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Alicia Keys made one of the most startling debuts of 2001 with the Grammy-winning Songs in A Minor, which introduced a raw, 20-something talent exploring R&B, hip-hop, and jazz. While haters called the disc wildly overpraised, many more devotees made it a multiplatinum smash. Her much more accomplished follow-up, The Diary of Alicia Keys, should put an end to all arguments between naysayers and fans. Suffused with a deep soul vibe, the disc capitalizes on the Harlem-born prodigy's gifts in every way. Start with the single "You Don't Know My Name, " a mid-tempo burner of the kind seldom heard these days, which boasts a spoken interlude that's a perfectly timed emotional payoff (in an R&B sea of lame "intros, " "outtros, " and skits, Keys shows how it's done) . Keys may have ushered in a wave of neo-soul with her Grammy wins, but few retro crooners try on as many '70s styles so successfully. She invokes gospel, piano blues, Burt Bacharach, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and the Isley Brothers -- even her collaboration with Timbaland, "Heartburn, " is a note-perfect send-up of blaxploitation soundtracks. Keys doesn't rely on old-school sounds to signal her authenticity, however; her strikingly emotive vocals (the "If I Was Your Woman" remake is shades of, dare we say it, Mary J. Blige) and sensitive co-productions with Kerry "Krucial" Brothers do that. Only one clunker, the Lord of the Rings-decked "Dragon Days, " tries too hard. Everywhere else, the piquant orchestrations and muscular funk make for a right-as-rain backdrop to Keys's romantic musings. It's easy to forget that she is accompanying herself on piano, as Aretha did, until she tosses off some virtuosic run or short, classically inspired instrumental. While Alicia Keys draws inspiration from the past, with Diary she can look forward to a long and promising career.
