On “Blended Family,” Alicia dedicates her attention to her step-children, assuring them that she loves them as much as their biological mother. The couple has since had two kids together in addition to his 3 children from his previous marriage. The most obviously personal track on Here is “Blended Family (What You Do For Love).” In 2010, Alicia married producer Swizz Beatz. It’s a moving track that tackles a new subject beautifully. “Illusion Of Bliss” starts with Alicia speaking while on the verge of tears, describing herself as a 29 year old addict as she sets the scenes for the song. The song soon moves on to its “one love” refrain before fading out as the “Elevate” interlude takes over. In “She Don’t Really Care_1Luv,” Alicia uses minimalist instrumentation as she characterizes queens from Harlem and Cairo who don’t care about the diamonds they lack. She asks, “If we are in love with hell, why the hell would heaven visit?” Accompanied by a soulful folk guitar strum, Alicia sings earnestly about social issues.

But while 2003’s “If I Ain’t Got You” was a gentle ballad, “Pawn It All” puts the same idea to a grittier soundtrack. “Kill Your Mama” is the most surprising song yet. “Pawn It All” pushes a low, bluesy, soulful sound to back up Alicia’s theme of love mattering more than material things. It’s a strong track and the most direct we’ve heard from Alicia yet.

But in spite of it all, “If you ain’t in a battle, how you gon’ win the fight?,” she asks. She describes a hard upbringing, a family with its drunks and crooks, heroine and rats. The first proper song on the album is “The Gospel,” an intense track finding Alicia spitting out words more aggressively than ever before. Nevertheless, the interludes do offer interesting insight. These brief interruptions are meant to add depth and meaning to the album, but they also take away the momentum and focus that Here would otherwise have. Five interludes take up the tracklist, each about one minute long. Even so, there are times where it feels a bit rushed. Here contains 16 songs, coming in at 46 minutes. Her music is less pretty and classical, now leaning more to edgy hip hop grit and old-school soul. She looks inward less than before, instead focusing her attention on what’s going on socially. Her sixth album, Here is Alicia’s biggest statement in years. Although her last two albums have felt a bit predictable and safe, her latest record brings back some of her early spark. Ever since Alicia Keys burst onto the music scene 15 years ago, she’s had important things to say with the inspired music to back them up.

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