“Everything means nothing, if I ain’t got you.”

With this very sentence Alicia Keys made the world fall in love with her all over again.
Her 2004 hit ‘If I Ain’t Got You’ is today’s From The Vault pick.

Issued as he second single from her sophomore set ‘The Diary Of Alicia Keys,’ the track was written and produced by the piano-playing performer.

Commercially, it was a #4 charting single on the US Hot 100 as well as her second consecutive #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop tally.

Delving into how love triumphs over all the material things life has to offer, the song won the GRAMMY Award for Best Female Vocal R&B Performance in 2005.

Director Diane Martel helmed the music video for the single and presented Keys and Method Man as a couple going through relationship hardships in New York. It won the MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video.

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This week, Keys revealed that back in the early 00s she almost gave the track to Christina Aguilera for inclusion on her 2002 album ‘Stripped.’

Suffice to say, we just can’t imagine what their respective careers would look like had that had happened. For this very tune – which arrived  three years into Keys’ career – solidified her status as an R&B fixture.

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Though her new eponymous LP doesn’t necessarily house tracks akin to this, it’s a pleasant return to form after the decent but arguably underwhelming ‘Here.’ In many ways, ‘ALICIA’ functions as a step in the right direction.

Almost two decades after stepping onto the scene, it’s great to see Alicia Keys still being celebrated for her tremendous talent. A talent that has lost none of its lustre.

Your thoughts?