Unplugged is the first live album by American singer-songwriter Alicia Keys. It was released on October 7, 2005 by J Records. Recorded as part of the television program MTV Unplugged at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on July 4, 2005, the album comprises tracks from her first two studio albums, Songs in A Minor (2001) and The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), alongside several covers and previously unreleased songs.
On release, Unplugged received generally favorable reviews from music critics and was nominated for numerous accolades, including the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. A commercial success, it debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 196,000 copies, becoming the highest debut for an MTV Unplugged album since Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York (1994) and the first Unplugged by a female artist to debut at number one. The album has sold over one million copies in the US and over 1.5 million copies worldwide. Its sole single "Unbreakable" peaked at number 34 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
Unplugged received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 based on reviews from mainstream critics, it holds an average score of 65, based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". A reviewer of Blender declared the album "a stellar set", while Gail Mitchell of Billboard wrote that Keys' "self-assured, illuminating" performance emphasized her "boundless passion for her craft". Similarly commending Keys' performance skills, an editor of E! Online concluded: "She might be unpluggedâÂÂbut she's still electrifying." A writer for Q and BBC's Matilda Egere-Cooper both praised the album as a testimony to Keys' talent. In Entertainment Weekly, David Browne positively compared the record's cohesion to Songs in A Minor and The Diary of Alicia Keys, citing renditions of "A Woman's Worth", "If I Ain't Got You", and "Diary" as highlights. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine stated that on Unplugged, Keys brought her "original compositions to soaring new heights". Robert Hilburn of Los Angeles Times wrote that the recording "often mirrors the vitality and discovery of some of the great live R&B and soul collections of the '60s and '70s".
Less laudatory reviews were ambivalent towards arrangement alterations and previously unreleased material. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "there's no sense of storytelling or momentum" to Keys' performances, adding: "she starts the song in one place and stays there riding in circles until the end". Hilburn criticized tracks absent from Keys' previous albums, while Browne and Stylus Magazines Thomas Inskeep Thomas Inskeep both commended the cover of "Every Little Bit Hurts", but were dismissive of "Wild Horses". A reviewer for Mojo wrote that the "underpowered" covers confirm "the impression of a high-octane artist tired out and running on empty", while Uncut stated that Keys did not possess "the charisma to indulge in the inter-song banter here, which breaks up any soulful flow that might develop despite her sharp, hectoring vocals". Writing for Rolling Stone, Christian Hoard was critical of the selection of guest performers on Unplugged. Neumu's Anthony Carew and Andy Gill of The Independent both negatively compared Keys' performance to previous MTV Unplugged concerts, due to the perceived lack of intimacy and interactions with the crowd, and overly elaborate instrumentation. However, Cinquemani dismissed such commentary, reflecting: "[In] the days since Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora sat on stools and played Livin' on a Prayer on acoustic guitars, 'unplugged' has become more of a metaphorical term than a literal one."
Unplugged and its tracks were nominated for numerous industry awards. At the 48th Annual Grammy Awards (2006), the album was nominated for Best R&B Album, while "Unbreakable" garnered nominations for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song, and "If I Was Your Woman" for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance. Soon thereafter, the album was nominated for Outstanding Album at the 37th NAACP Image Awards, while "Unbreakable" won the awards for Outstanding Song and Outstanding Music Video; Keys also won the award for Outstanding Female Artist. Internationally, Unplugged was nominated for the Edison Award for International DVD of the Year.
In the US, Unplugged debuted atop the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, with first-week sales of 196,000 units. It registered Keys' third consecutive number-one debut on the former chart, and became the second MTV Unplugged album in history to debut atop the chart, following Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York (1994). In its second week, Unplugged registered a 58-percent sales drop to 83,000 copies, descending to number nine on the Billboard 200 and number three on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. It fell below the top 10 of the Billboard 200 in its third week, at number 12, and went on to spend a total of 22 weeks charting. By February 2006, the album had sold over one million units in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Its CD was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 25, 2008, for shipping one million units in the country, while its DVD was certified gold on November 22, 2005, for shipping 50,000 units.
In Canada, Unplugged debuted and peaked at number eight on the Canadian Albums Chart. By the end of 2005, its CD had been certified gold by then-Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) for shipments of 50,000 units in the country, while its DVD had been certified platinum for shipments of 10,000 units. Across Europe, the album reached the top 10 in the Netherlands and Switzerland, and number 17 on the European Top 100 Albums. The DVD peaked at number one in Spain, and within the top 10 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. By January 2006, Unplugged had sold over 1,500,000 copies worldwide.
Notes
Sample credits
Credits are adapted from the liner notes.
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