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Alicia Keys, Girl On Fire

2012 | Label: RCA Records Label

By Jordan Sargent eMusic Contributor

11.29.12 On her fifth album Girl On Fire, or at least on its first high-powered two singles, Alicia Keys positions herself as a phoenix of sorts, rising from the ashes of a burned city (“Girl on Fire”) to move forward into a new…something (“New Day”). Despite the overt symbolism – those singles, her new logo and look – Girl on Fire still presents the same Alicia Keys we’ve grown to sometimes tolerate and other times love, one who has melded the piano balladry of her youth to more contemporary, radio-ready fare… more »

Miguel, Kaleidoscope Dream

2012 | Label: ByStorm Entertainment/RCA Records

By Seth Colter Walls eMusic Contributor

10.02.12 Just what kind of R&B visionary is the ascendant star Miguel? While every bit as ambitious Frank Ocean and just as committed to the craft of songwriting as Terius Nash, aka The-Dream, Miguel is far less interested in making big conceptual statements. Because of this, it’s hard to know right away who he is, exactly, or what his goals are. Is he a fearless freak? An introvert? A do-you crooner? Or a canny chart-seeker?

The answer turns out to be all of the above. His first album ran 43 minutes and… more »

R. Kelly, Write Me Back

2012 | Label: RCA Records Label

By Dan Hyman eMusic Contributor

06.26.12 Write Me Back is the latest evidence that R. Kelly has willingly ceded the R&B game’s pop throne. The longtime lothario is no longer hung up on fighting a losing battle against younger successors like The-Dream and Trey Songz, for whom he served as a clear-cut muse. Instead, he has plunged into a love affair with the ’60s and ’70s soul music on which he was raised — a love first displayed via 2010′s Love Letter, the pearly-voiced Pied Piper’s best release in years, (although it was slightly PG by… more »

R. Kelly, Write Me Back (Deluxe Edition)

2012 | Label: RCA Records Label

By Dan Hyman eMusic Contributor

06.26.12 Write Me Back is the latest evidence that R. Kelly has willingly ceded the R&B game’s pop throne. The longtime lothario is no longer hung up on fighting a losing battle against younger successors like The-Dream and Trey Songz, for whom he served as a clear-cut muse. Instead, he has plunged into a love affair with the ’60s and ’70s soul music on which he was raised — a love first displayed via 2010′s Love Letter, the pearly-voiced Pied Piper’s best release in years, (although it was slightly PG by… more »