Music Review: Alicia Keys & Nicki Minaj "Girl On Fire (Inferno Version)"

Alicia Keys & Nicki Minaj

Girl On Fire (Inferno Version)

Album: Girl On Fire

Year:  2012

           Alicia Keys admires a strong young woman who stands on her own in the encouraging  “Girl On Fire”

        A robust drums opens the single, setting a masterful tone. Nicki Minaj’s rap starts the single. She’s haunted by Marilyn Monroe and hears her desperate cries in the night. When she walks from room to room, Monroe’s voice follows her, promising to stay. Monroe is unable to see the creased eyes and frown on her face. When she’s sleeping, she can her Monroe imploring her to join her and be a spirit, too. Monroe tells they can jump over the balcony together, ending their misery. Every night, Minaj tells her no. She’s not going to give in, letting around those determine her worth. Her life has value. (“Spirit of Marilyn calling me, audibly/Bawling she, said that she would never leave/Continued to torture me/Telling me to come with her/Underneath my comforter/And she brought a gun with her/Pills and some rum with her/Tip me on the balcony telling me to jump with her/Yeah I’m in the ghost but I ain’t doing stunts with her/I ain’t tryna be that haters wanna see that/But I got ‘em aggy cause I win the gold like Gabby.”)

           There’s a brief silence and Keys begins her part with the drum and piano gradually added into the arrangement. Keys has known the young woman since she was child. She has watched her learn how to walk, talk and graduate high school. She’s twenty now and has a beauty to her woman envy. She’s a loner and prefers to keep to herself. She maneuvers those who try to shut her up with ease, letting them she’s not one to be pushed around. She works in the city, which is nearing bankruptcy and a local government that is more interested in its own preservation than of its citizens. She has her education, a degree that can take her anywhere she wants to go. (“She's just a girl and she's on fire/Hotter than a fantasy, lonely like a highway/She's living in a world and it's on fire/Filled with catastrophe, but she knows she can fly away.”)

             In the pre-chorus, Keys says the levelheaded young woman has the power within to do whatever she wants. Nothing can stop her. She knows what she wants from life and won’t let anyone tell her she can’t do anything. (“Oh oh oh oh oh/She got both feet on the ground/And she's burning it down/Oh oh oh oh oh/She got her head in the clouds/And she's not backing down.”)

             In the chorus, she’s an inspiration to Keys. (“This girl is on fire/This girl is on fire/She's walking on fire/This girl is on fire.”)

               She’s extraordinary although at first glance, people underestimate her. She’s smart and won’t play dumb. She may be small in stature but she can intimidate without even saying a word. Once people meet her, they become fascinated by her, wanting to know more. Years later, she will cross their minds again and people will ask how she’s doing. She has a lot going for her.People expect great things from her.  (“Looks like a girl, but she's a flame/So bright, she can burn your eyes/Better look the other way/You can try but you'll never forget her name/She's on top of the world/Hottest of the hottest girls say.”)

The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

  In the bridge, she attracts attention with her natural charisma. Keys says people should be prepared for her and for what she can do. People think she is surrounded by friends with influential connections. However, in reality, each connection she’s forged, it’s one she sought out and forged on her own. (“Everybody stares, as she goes by/'Cause they can see the flame that's in her eyes/Watch when she's lighting up the night/ Nobody knows that she's a lonely girl/And it's a lonely world/But she gon' let it burn, baby, burn, baby.”)

      Minaj continues her part in the bridge. She looks to her faith for answers. The attention is more than she can handle. People will throw insults or try to divert her from away from. It scares her that one day a person could succeed in sabotaging her. She’s aware of the nature around her, relishing the peace it gives her. She makes a mention to her fans. (“Dear God, if you’re here God/Make the fire disappear when they stare God/Take away my fear when they interfere God/Do you fear God? Cause I fear God/And in my backyard, that’s a deer, God/And that’s a horse ranch/And to my core fans keep repping me/Do it to the death of me/X in the box cause ain’t nobody checking me.”)

           The chorus is sung again.

           Keys’ “ohs” close to a minute or so and then says at the end, “she's just a girl and she's on fire.”)

           Keys’ respectful, loving vocals are proud, brimming over with pride. No one expected much from  her family friend, considering the odds she had to overcome. However, the family friend was determined not to become stastistic and created a life on her own terms.

              Minaj’s peculiar, imaginative rap adds some color to the single. While Marilyn Monroe has become a cliché, her take as Monroe as a demented, troubled spirit brainwashing successful people to commit suicide is a dark, unexpected twist.

           The hopeful “Girl On Fire” empowers with a quiet, crackling burn.  Now please release “Limitedless” as a single, RCA Records.