avril Levine plays her own instruments and sings, why does anyone give her props??

Um, yes. Very much so.

theAudience said:

I'd agree but Rachelle is pretty much a JAZZ artist so she would not even be on the radar screen.

BlaqueKnight said:

I can see your points. Cool.

BlaqueKnight said:

Yeah, but you've only got to watch an interview with her, watch her accept an award, or watch her perform, to see that she totally believes the hype herself. There's an overwhelming smell of pretentiousness and smugness about her. Also, I don't doubt her abilities on the keys, and I don't mind her occasionally going out of tune. It's her shallowness and blandness that make me want to throw up, and the way the media has been so dumbed down that they all tell the public she's a genius. Does anyone here remember LL Cool J introducing her on the MTV Awards saying that she was the Beethoven and the Prince of her day? He read that off the autocue, so someone must have actually written that down with a straight face.

Two things,

1) Prince has played with this hack no-talent goofy-looking wanna-be at Paisley Park no less. Despite this, Prince of all people *has* to know this girl ain't shit. Man, Prince mind don't never stray too far from the bottom line and keeping his career relevant. She's having a better career now than he is, she's young, has a young audience, so do the math. He can't *possibly* dig her bullshit version of "How Come You Don't Call Me Any More".

2) Anyone who lives in Los Angeles has been inundated with these monstrous nauseauting, outrageous KJLH billboards that have been up all over town with prominent headshots of both Marvin Gaye and Alicia Keyes that say "From Marvin to Alicia". OK, so now AK has contributed so much to our country and culture that not only is she referred to on a first-name only basis, but she is given equal billing with Marvin Gaye? I don't mean to start a Marvin thread, here, but Marvin Gaye was just about God incarnated on Earth as a musician. He was larger than music in so many ways. He was the soul of this country. Stevie Wonder (he owns radio-station KJLH in Los Angeles) needs to be made aware if he is not of this, and checked for employing the idiots responsible for this sacriligious billboard campaign. It is deeply offensive. Marvin is sacred. You do not fuck around with Marvin Gaye's legacy like this. AK is drunk with fantasies of being some sort of modern-day Lyn Collins for the multi-cultural masses. What a bunch of shit! She has contributed NOTHING positive to this country - all she's done is make her audience *dumber* about music and culture and America than they already were. If this were the 70s AT BEST she'd be playing to drunks at the corner bar to get by. And people that say she's cute, well...to each his/her own...but I think a move to Los Angeles is in order for some of y'all. A stint in LA will cure most of you of thinking this girl is cute.

Further, I bet if you asked the average Alicia Keys "fan" to name THREE of their favorite AK songs, most of them could not name more than one or two off the top of their heads. For crying out loud, *they* don't even *really* like her! They have just been *told* relentlessly by the media that they *should* and that they *do*, and so they *think* they do.

Alicia is still livin off the hype and pedastal Fallin put her on.
the problem is shes not yet deserving of the pedastal cause she hasn't perfected her craft...
I never liked Alicia, cause their was literally nothing special about her...
As a pianist she's average, as a song writer she's sub par...

i have a big belief that her fame is largely due because she's half white, and she's a pretty young woman... Easy substitute for talent...