Alicia Keys, 'As I Am'

Backstory: One of music’s few bona fide superstars of the last decade, Keys has sold over 20 million albums, won a slew of Grammys and earned glowing reviews from nearly every corner. After coasting a bit with the release of an “Unplugged” concert album in 2005, Keys is finally back with her first studio album in four years, the immensely hyped “As I Am.”

Why you should care: Whether Keys is any more talented than her neo-soul predecessors (Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, D’Angelo) is open to debate. But the fact is, thanks to her massive popularity, no one has done more to keep old-school songcraft and synth-free instrumentation alive and well in modern-day R&B.

Verdict: What Norah Jones is to adult contemporary pop, Alicia Keys is to soul music; although her talent is obvious and her music is always impeccably well-crafted, there’s a slickness and superficiality to it that makes it hard to really love. There are a few moments of real beauty on “As I Am,” including the stripped-down, piano-led “Prelude to a Kiss” and the gospel-tinged “Sure Looks Good to Me,” Keys’ most convincing nod yet to that godmother of all soul sisters, Aretha Franklin. Too often, however, Keys settles for corny empowerment songs like “Superwoman” and the pop schmaltz of lead single “No One”—better than most of what’s on the radio these days, sure, but a far cry from what you sense she’s capable of.

X-Factor: Keys, whose real name is Alicia Augello-Cook, originally wanted to adopt Alicia Wild as her stage name…until her mother pointed out that it sounded like a stripper alias.

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