Songoftheday 2/21/23 - You could buy me diamonds you could buy me pearls, take me on a cruise around the world...

 

 

"A Woman's Worth" - Alicia Keys

from the album Songs In A Minor (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 14

 

Today's song comes from singer/songwriter/producer Alicia Keys, who stormed the Grammy Awards and claims a #1 pop hit on her first try with the single "Fallin'" in the summer of 2001.  Her follow-up to that smash was the ballad "A Woman's Worth", which she produced and co-wrote with Erika Rose. The song tackles the transactional side of love where its measure how he cares on how much time and effort he spends on her, while on the other hand she "gives up the goods". It deals with rankings, and who puts who "first". But the way Alicia does it conversationally is so masterful that is flows on the groove she sets down like a river of butter. While it doesn't have the raw intensity of "Fallin'", "A Woman's Worth" is more reflective in tempo and tone, and it succeeds to that effect. The music video continues the storyline of the clip for "Fallin'", with Keys still with her boyfriend who is now out of jail and trying to get a job, as well as other scenarios where men step up to treat women right (the elderly, mothers). The subplot with the kid who tries to mack on her but ends up being gentlemanly is quite sweet...

"A Woman's Worth" became Alicia's second top ten pop hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in February of 2002, while spending three weeks at #3 on their R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the song peaked at #16 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart, #3 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list, and #10 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format, while topping the older-skewing Adult R&B radio tally for three weeks. Internationally, the single topped the chart in Croatia, made the top ten in New Zealand (#5) and Hungary (#9), and reached the top-40 in Norway (#14), Spain (#15), Australia (#16), the United Kingdom (#18), the Netherlands (#22), Ireland (#25), Italy (#29), Sweden (#31), Belgium (#31 Flanders/#37 Wallonia), and Switzerland (#32).

 

The third single from Songs In A Minor was a cover of a song from Prince, "How Come You Don't Call Me", which originally was the "B-side" to the single for his classic "1999".  She does a respectable job, if overshadowed by the original, and while it made it to #30 on the R&B Singles chart, and #16 on the Adult R&B radio list, the song stalled down at #59 on the pop Hot 100. It got a bit more love overseas, reaching the top-40 in Belgium (#3 Wallonia/#9 Flanders), Hungary (#4), the UK (#26), Australia (#29), and Ireland (#32). Another track, "Girlfriend", which she co-wrote and produced with Jermaine Dupri, got enough urban radio airplay as the B-side of "Fallin'" that it made the R&B Singles chart at #82, was released internationally as a fourth single, where it reached the top-40 in Belgium (#12 Wallonia/#17 Flanders), Australia (#13), the Netherlands (#18), the UK (#24), and Ireland (#40). Keys will return to the series.

(7/10)

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Alicia did a great take on the song when she appeared on the Jools Holland show in the UK...

 

 Here's Alicia performing the song in a small venue...

Fast forward a decade at the iTunes Festival in 2012...

and lastly, just Keys and her piano with the audience for her AOL Sessions in 2011...

Up tomorrow: This superstar sibling knows that this song is about you.