"Wait Til You See My Smile" is a song performed by American recording artist

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

. It was released as the sixth single from her fourth studio album, ''

The Element of Freedom ''The Element of Freedom'' is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Alicia Keys, released on December 11, 2009, by J Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during May to September 2009 at the Oven Studios in Long ...

'' (2009). The soul-pop ballad was released on December 13, 2010. The Keys and "Wait Till You See My Smile" featured on the new

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

DualView Commercial. The song was featured on the 13th episode of the sixth season of ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into s ...

''.

Background

Following the birth of Keys' first child on October 16, 2010, Keys revealed that "Wait 'Til You See My Smile" would be released as the next single in the UK on November 28, 2010. However this was since pushed back to December 13, 2010. The single features "Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready)" (Remix featuring

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

) as its b-side.

Critical reception

"Wait Til You See My Smile" received a mostly positive reception from music critics. In her review of ''The Element of Freedom'' in ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'', Fiona Shepherd stated that "The vintage keyboards also come out for Wait Til You See My Smile, which sounds like it's about to break into Supertramp's Dreamer or build up to some U2/Coldplay-style stadium-friendly crescendo of euphoria. The crescendo never comes, but it is still a robust example of Keys' musical diversity – she's not one for staying in the soul/R&B box. '' Slant Magazine's'' Matthew Cole expressed that "A similar aesthetic o "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart"extends to follow-up track, "Wait Til You See My Smile," where Keys jumps ably between a sultry lower register and an artfully strained high while synths and strings pile up to "Purple Rain" proportions." Leah Greenblatt of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' simply reviewed the song as being "pure honeyed uplift". Robert Christgau claimed that Keys "goes for melismatic pain whenever she sees an opening. But this is formal ploy merely, a diva-by-default's privilege. Her true self comes out in the half-heartedly relentless "Wait Til You See My Smile," a stab at the chin-up franchise once claimed by a young Mariah Carey..."

Music video

To promote "Wait Til You See My Smile",

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

worked in collaboration with Genero.tv on a competition where fans and Genero's community of 12,000 film makers (which has since grown to 35,000) were given the opportunity to create their own music video for the single. The competition ran over 6 weeks and after this period, 6 of the best videos were chosen by the genero.tv team, the genero fanbase and RCA. After this, Keys chose the final video. Once selected, the video was promoted across Alicia's official channels as the video supporting the UK release. The winning video was shot by Scott Orr from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Keys' official site stated that "his originality and creativity that landed him the winning spot in the 'Wait Til you see My Smile’ video competition. His idea about humans as animals and embracing our freedom is incredible and heartfelt." Keys does not appear in the video.

Track listing

*UK / Ireland Digital download # "Wait Til You See My Smile" (Radio Edit) – 3:00 # "

Un-thinkable (I'm Ready) "Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready)" is a song by American singer-songwriter Alicia Keys from her fourth studio album ''The Element of Freedom'' (2009), that features uncredited background vocals from Canadian rapper Drake, although he is credited on the of ...

" (Remix) (featuring

) – 4:42

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2010 singles Alicia Keys songs Song recordings produced by Jeff Bhasker Song recordings produced by Swizz Beatz Songs written by Alicia Keys Songs written by Swizz Beatz Songs written by Jeff Bhasker 2009 songs J Records singles RCA Records singles Song recordings produced by Alicia Keys