Listen to Alicia Keys' stripped-down rendition of "If I Ain't Got You" on "VH1 Storytellers."

Another day, another unreal live rendition of an Alicia Keys smash from her "VH1 Storytellers" appearance! And fine, yesterday, I kinda sorta picked "Fallin'" as my favorite "Storytellers" track, with her organic version of "Not The King" and "No One" trailing not too far behind. Except now I've got "If I Ain't Got You" to deal with, and, well, that just effs up my whole ranking system! Is a tie allowed? Maybe even a three-way tie? Wait, isn't this a completely random ranking system I created? Aren't I the boss? So yeah, TIES!

Listen to Alicia Keys perform "If I Ain't Got You'" on "VH1 Storytellers" after the jump.

As opposed to her piano-only version of "Fallin'," the full band joined Alicia on "If I Ain't Got You." Alicia sounded like an R&B songbird (what else is new?), and while she stayed true to main melody, she managed to flip the verse up juuuust enough to make me wonder how she does it/wish I had heard this new rendition (retroactively) in time for my 11th-grade talent show, where after singing my heart out to "If I Ain't Got You," I came in second place for "not infusing my own personality" into the song. Clearly the wound's not yet healed.

+ Listen to Alicia Keys perform "If I Ain't Got You'" on "VH1 Storytellers," watch live videos on AliciaKeys.vh1.com, and get a copy of Alicia's forthcoming VH1 Storytellers album.

 Photo credit: VH1