MUSIC: Alicia Keys, Chris Brown, BSB, Celine Dion Album Reviews

New albums have dropped in the last few weeks and I'm just catching up to giving them a listen. Try out my making-Thanksgiving-dinner playlist while you baste that turkey.

Alicia Keys' new album As I Am dropped Nov. 13. I'd recommend downloading these three tracks, along with "No one":
"Go Ahead"

I love it when female artists make their I-hate-men tracks. It seems like one of the topics that they express the most genuine emotions for. Maybe everyone can't vouch to being in love, but you don't have to have had a relationship in order to get pissed off at a guy. This is Keys' female empowerment track that could possibly lead to chanting at concerts.

"I need you"

One of Keys' many talents is her ability to convey rapture. Any song where she professes her love and her devotion gets under your skin and her spirit possesses you. The vocals on this track, filled with such desperation, are reminiscent of Lauren Hill--back when she was sane.

"Tell you something"

This is the second song on her album about regret that I've heard--the first being "Like you'll never see me again." She's talked in many interviews about a personal issue that she had to overcome in the last year that influenced her music. Apparently, it's given her a new outlook on life about not hesitating to express her emotions. In fact in Complex, she said she's a whole lot more open these days, when in the past she's been very guarded even in her music, and it shows. This track is more vocals and less big production--20 instruments that drown out her emotion. It's very back to basics and it works.

Chris Brown's album, Exclusive, was slated to be released late August but was pushed back twice until it dropped Nov. 6th. And there's good reason for that. As Brown's sophomore album, he had a lot of pressure to deliver yet another crowd pleaser. It seems he didn't have much confidence in himself, since he collaborates with another artist on 5 tracks. Even when talking about the concept of the album on TRL, it came off as rather random: girls. Hopefully he'll soon learn that an album should derive from inspiration and not obligation. Aside from "Wall to Wall" and "Kiss Kiss," this is the only other track worth downloading:

"Picture Perfect" by Chris Brown feat. Will.i.am

The production kind of reminds me of Omarion's tracks and I love the part where he starts to sing like John Legend. This is a perfect club hit for girls. As for the other tracks, the guest rappers, like Kanye West ("Down"), Big Boi ("Hold up"), Lil Wayne ("Gimme watcha got"), and The Game ("Nice") don't elevate the quality of the album. He had the most chemistry with T-Pain ("Kiss Kiss") and Will.i.am. It seems Brown does best when he's on his own, kind of like Beyonce.

The Backstreet Boys have returned minus one member, Kevin Richardson. Their new album Unbreakable debuted Oct. 30th. Since I was such a huge fan as a kid and I still know all the words to every single they released, I figured I'd see if they still had a spell over me. It turns out my taste has matured--not by much--and this is the only track I'd recommend:

"Panic"

This is a different sound for BSB, mainly because the last time they were big it was the late 90s. With an updated pop sound, they could almost pass for good. For a track that's more old school BSB try "You can let go."

Celine Dion's American claim to fame was her soundtrack contribution to Titanic. She can belt it out with the best of them almost effortlessly. Trying to keep it fresh after 7 albums and 17 years lead to trying out a couple of genres on this latest album, Taking Chances, which was released on Nov. 13th. My favorite track is:

"Eyes on me"

She somehow pulls off this Indian-style music. Although most of her album is tolerable and she breezes through several genres from rock to country, she should stick to genres that allow her to belt it out like she's meant to.