![alicia keys diary guy alicia keys diary guy](https://static.oprah.com/images/own/2013/master-class/episodes/301/20130303-master-class-alicia-keys-10-592x333.jpg)
But there’s also brilliant moments gone awry like “You Don’t Know My Name,” a song that glides along in perfect soulful bliss until a painfully sappy spoken section rears its ugly head, crashing an otherwise well-done song into the ground.
![alicia keys diary guy alicia keys diary guy](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91fHAE55U6L._UR300,300_BL99_UR987,555_CLa|987,555|91fHAE55U6L.jpg)
Diary’s stronger tracks include “Heartburn,” a slightly over-polished yet ultra-funky modern take on ’70s soul (more Curtis Mayfield than Isaac Hayes) “If I Was Your Woman/Walk On By,” a well-written soul-pop tune with a killer sitar hook and Keys’ chiming harp-like piano accents that eventually morph into sparse, pretty jazz chords during the verse “I Ain’t Got You,” a beautiful, wintery soul-jazz tune with great harmonies and the soulful “Wake Up,” with its poignant string accents and powerful vocal performance. Better engineering, better production and-though there’s no obvious pop classic here, nothing with a hook that stands up to Key’s biggest hit “Fallin’”-the writing is better. The Caribbean-infused hit is all about opposites. Keys first introduced fans to the 2016 song during a May appearance on Saturday Night Live. Throughout the six-minute song, she pours her heart out for a guy she’s crushing on who hasn’t noticed heryet. On diary, Keys takes what she did on the first album and does it a little better. Featuring Keys’s signature piano chords, the 2003 soul song is from her second studio album, The Diary of Alicia Keys. That said, the follow-up to her listenable, though uneven multi-platinum debut, songs in A minor, is a step in the right direction. Alicia Keys does all these things and more-at 23-years-old no less-and for that, she has my utmost respect. Never mind one that also arranges, plays an instrument (besides duct-taped tambourine), writes her own songs and produces her own albums. At the top of the pop world these days, it’s hard enough to find an artist who can sing well without the aid of ProTools.