A really great pop song with little to no flaws truly is like finding a diamond with no flaws. They really are rare. All too often there is one glaring flaw in good pop songs: the vocals are off; the beat either isn’t great to begin with or it loses something during a shift or at a bridge; it’s either too short or too long—something causes it to not be rated as high as it should be. But when the stars align on a pop song and all facets of it are as close to perfect as you can get, it is intoxicating. It makes you believe that all is right in the world. It reaffirms your faith in art.
Obviously, this is all bordering on hyperbole but there is a definite nugget of truth at its core. It is the reason why The Beatles and Madonna will always be seen as legends. It is the reason why the genius of Pet Sounds will be extolled for as long as humanly possible. And the reason is: it is really fucking hard to write a truly great, nearly perfect pop song. Because pop, almost by default is seen with a suspicious eye. Pop oftentimes resides in the domain of the mindless and the disposable, so when something like “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” or “Like A Virgin” or “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is released it stops us in our tracks. All of the proverbial stars have aligned—the sound, the image of the artists, the catchiness; it all conspires to make us re-think the paradigm of Pop.
Now, I am not trying to compare Alicia Keys to The Beatles or Madonna or The Beach Boys per se but I am saying that “No One” is as close to pop perfection as I have heard in the last twenty years. I dare say that it is the best pop song by a female artist since… well, I can’t mention it now because it will be the focus of a future post on this site. I will just leave it at that I think it is one of the best pop songs of the last twenty years.
“No One” is a communion of modern sound (the beats and the music sans piano is perfect and comprised of an organically flawless production value) and classical pop (the lyrics—whether intentional or not—read like an homage to the Phil Spector or Brill Building school of songwriting).
And then there are the vocals.
The late ’90′s ushered in an almost masturbatory use of sustained vocals, led by Britney Spears’ and Christina Aguilera’s oftentimes unnecessary desire to string a long an “ooh” or “oh” or “yeah” to a point that all you heard were hills and valleys worth of range that signified nothing. And even though Christina was capable of belting out some notes that smacked of genuine passion and purpose, the copycats had already diluted the pool in the ’00′s when it came to that particular talent. On “No One” Alicia Keys makes use of some vocal sustain but it all seems to be purposeful, like this song had a definite feeling in mind. I hate to make comparisons across musical generations and genres (especially when it involves icons) but Keys’ vocals on this track—so perfect, as they alternate between strong and frail—reminds me of Ronnie Spector. Or, more specifically, it makes me think that this is what Ronnie Spector would sound like if she were born forty years later. Their vocals are in no way identical, but the way that Spector and Keys are able to evoke a kind of desperation in their voice on “Be My Baby” and “No One” respectively does have its similarities.[1]
It will be interesting to see what history will make of Alicia Keys, as she certainly has the talent, image, and demeanor to become an artist who stays relevant for years to come. (I can see her releasing albums at a consistent rate, fostering a solid base of fans, and finding an unexpected hit here and there over the next two or three decades.) As it pertains to the 2000′s as a decade, you would be forgiven if her name is not the first (or fifth or twelfth) name you think of when trying to assimilate the music of that decade to a particular artist. But if there are any Music Gods at all, “No One” will be a song that lives on for a while. Because, for all of the social and musical shifts that occurred in the previous decade, this song—a solid, no frills, un-glitzy classic—can certainly work as a metaphor for what our desires were during those ten years: a desire for stability, a desire for a classically simple love song in a time of Flavor Of Love and “fair and balanced news.”
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[1] Again, they are not identical, but listen to how Spector’s vocals sound towards the end of “Be My Baby” and how Keys unleashes the “uh-uh-oh-oh-oh”s at the end of this song. Both have a raw power that any producer worth their salt would wish they could bottle up in reserves.
