Day 14: Alicia Keys, If I Ain’t Got You | 30-Day Song Challenge 🎶

What better way to usher in the matrimony 🎶 prompt of Day 14 of the 30-Day Song Challenge than the Alicia Key classic, “If I Ain’t Got You”?

Embracing the trendiness of social media, The Musical Hype unleashes its own, month-long version of the 30-Day Song Challenge.

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Day 14 Prompt: A song you’d love to be played at your wedding

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Back in the day, I had mad love for Alicia Keys – that was definitely my GF… in my mind.  Anyways, her very best albums arrived in the aughts, particularly debut album Songs in A Minor (2001) and my personal favorite, her sophomore album, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003).

The Diary of Alicia Keys is where my potential wedding song hails from, “If I Ain’t Got You.” I’m still mad that John Mayer beat her for the Grammy for Song of the Year (“Daughters” is a great song too).

The reason why “If I Ain’t Got You” fits the prompt for Day 14 (a song you’d love to be played at your wedding) is the fact that it’s a love song.  Alicia Keys is singing to her lover on this neo-soul classic.  The only thing that my girls wants is him – her boo.  This is best exemplified on the chorus, one of the most timeless of the aughts from my perspective:

“Some people want it all
But I don’t want nothing at all
If it ain’t you, baby
If I ain’t got you baby
Some people want diamond rings
Some just want everything
But everything means nothing
If I ain’t got you, yeah.”

Further making “If I Ain’t Got You” the bop that it is – the music and the production work.  That’s all Alicia Keys. She delivers a passionate, soulful vocal, while the piano accompaniment is simply perfect. As a pianist myself, the arpeggiated lines are fun to play as well as lovely to the ears.  Beyond the piano, there’s additional ear candy:  a relatively simple drum groove, bass, smooth electric guitar, horns… Yeah, this just screams love, matrimony, and of course, Day 14.  Now, do I envision marriage? Eh…

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Alicia Keys • The Diary of Alicia Keys • RCA • 2003

Day 14: Alicia Keys, “If I Ain’t Got You” (30-Day Song Challenge) 🎶 [Photo Credit: Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype, Pixabay, RCA]

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