Music Review: Alicia Keys "You Don't Know My Name"

You Don’t Know My Name
Album: The Diary of Alicia Keys
Year: 2003

In an MTV.com article , she says, “I've evolved as a woman. When you pick up this album, you're gonna feel the evolution from Songs in A Minor.” It’s the truth and not some public relations spin or hype. The Diary of Alicia Keys is an absolute gem.

Produced by Kanye West and Alicia Keys, “You Don’t Know My Name” is an old school ode to love at first sight. In the single, she is a waitress who falls for her one of her customers. However, he does not know she exists. In the meantime, she is fantasizing about him. “I see us on our first date/you doin everything that makes me smile/and when we had our first kiss/it happened on a Thursday.” Descriptive and realistic, “You Don’t Know My Name” is sure to be a classic and one of 2003’s best songs.

She is full of longing and reeling with happiness, as she sings the chorus: “and it feels like ooooo/you don’t know my name.” However, the spoken section where she finally calls him and asks him out is the single’s finest moment. She’s flirtatious, assured, and natural. Not many songs actually let the listener get to know the characters involved.

“You Don’t Know My Name” samples and excerpts lyrics from the Main Ingredient’s “Let Me Prove My Love To You” Instead of ripping off the song, Keys makes it her own. She borrows lyrics from the original and incorporates them into her single seamlessly.

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