Alicia Keys, Show Me Love | Track Review 🎵

Alicia Keys returns with her second single of 2019, “Show Me Love,” enlisting fellow Grammy winner Miguel for the assist.  The vibe is stellar to say the least.

“Show me love / Treat it like we freakin’ on the weekend, show me love / I heat up the seconds, times and reasons for your love…” Ah, my girl, Alicia Keys, has returned with a brand-new R&B single, “Show Me Love.” Keys is a musician who only releases albums every couple of years, so it’s actually been three years since she issued HERE (2016).  In regard to singles issued since her last album, they have been few and far between as well.  She collaborated with James Bay on “Us” in 2018, while she quietly released the six-minute-plus “Raise a Man” earlier in 2019.  Time aside, she’s back with “Show Me Love,” collaborating with fellow Grammy winner, Miguel.

Perhaps the best way to describe “Show Me Love” is that other factors besides its songwriting best characterize it.  For example, there’s plenty of repetition, and a lack of depth when it comes to the lyrics, but, the urban contemporary vibe is quite electric. The production by Keys and Morgan Matthews shines. “Show Me Love” is rightfully quite sensual in sound, but eschews crossing any lines, which gives it a ‘classicism’ that’s hard to come by in R&B anymore.  Vocally, Alicia Keys and Miguel sound awesome, both separately and the select times when they perform together on the sole verse, chorus, and bridge sections.  Perhaps it’s the fact that “Show Me Love” lacks a more traditional form with multiple verses as opposed to one that leaves the listener yearning for a bit more oomph from the songwriting front.

Final Thoughts 

With R&B lacking the success it had even going back to the 00s, does “Show Me Love” provide the necessary spark? Eh, not necessarily.  But Alicia Keys certainly sounds in her lane, and even if the form of “Show Me Love” is less structured compared to her past songs, A part of me appreciates the experimentation beyond being standard.  This certainly won’t supplant her classics, but it’s always nice to hear a new song from one of R&B’s brightest stars.

Alicia Keys • Show Me Love (Ft. Miguel) [Single] • RCA • Release: 9.17.19

Photo Credit: RCA