MUSIC REVIEW: Alicia Keys, 'The Element of Freedom'

"The day came when the risk it took to remain tightly closed in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to bloom," Keys says in the album's first moments. "This is the element of freedom." Songs such as "How It Feels to Fly" feel familiar, but she spends a lot of time taking musical and personal risks here, like when the edgy rawness of her voice produces raggedly beautiful tones never heard from her before on "Like the Sea," or when she oozes naked, Prince-like sensuality on "Distance and Time." The result makes for a more revealing portrait of a strong artist who's still growing technically and emotionally.

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