I see they posted it on her Facebook... Reminds me of No One.

ok. I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised by this.

Again in today's studio fixing age...

why is she is still out of tune and flat right after the 1 min mark.

This is a serious question.. is she tone deaf..... her all and gone parts are severly off key.... she floats below the note...

I really wish she would break out of this box/rut she's fallen into and do something interesting

I'm likin it. I like her bum notes. It makes the performance more emotional.

piepie1976 said:

Hi, in a live performance I get in a Mary J way... but in the studio it's getting old. It takes away from the melody since she is always floating to the note. This is someone who is hailed as a top notch musician and singer, who is constantly out of tune.

She gets breaks that most would not. It's just getting old.

I like it.

I still want to hear her play a lot more !!!

I like it, but I think there were tracks on her last album that were more singleworthy than this one. She could explore some new possibilites as far as the arrangements go.

There are some people who seem to dislike her for almost irrational reasons - at the same time complaining about the lack of talent and songwriting skills whilst lumping also her together with the rest of the R&B starlets. BUT I will admit that there's a bit of a problem with the way many of her melodies are written, as she just simply seems to rely on the strength of her voice to make them more interesting. I realized this when I was mucking with "No One" myself, just played the piano part on a string machine and recorded myself singing on top of that. Now, I'm not much of a flexible vocalist - I would hardly call myself a singer - but it was nearly impossible to replicate her lines, because it just relied so much on her melismatic delivery and her ability to sustain notes in that typical way of hers. In other words, there was hardly any real melody at all there (in fact it was hard to figure out on what-the-hell-ever note each line on the verses should conclude on).

With this new one, the chorus is just a bunch of long sustained notes that no person can hum along to except perhaps in their heads. Not that every song has to be perfect sing-a-long -material, but it certainly often means whether some song is going to be considered a true classic in the long run or not.

nice song. i like her vocals soft and unstrained like that.

ABeautifulOne said:

same here. it's like a softer version vocally of it.

She gets too much flack on this site for her vocals, i would rather hear your voice than know it was put through so many overdubs that by the time the production was done it wasnt even you performing a whole song. Most artists record parts, very few today go in and record a SONG, they go in and do a line or two, a chorus, a verse, a hook, to me thats bullshit and thats what people should point out about alot of todays artists and some of the older ones who's songs are SO put together they are just "tricks and production" rather than singing. As for this song, i like it, its clearly a demo, i dont think its for a new album, sounds like something coming from a soundtrack or benefit album, sounds like something that she was working on for the last record. To me Alicia is light years better now than first album, i couldnt stand thatt first album at all.

LD,

Your last 2 posts do help clear it up. I guess it's that which you describe that makes my ears go nuts.

I don't want auto tune or studio tricks, I guess it's just how she sings. And she only gets flack from me in particuliar because she is so heralded as this monster musician and amazing vocalist.

Is she better than most of her peers on pop and rnb radio yes for the most part, does she deserves the keys to the throne like Marvin, Stevie, and others no way.

And let me be clear, I listen with fresh ears each single she releases but I did have a problem with no one and now this one, and guess what it won grammy's and led the charts .... so I guess it's my ears that have issues.... LOL

That's my 1st.....and last time listening 2 that track.

i hope this is just a demo/rough cut!

I think Alicia's cool but the song does sound like it would fit right in on the I Am album - doesn't sound 'new' at all...

lastdecember said:

We're on the samwe page. Aside from a few songs- I can't listen to her 1st album. But I gave her a chance because I saw she had talent, and with each album she has gotten better.

I loved her last album- raw vocals and all.

Same here.

I thought Alicia sounded hot with those vocals on the last album, I don't see what was wrong with it.

Timmy84 said:

Nothing People just like to hate on her

Alej said:

Lol.....weak material and sing OUT of PITCH has nothing 2 do with hate.

Alej said:

I wouldn't call it hate, people just critical. That said, it's all opinion at the end of the day.

Timmy84 said:

The problem mostly is because there is the HYPE machine around her, theres HYPE around most today, and thats why you get this backlash on people like Alicia or Beyonce and others. If the net existed in the 80s or 70s or 60s and the HYPE machine too you would get the same shit, non stop net posts about Simon Lebon singing out of key, i mean could u imagine if the internet existed back when Duran Duran had that AWFUL Live Aid performance, it would have gotten more play than Cassie on BET. So its nothing more than time, we would be bitching about Diana Ross had the net been around then, just like we kill Beyonce for every move

Timmy84 said:

Exactly

lastdecember said:

Even without the hype, I can find something in Alicia that I can't find in anyone else.

I'm sure glad I'm NOT tone death.

Timmy 84,

As a huge marvin fan, would you consider her on that level vocally?

That's my sticking point.... she is held on a pedestal. If she was just an RNB act like Joss Stone or whatever I would say ok... decent song,with a weird key issue....

I don't hate her.... but my ears do go nuts when she sings the chorus, whether my ears suck or she is off pitch, both make me not want to listen to her.