Making sense of the latest Dylan album

Guardian article #1, Oliver Burkeman “in New York”, 24th August:

One track on the new album has a glowing reference to the R&B singer Alicia Keys. “I remember seeing her on the Grammys. I think I was on the show with her, I didn't meet her or anything. But I said to myself, ‘There's nothing about that girl I don't like’.”

Guardian article #2, Alexis Petridis, 25th August:

“I was thinking about Alicia Keys,” he sings huskily, “I couldn't help from crying” — a sentiment with which anyone who has experienced the R&B singer's sanctimonious interviews and rotten poetry (“Hello morning/ Now I see you/ 'Cause I am awake”) can heartily concur.

Reminds me of that Times reviewer rhapsodising about Portishead's Beth Gibbons begging for a return to traditional values in Glory Box (“Give me a reason to be-ee a woman” etc.).