When can L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa snag any time to hear music? "I listen primarily when I work out," Villaraigosa says. "Or I'll have music on when people are over."

 The mayor's iPod is stocked with an eclectic mix of classic and contemporary R&B, hip-hop, Latin pop, rock -- and even a touch of country.

Scrolling through his iPod and pulling off favorites, in no particular order, he name-checked 2Pac's "Keep Ya Head Up," Patsy Cline's "Crazy," Luther Vandross' "Dance With My Father," Celia Cruz's "La Llave" and Alicia Keys' "A Woman's Worth."

He also flagged Bill Withers' '70s soul classic "Lean on Me," Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" -- "Just a beautiful song," Villaraigosa said -- Cuban dance band Buena Vista Social Club's "Chan Chan," Mexican singer Alejandro Fernandez's "Qué Voy a Hacer con Mi Amor" and Mary J. Blige's "Never Too Much."

"I didn't even list classical," he said. "I listen to a lot of world music; I listen to all kinds of stuff. I had a little downtime last night to do this. Then after I picked these songs, I thought of all the artists who are probably going to be upset that I didn't include them. But it's really just a snapshot of my eclectic musical taste."

 -- Randy Lewis

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Alicia Keys has said her “Freedom” tour is all about liberation, finding yourself, letting go of anything that may be holding you back, self-love and possibilities. She made sure those themes were heard loud and clear at her concert Tuesday night at Staples Center.

As images of barbed wire fences flashed on multiple screens, Keys slowly emerged onstage, trapped in a cage adorned with heavy chains. She teased the audience with “Caged Bird” from her debut album before launching into the opening number, “Love Is Blind,” from her newest album, “The Element of Freedom.”

Playing every bit the pop diva, Keys, in form-fitting silver sequined pants and a red blazer, dramatically broke from the cage, turning her new-found freedom into an instant celebration. She sang and danced with a small arsenal of dancers to the opening and “You Don’t Know My Name,” the Kanye West-produced hit from her second album, which she infused with West’s own “Flashing Lights.” Although the audience might not have recognized the electronic-tinged original, Keys commanded the concertgoers with moves and vocal acrobatics befitting a pop diva.

But unlike many of her contemporaries, she had an inspirational message attached to the glitzy production. Whether it was “peace,” “love” or “unity” (all of which flooded the screens at some point or other), Keys came to entertain and uplift.

Since releasing her critically acclaimed debut album, “Songs in A Minor,” nearly nine years ago, Alicia Keys has shown no signs of slowing down. Over the years she has churned out chart-topping albums, dabbled in film and taken on philanthropic work by devoting time to Keep A Child Alive, a program for children and their families with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The 12-time Grammy award winner’s fourth album, “The Element of Freedom,” debuted No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200 chart -- appropriate given that she was named the R&B/hip hop artist of the decade in December by the magazine.

In support of the album, Keys has embarked on a tour that ends Saturday at Oakland’s Oracle Coliseum. On the eve of her show in Los Angeles at Staples Center Tuesday night (with Melanie Fiona and Robin Thicke as openers), Pop & Hiss spoke to Keys about the show, that highly anticipated video featuring Beyoncé, and her passionate “life-changing” charity work.

For those that have seen your previous tours, you’re heavy on storytelling. What did you want to create when you did the Freedom Tour?

There’s definitely a theme to this tour, and coming off of “The Element of Freedom” and calling this “The Freedom Tour,” it’s really a great theme. It’s a theme about liberation, about finding yourself, about finding your own way, about letting go of anything that may be holding you back, about self-love, about possibilities. It’s definitely themed along those lines. Although it’s a really heavily musical show and it’s really about the music first and foremost, that message comes through loud and clear, and that’s something that I really, really wanted to be a main part of the show so people not only leave with a musical experience and a visual experience, but an emotional experience.

On her fourth studio outing, the pop-R&B diva digs deep into the multitude of implications of independence, discovering that for just about anybody other than a Superwoman, it can bring up issues of loneliness and insecurity as well as the potential for strength through self-sufficiency.

In "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart," she's crafted an intriguing refrain: "I'm gonna find a way to make it without you . . .," admitting she's still searching for a full-fledged sense of security in whatever newfound freedom she's come into. But then she extends the thought with the kicker word ". . . tonight."

Is she taking the one-day-at-a-time approach of a 12-step program for romantic addiction? Is it merely the application of an emotional band-aid? Or might she be asserting that the path to true independence always begins right here, right now? It's never entirely clear, and the ambiguity makes the song that much richer.

She's said in interviews that the album's title also connotes her shift for this work from the professional recording studios she's previously used to a home setup she's assembled. Sonically she and the album's main co-producers -- Jeff Bhasker, Kerry "Krucial" Brothers and Swizz Beatz -- paint with broad strokes, in some cases freely slathering on colors and textures in contrast to the comparatively simpler approach on earlier tracks such as her 2007 hit "No One." In some of cases, one wishes she'd exercised a little less of the freedom she has to add anything and everything that's at her disposal.

She does pull back the reins effectively in "Love Is My Disease," which opens with sparse backing and a subtle reggae undercurrent; Keys allows her usually impeccable voice to express the fraying of emotion as she faces her inability to stand tall.

On the flip side, self-confidence is in full flower in "Put It in a Love Song," her effervescent duet with Beyoncé that has "hit single" written all over it. Drake drops in for some background vocals on "Un-thinkable (I'm Ready)."

She closes the 14-song collection with "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down," reprising her portion of the recent collaboration with Jay-Z, done ballad style with additional lyrics that testify to the strength she draws from her surroundings in the great metropolis.

After the all-too-human ups and downs she's experienced through the rest of the album, ultimately she comes out of it sounding pretty, well, super.

-- Randy Lewis

Alicia Keys
"The Element of Freedom"
(J Records)
 Three stars (Out of four)

In last night's finale performance on "America's Got Talent," Susan Boyle, the breakout star of the program's British analogue, wowed the three judges -- the hodgepodge council of Sharon Osbourne, David Hasselhoff and Piers Morgan -- and the already cheering media with her version of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses." In particular, Boyle's lifting of the chorus to a higher octave catches the ear, underscoring the desperation of the original and transforming it from resignation into one last aching plea.

But it turns out we've seen this particular hoofprint before. A quick tour of "Wild Horses" covers by lady musicians on YouTube shows that this soaring high read of the song's refrain has been rendered by no less than the Sundays' ethereal-voiced Harriet Wheeler, soulful songstress Alicia Keys in her duet with Adam Levine and populist cowgirl Sheryl Crow. Each has their own twist outside the octave change -- in the Keys/Levine version, Keys leads with fragments of Stevie Wonder's "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" and gives some of the lyrics a more wry, bluesy reading.

Covers are a delicate matter that can challenge any artist. How much DNA to keep of the original? How much of your own style can you stamp without obliterating the creator? In Boyle's case, did she simply imitate other covers of the original? It seems like Boyle sewed together a lovely quilt from what's already out there -- or a Frankenstein baby, albeit a cuddly one.

In a landscape where Keys is Clive Davis' mentee, and Boyle is Simon Cowell's, this may be a sure sign that we are in an Orwellian "American X-Factor's Got Talent So You Can Dance" entertainment universe where original artistic thinking is not encouraged. Instead, we get the replica of the replicas. Break on out, Ms. Boyle. You don't need Big Brothers or Big Sisters.

-- Ann Powers and Margaret Wappler

Photo: Trae Patton / NBC Universal

While the pop culture universe all but imploded in the wake of Kanye West stage-crashing Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for best female video last night at the MTV Video Music Awards, there has been relatively little chatter in regards to the evening’s other bold stage-crasher, rapper and judge on “America’s Best Dance Crew,” Lil Mama.

Toward the end of a rousing show-closing performance of “Empire State of Mind,” Lil Mama jumped onto the stage, much to the visible chagrin of Jay-Z. While Jay-Z turned his back on her and embraced Alicia Keys during the ovation at the end of the song, Lil Mama stood her ground next to the multi-platinum performers.

“You gonna T-Pain me?” is what Jay-Z reportedly said to the stage-crashing rapper, in reference to rapper and producer T-Pain crashing Jay-Z's stage when he debuted the song “D.O.A.” at a New York radio concert this summer.

“I did not mean any disrespect towards Jay-Z or Alicia Keys. I admire them and look up to them as role models,” Lil Mama told MTV News after the incident. “ 'Empire State of Mind’ had my emotions running high. In that moment, I came onstage to celebrate my two icons singing about N.Y.”

But given the much higher emotions surrounding West and Swift, Lil Mama’s unscripted appearance will go down as just another bizarre curiosity during an evening filled with them. Our own “Envelope” column even credited her as just an “audience member who managed to grab her 15 minutes of fame during the last moments of the two’s performance.”

UPDATE: During an interview with Kathy Lee Gifford and and Hoda Kotb on the Sept. 16 broadcast of the "Today" show, Alicia Keys was quoted as saying "We can appreciate her being overwhelmed and inspired, but we would have appreciated it if she would have did it from her seat."

-- Scott T. Sterling

Photo: From left, Lil Mama, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday in New York City. Credit: Christopher Polk / Getty Images.

 

It was a night meant to honor the top songwriters and publishers of 2008 -- and it did. Winners shuffled to the stage Friday at ASCAP’s 22nd annual Rhythm & Soul Music Awards, posing for photos as they clutched onto their trophy. But it was also the night after Michael Jackson’s death, and the ASCAP ceremony took on the feel of a tribute, with Alicia Keys, Ne-Yo, Berry Gordy and more paying their respects to the fallen pop icon.

The event began with a moment of silence in honor of the King of Pop. A short montage immediately followed, highlighting the gloved one’s illustrious career -- from his days crooning hits such as “I’ll Be There” as part of the Jackson 5 to the night he exposed the world to his slick -- and often imitated, but never duplicated -- Moonwalk. The brief tribute was capped with a performance of Jackson’s ballad “Lady in My Life” by R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo, who ended the song with “We love you, Michael.”

But the Jackson appreciation didn’t end there. Artists such as gospel singer James Fortune and the GS Boys dedicated their performances to the pop tour de force, and other’s took time to expand on Jackson’s legacy. When she accepted ASCAP’s golden note award, 12-time Grammy Award winner Keys thanked Michael for his adventurous spirit.

Said Keys, “This man really broke all of the rules. He broke all the rules.There were no rules with him. Nobody could tell him what he could and could not do. How long his videos could or could not be.Or how the song structure should be.Or how many records he could or couldn’t sell. 

"He went and did from his heart as a genuine and good, blessed artist," Keys continued. "He broke all the rules and all the records. I think he is someone that obviously inspired us all to hopefully break the rules because we have to break the rules to break the records."

Before presenting the songwriter of the year award, record producer Timbaland sounded somber as he addressed the crowd:  “I’ve kind of been down for the last day. You know, I had an opportunity to work with Michael coming up, before the tour, and it’s been wild. The same thing happened to me when I was supposed to work with Biggie Smalls before he passed. It’s kind of a sad day … but a good day because his music lives on.”