[Single Review] Alicia Keys – Girl On Fire

Alicia Keys has undergone a bit of a makeover in recent months. She ditched her weave and cropped her hair into a short, slick nineties ‘do, changed her logo font into an edgy red streak of her initials, and swapped her usual piano prop for some side boobage in an extremely sexy promotional photo. But while her image may have changed, Keys is still singing the same old tune when it comes to her music.

The soul diva premiered her new single “Girl On Fire” yesterday, and just like her R&B contemporaries, she’s taken the more is more approach by releasing three different versions of the song. It’s hard to pick which one I’m actually supposed to review, but I think I’ll go with the Nicki Minaj-assisted “Inferno Version”, as it seems to be the one with the most commercial potential.

Keys treads old ground on “Girl On Fire”, rehashing the same thumping Jeff Bhasker drum beat from “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart”, shout-singing her lyrics like on “No One”, and trying to recreate the anthemic feel from her famous Jay-Z collaboration “Empire State of Mind”. Brandy took a similar approach on her recent single “Wildest Dreams”, but while Brandy’s homage to herself felt all warm and nostalgic, Keys just sounds like she’s run out of ideas.

One of Keys’ biggest strengths has always been her skill as a songwriter, but she must have had a serious case of writers block when it came to cooking up the lazy lyrics for “Girl On Fire”.

“This girl is on fire,” Keys wails. “Looks like a girl, but she’s a flame/ so bright, she can burn your eyes.”

This is the kind of cheesy inspirational slush that belongs on a movie soundtrack, not as the lead single for one of the world’s biggest female artists. Plus, didn’t Alicia get the memo? Self-empowerment is soooo last year.

Even Nicki Minaj –who usually shines as a feature artist– misses the mark, referencing Marilyn Monroe in a cliched rap about haters and struggles. Nicki’s words may have been more effective if she hadn’t already covered similar ground on a track from her Roman Reloaded album named after the late fifties starlet.

Listening to “Girl On Fire”, all I can think of is how far Alicia Keys has fallen. With its heard-it-all-before sound, corny inspirational sentiment, and rent-a-rapper feature, “Girl On Fire” is in the same boat as Mariah Carey’s “Triumphant”, making it one of the worst singles of the year. If that description is too long for you, we can save time and just call “Girl On Fire” the “Doesn’t Mean Anything” of 2012 instead.

Score: 1/5

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2012 at 7:02 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Jawrsche

    HA!

  • http://twitter.com/paddlepopandrew byoing~byoing.

    … I was tempted to turn it off at 0:20.

    Ugh, wow. Seriously. This sounds like a Rihanna B-Side. In fact, this would of been great imho if Rihanna sang this.

  • Hoochie

    Sad but true, true, true. I never cared for her situation with Swizz Beatz and I actually fell out of love with her music around the time “As I Am” dropped, but even then, I expected better than this. Oh well, maybe next single.

  • Name

    I love it TBH.

  • Synchorotical

    OMG I havent even listened to this one… like finished it.
    OMG. I expected more from her.
    I think Even Nicki Minaj can’t save this.
    Hope she brings it with the 2nd single. Too early too predict at this moment.

    BTW xD Proph, here’s my Khia’s mash-up with Katy’s The One That Got Away xDDD LOL xD http://soundcloud.com/synchorotical/my-neck-my-back-that-got-away

  • Blah

    don’t like the song, but the chorus has great melodic potential for one of those washed up aviici remixes that will be eaten up by the clubs and radio in europe.

  • http://www.facebook.com/akie.koizora Akie Bertekad Cemerlang

    fuck y’all. this song is dope. i like the drum beats and i like the melody especially the chorus. and never have i imagined in this life i would say this but Nicki Minaj slayed me with the mellow-rap-turn-harsh on the breakdown. i know self-esteem song is sooo last year but this one is different. the melody is melancholic but the lyrics are inspiring. not the best from A’Keys, but definitely not the worst.

  • KB

    She will flop so hard muhfuckas wanna fineee her

  • bobs

    What’s worse is her processed vocals– at least twice you can hear a digitized repeat and hold on notes. Perhaps it’s intentional but it has no correlation with the song itself, nor does Nicki Minaj. Listening to the blue light version, you can tell how strained her vocals are– she’s been abusing her voice because she doesn’t know how to use it properly. She’s starting to sound like Whiney circa 2011 and Keys hasn’t even been on crack! At best this song it boring. And that lost song she played over the internet was plain bad. I loved the music from the last era. She’s lost her way. Time to divorce.

  • ibreathepop

    Proph your review is ON POINT, this song is really POINTLESS. Wenn du wissen willst, was ibreathepop zum diesem Song zu sagen hatte, dann klicke hier: http://ibreathepop.blogspot.de/2012/09/neue-single-alicia-keys-ft-nicki-minaj.html

  • Gia

    I love this song. It’s stripped down to a disarming simplicity and that’s why it works. Could do without Nicki Minaj though.

  • ev

    True story ! It’s shit !

  • http://twitter.com/torontoreviewer Chanty Nouseforaname

    shit proph you ain’t gotta do her like that – okay maybe you do.

  • Burk Kyler

    I didn’t even read the review, 1/5 basically summed up how i felt when i listen to the song… what the hell happen to A-Key’s I still play songs from Diary of A-Keys till this very day. SHM Flop on Fire

  • Thomas1990

    Not usually an A.K fan but i love this!

  • 123

    Hmm… I dont agree with the review. I acutally like it a lot

  • Truth

    Sadly, I agree. She’s totally gone from interesting to straight up run-of-the-mill. It all started with No One. There were some cute tracks on As I Am, also Try Sleeping and Unthinkable were pleasant… but it’s like she went from soulful and romantic to being way too comfortable. It’s straying from what made people fall in love with her. She really needs to get it together.

  • http://safaripoet.blogspot.com/ Petra @ Safari Poet

    Yes! Finally somebody who see it the same way. I keeping hearing how everybody is loving her new track and think, what “new” track because I feel like we’ve heard this song before. It really does seem like she’s run out of ideas.

    I haven’t bought as much music this year as any of the last few years. It doesn’t seem like a lot of mainstream musicians are really trying any more. They’re just living off their residual fame from the days when they actually put some effort into making good music and the controversy they create to build up the hype for something that—if you took that hype away—would be mediocre at best.

  • http://www.twitter.com/themusicprophet The Music Prophet

    I wanted really bad to like this single … I mean … Huge Alicia Keys fan… But this was disappointing on app fronts

  • John

    Girl don’t be delusional. This has to be the laziest chorus of the year. I will not accept this trash from someone so talented who has been working on the album for more than a year. I might even go back to listening to Not Myself Tonight to cleanse my hearing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/akie.koizora Akie Bertekad Cemerlang

    Not Myself Tonight? well that explains a lot.

  • John

    I’d rather listen to something trashy but still interesting like NMT than one of the most uninspiring songs of the year. Also Xtina’s song is ironically fitting for Miss Keys. She just hasn’t been herself.

  • John

    That’s how inferior Girl On Fire is. I’ll even take Doesn’t Mean Anything over this one. She had some pretty shots made for the single cover though, I’ll give her that.

  • SerferTJ

    “Bitches stay pressed cuz I stealin they husbands,
    Ain’t got no milkshake, but dem boy keep comin.
    when I screeeaamm on the Track, Scream-screeeeam on da Track,
    I screeeaamm on the Track, Scream-screeeeam on da Track.”

    - I would have respected this Alicia & Nicki collaboration more. lol ;P

  • http://www.facebook.com/akie.koizora Akie Bertekad Cemerlang

    go listen to Bionic and stay pressed.

  • Alex K

    We’re overdue for an exciting new pop star…it’s been years since Gaga debuted…Ke$ha is great but she’s not controversial enough…we need a GOOD new female soloist…sorry Rita Ora…

  • John

    Don’t get it twisted. Jut because I’m criticizing the song, it doesn’t mean I’m being pressed. I’m a fan of Alicia Keys and I’ll admit when she puts out a dud like this.
    P.S. Bionic isn’t really all that, there are only a couple songs I’ve continued listening to today.

  • Hoochie

    Hahaha that’s pretty good!

  • http://twitter.com/xxaJay ΔJ

    It seems like a song they’d put on the Hunger Games…Katniss Everdeen is “The Girl On Fire”

  • http://twitter.com/xxaJay ΔJ

    Katniss Everdeen – The Girl On Fire
    Alicia Keys – Girl On Fire….
    if her second single is about catching fire or a Mockingjay than it’s on lol

  • http://twitter.com/NathaliaFerrari Nathalia Ferrari

    I honestly can’t stand her. And her songs are all the same, boring as hell.

  • http://safaripoet.blogspot.com/ Petra @ Safari Poet

    The situation with Swizz Beatz change the way I thought of her too. Would of never expected that of her.

  • ALovely

    Lana Del Rey is it, check her out.

  • ALovely

    The song is like someone’s fingernails going across a chalkboard.

  • gurn_bot

    Excellent review – some of the worst lyrics I’ve ever heard.

  • Amazee

    The song peaked at number 37 on the Billboard, so we can’t say its a flop.

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  • The Truth

    Alicia Keys, “Girl on Fire” as of 10/27/12 is number 1 on items R&B single. It is number 13 on POP charts and number 3 album on R&B pre-order.
    Alicia Keys is a brilliant musician who is a total package. If you don’t know, now you do. She is a Girl on Fire.

  • rj

    So much hype around this sound, I thought I was the only one who’s not feeling it. Glad I searched and see I’m not alone…I agree the lyrics are lame and elementary. The only thing solid is the hook I hear in the AMEX commercial. I think highly of Alicia Keys, but this song lackluster at best.

  • http://www.facebook.com/legielemilie Emilie Legiel

    I thought it was just me thinking that, it feels like you have read my mind! Great, accurate review!

  • Merry

    I don’t know wat y’all are talking about cuz this song is a really good song and if you don’t like it I don’t understand why u even bother to comment .

  • pastor_tedhaggard

    oh god thank god there are people that think its total trash, at least society isnt failing just yet. This SONG IS AWFUL. The lyrics sound like they were written by a 13 year old, tasked with writing ‘a song with meaning’ for some kind of music project.
    ITS SO LAME, when it comes on the radio i literally cringe, whilst my mother and sister sing along to it. I mean WTF.
    This article is bang on.

  • Rob

    I heard the first line of Girl On Fire’s hook in an American Express commercial. Thought it might have potential. Then I heard the whole thing. A 4th grader could have written this. Keys is a beautiful singer, this is so far below what I expect from her.

    She’s just a girl and she’s ON FIRE.” .. “She’s walking … ON FIRE !!!” “This girl is ON FIRE”. “She reads her books on a KINDLE FIRE!!!! Oooaaaaoaah!!” *eyeroll*