Alicia Keys regains her footing on new album

Alicia Keys had three great albums at the beginning of her career, but in 2009 she released the disappointing "Element of Freedom." While a few songs were good, they just weren't up there with Key's other albums.
In September she released the buzz single "New Day" and the first single and title track of her fifth album "Girl on Fire." Both these hip hop laced soul songs were a sign that Key's was back to her prime. While the last few songs on the album are a tad boring the other songs make up for it.
The best songs on the album are the title track, the inferno remix is featured here which features Nicki Minaj. Minaj does her signature crazy on her raps. The two make a great duet on this track. Another highlight is "Tears Always Win." This soulful ballad was written with  Bruno Mars and talks about Key's missing her lover while he's away.
The piano ballads "Not Even the King" and "Brand New Me" find Keys returning to her early roots. Other highlights include "New Day," "When it's All Over" and "That's When I Knew" which features acoustic guitar, a change for Keys. While there are songs aren't as great.
The two closing songs "One Thing" and "101" are nothing special and the weird reggae inspired "Limitedless" is fun yet odd. Even with these mishaps Keys created a great album. She said that she was inspired by her marriage to hip hop producer Swizz Beatz and the birth of her first child. While most artists mellow out on their albums after finding love, Keys shows no signs of doing that. Hopefully she won't regress back to her was of three years ago and she'll continue on this path to greatness.