SUTC: Alicia and Adam

There are a number of factors that contributed to Alicia Keys' phenomenal success back in 2001, not the least of which was the dogged promotion given to her work by Clive Davis. That fact might lead someone like me, who regularly laments the way lesser-known yet equally, if not more, talented artists struggle to simply be heard, to dismiss her has merely the product of a music industry that has lost any sense of artistic wonder.

Such a dismissal would, however, be a mistake. Whatever other factors have contributed to Keys' success, her musical sensibilities are spot on. While she's still young and has a lot of maturing to do in a variety of ways, her musical ideas are captivating and inventive.

I think this is evident on this duet with Maroon 5's Adam Levine. The layered arrangement of her piano on top of the acoustic guitar and the way the last note of the chorus' "drag me away" ends a half-tone higher than the original are the kind of interesting musical touches that Keys brings to her work. I'm not particularly enamored of Levine's voice, but this is still an SUTC-worthy effort.