So, from the safety of my great disdain, my annual Valentine’s Day pieces have been lists of books/music/things to buy for your sweetheart — if, that is, you’re burdened by a sweetheart who takes Valentine’s Day seriously and measures your commitment by the originality and cost of your gift.

 

I feel differently this year. I still think Valentine’s Day is as monumentally sad for most of us as Christmas is in an orphanage, but if one couple connects….if one marriage is re-sparked….if the terrible weight of human loneliness is lightened by a single ounce — I’m a fan.

 

What changed me?

 

A woman. (Of course.)

 

Did you watch the “Hope for Haiti” telethon? If you did, odds are you won’t soon forget how it started…a young woman at a piano…images of kids from Haiti behind her…and then she sang…

 

Powerful? “Prelude to a Kiss” is devastating when you watch it…

 

 

I’m not surprised that Alicia Keys was chosen to kick off the telethon — no one’s better at delivering pure emotion over a four-octave range. No singer plays piano better. No singer has become a superstar without slithering through videos or flashing for the tabloids. Alicia Keys is, simply, the gold standard when it comes to talent and integrity. ‘

 

It wasn’t like I didn’t know Alicia Keys or her work — in less than a decade, she’s sold more than 30 million CDs, won every possible award, and was anointed by Jay-Z to be his partner on my favorite song of last fall, Empire State of Mind.

 

I started looking around YouTube for more of her music. Female R&B singers tend to choose — or have chosen for them — songs that are goopy with clichés. Not Alicia Keys. She’s said in interviews that she has trouble expressing her emotions in her daily life; the paradox, as she knows, is that she’s unafraid to go there in her lyrics. So I wasn’t surprised to find another song with mega-powerful emotion:

 

If I had no more time
No more time left to be here
Would you cherish what we had?
Was it everything that you were looking for?
If I couldn’t feel your touch
And no longer were you with me
I’d be wishing you were here
To be everything that I’d be looking for
I don’t wanna forget the present is a gift
And I don’t wanna take for granted the time you may have here with me
‘Cause Lord only knows another day is not really guaranteed

So every time you hold me
Hold me like this is the last time
Every time you kiss me
Kiss me like you’ll never see me again
Every time you touch me
Touch me like this is the last time
Promise that you’ll love me
Love me like you’ll never see me again

 

It’s called “Like You’ll Never See Me Again”. The video has some graphic hospital scenes. But that’s not why I dare you to watch it….

 

 

You’ve earned a song of defiant, happy love. Try “No One”…..

 

 

Alicia Keys has recently released a CD called The Element of Freedom. It is accomplished — that’s a given. But after a few tries, I find it merely pleasant. Nothing grabs me.

 

On the other hand, “Prelude to a Kiss” and “Like You’ll Never See Me Again” and “No One” are all on the same CD, As I Am. So is a duet with John Mayer that’s actually good. So is an opening that takes classical piano and morphs into emotional electronica. And a few more songs that are absolutely first-rate. It’s necessary music, start to finish.

  

At the start of a recent song, Bob Dylan sings, "I was thinking ’bout Alicia Keys, I couldn’t keep from crying/ While she was born in Hell’s Kitchen, I was livin’ down the line…”

 

Dylan was thinking, I’d wager, about the Alicia Keys of “As I Am.” Alicia Keys, the fervent advocate of romantic love. Who nails the emotions that I feel in my relationship and you may feel in yours. Who makes me, this year, feel like buying chocolates and roses on Valentine’s Day. 

 

To buy “As I Am” from Amazon.com, click here.

 

To buy the MP3 download of "As I Am” from Amazon.com, click here.

 

To buy “The Element of Freedom” from Amazon.com, click here.

 

To buy the MP3 download of “the Element of Freedom” from Amazon.com, click here.

 

To visit the Alicia Keys web site, click here.