FEATURE:
Modern Heroines
Part Sixteen: Alicia Keys
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IN my ongoing feature that spotlights…
PHOTO CREDIT: Paolo Kudacki
female artists who will be considered icons in years to come, I am looking at the sensational Alicia Keys today. Whilst she has received some critical apathy through her career, I think she is incredibly underrated and, as we look ahead at festivals this year, I hope Keys is featured on many bills – few would have objected if she was named as a Glastonbury headliner. I am not sure what Keys has planned in 2020 but, with an album rumoured – more on that later -, she has enjoyed a pretty eventful and successful career so far. Born in 1981 in Manhattan, Alicia Augello Cook Dean is a classically-trained pianist and songwriter. Similar to so many of the other women I have included in my Modern Heroines and Female Icons feature, Keys fell in love with music and performance as a child. She was composing her own songs from the age of twelve and, just three years later, she was signed to Columbia Records. For some artists, that might appear daunting and too much pressure. It seems that Keys was ready. Despite the fact there were disputes with the label, she did sign to Arista Records; she released her exceptional debut album, Songs in A Minor, in 2001. I was just about to leave for university when that album came out and, whilst searching for a brilliant new artist, Alicia Keys seemed like a natural fit.
Of course, many of us associated Keys’ debut album with the single, Fallin’. Some debuts make a bit of an impression and float by but, with songs like Fallin’ all over the radio, there was no chance Songs in A Minor would just pass by without celebration! The album earned five Grammy Awards in 2002. Keys started working on the album in 1995 at the age of fourteen. She recorded it for Columbia Records in 1998, but she switched to Arista Records. Again, like the best female artists out there, Keys produced and wrote most of the debut album herself. She was determined and had a clear vision of her work; not relying on the horde of writers and collaborators so many artists do. Perhaps mixing music of her childhood and personal favourites, Songs in A Minor combines R&B, Jazz; some Blues and Hip-Hop to create a wide-ranging yet focused album. The title, I guess, refers to a sadness or particular sound, in spite of the fact Jane Doe is the only song recorded in the key of A minor. It is great hearing some of Keys’ Classical background fusing with a lot of the sounds she would have grown up with. Hard-driven funkiness and beautiful melodies seem effortlessly at home with one another. Keys would receive greater critical love and focus later in her career, but Songs in A Minor could not fail to impress. Here is what NME said in their review at the time:
“And reach the masses it has, having raced to the top of the US pop charts selling in excess of 250,00 copies in the process. Remarkably the album has achieved this without a hint of compromise. Be warned: stay away if you take your soul with a Scandinavian remix or a guest rap from 'MC Hot At The Moment' as this is the real deal. 'Girlfriend' is a rock-fuelled ditty commenting on the perils of a man juggling female company with having a relationship which reeks of self experience.
Deeper moments creep up and grab you exemplified by 'Fallin'' and the spine-tingling Stevie Wonder-esque 'Troubles', whilst growing up on a staple diet of Aretha Franklin shines through on 'Why Do I Feel So Sad'. 'Rock Wit U' revolves around a groove the Love Unlimited Orchestra would have been proud of, and one is left waiting with baited breath for big Barry's vocals to kick in.
They never do of course which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's been well documented about her classically trained playing skills but Ms Keys can more than hold a note vocally, best demonstrated on the Stephanie Mills cover 'How Come You Don't Call Me' which is a real 'hide the crystal glasses and cover that chandelier' moment. Balancing the album on the fine line between contemporary and retrospective (highlighted by collaborations with Kandi and Isaac Hayes) has been an act of pure genius.
There were some who were not sure Keys was at her best and purest but, as it was her debut, Songs in A Minor was never going to impress everyone. Critics that could spot promise and identify with Keys’ brilliance were keen to praise a unique and stunning artist. In this review, AllMusic had this to say:
“Alicia Keys' debut album, Songs in A Minor, made a significant impact upon its release in the summer of 2001, catapulting the young singer/songwriter to the front of the neo-soul pack. Critics and audiences were captivated by a 19-year-old singer whose taste and influences ran back further than her years, encompassing everything from Prince to smooth '70s soul, even a little Billie Holiday.
In retrospect, it was the idea of Alicia Keys that was as attractive as the record, since soul fans were hungering for a singer/songwriter who seemed part of the tradition without being as spacy as Macy Gray or as hippie mystic as Erykah Badu while being more reliable than Lauryn Hill. Keys was all that, and she had style to spare -- elegant, sexy style accentuated by how she never oversang, giving the music a richer feel. It was rich enough to compensate for some thinness in the writing -- though it was a big hit, "Fallin'" doesn't have much body to it -- which is a testament to Keys' skills as a musician. And, the fact is, even though there are some slips in the writing, there aren't many, and the whole thing remains a startling assured, successful debut that deserved its immediate acclaim and is already aging nicely”.
Alicia Keys was a reluctant interviewee early in her career. Maybe there was not a lot to say, or she was wary of the media and did not want to discuss her personal life. Regardless, one will not find too many interviews with Keys between her debut in 2001 and her sophomore album in 2003. I am not sure the exact reasons Keys was reticent, but I did find an interview from FADER from 2001. It is clear there was a lot of curiosity surrounding Keys regarding her originality and, in a Pop-heavy climate, how she would fit in:
“In the pop-strumpet climate of modern music, however, Keys is a curious choice to be pegged as a breakout star. For one thing, she knows what she's doing, even though she's only 19. She's a classically trained pianist who can talk about Porgy and Bess, Schubert and Erykah Badu. She's already survived a go-nowhere record deal with a major label who wanted to hook her up with a male studio svengali instead of letting her produce her own records like she is currently doing (she won't tell which label when you ask her, but it was Sony.)
Keys is also surprisingly down to earth despite all the buzz going on around her. In fact, she is forthcoming about the demand she is feeling. "There are times, I'm not going to lie, when I feel a little bogged down and I want to meet all the expectations. So therefore, sometimes it can create its own pressure if I allow it, and sometimes I do." She is also wary about dealing with the individuals whose job it is to package and market her. "It's scary, because when you put yourself out there, you can only hope that you can make the person understand you in that hour or two you have with them. Are they really going to understand who am I in two hours? Can they capture it?"
Her maturity, however, is most evident when she discusses what will happen if she doesn't become an instant pop music phenomenon. "I can be satisfied with not selling 12 million records and not going on tour with N'Sync. That's okay with me. But say my album is released and I do sell 12 million records? It's almost like, what can you do after that? Can you sell another 12 million records? That's creating an even bigger hype that you then must surpass".
Because there was critical praise – or attention at least – and Keys was turning heads, there was a bit of pressure regarding a second album. The Diary of Alicia Keys was released in 2003 and is a stronger and more complete effort than her debut.
After her debut sold over six-million copies and scooped Grammys, eyes were on this exceptional artist and what she would bring the world next. Again, a lot of artists might have crumbled or repeated their last album. Although there is common thread between Songs in A Minor and The Diary of Alicia Keys, one can detect the differences. Keys was getting used to Grammy success. She was nominated for two the ‘big four’: Song of the Year (If I Ain’t Got You) and Album of the Year. The Diary of Alicia Keys sold twice the amount Songs in A Minor did in its first week, and it took Keys to new heights. In terms of reviews, more people were aware of her work than they were in 2001. This is AllMusic’s assessment of Keys’ second album:
“Tonally, this is ideal late-night romantic music, even when the tempos are kicked up a notch as on the blaxploitation-fueled "Heartburn," yet beneath that sensuous surface there is some crafty, complex musicality, particularly in how Keys blurs lines between classic soul, modern rhythms, jazz, pop melodies, and singer/songwriter sensibility. It's an exceptionally well-constructed production, and as a sustained piece of sonic craft, it's not just seductive, it's a good testament to Keys' musical strengths (which can even withstand Andre Harris and Vidal Davis' irritating squeaky voice production signature on "So Simple"). What the album lacks are songs as immediate as "Fallin'" or as compelling as "A Woman's Worth," and that, combined with her insular outlook, is where Diary comes up short and reveals that it is indeed merely a second album. Such is the problem of arriving with a debut as fully formed as Songs in A Minor at such a young age -- listeners tend to expect more from the sequel, forgetting that this an artist still in her formative stages. So, those expecting another album where Keys sounds wise beyond her years will bound to be disappointed by The Diary of Alicia Keys, since her writing reveals her age in a way it never did on the debut. Yet that is a typical problem with sophomore efforts, and while this is a problem, it's one that is outweighed by her continually impressive musical achievements; they're enough to make The Diary worth repeated listens, and they're enough to suggest that Keys will continue to grow on her third album”.
I think a lot of critics want artists to be revealing and personal, because they can extrapolate or form opinions. If an artist is more abstract or they want to be less revealing, that means people have to think more or come to their own conclusions. Not only was Alicia Keys not conducting too many interviews in this first phase; she was someone whose music nodded to personal matters but did not do so frequently and explicitly. I think an artist who leave a little to the imagination is more powerful than someone who is too raw and ready. This is how The Guardian summed up The Diary of Alicia Keys:
“The album's title plays upon Keys's legendary reticence as an interviewee: when one British magazine recently asked how her life had changed since her debut album, it received the illuminating reply, "I'm definitely older." The prospect of an artist who will reveal nothing of her private life releasing a "deeply personal and autobiographical" album is obviously intriguing, but as a diarist, she's more Charles Pooter than Alan Clark. "I won't tell your secrets," says the title track, rather unsportingly.
Far more interesting is an unexpected dig at the "war against terror" called Wake Up. Keys's politics are as mysterious as her personal life: two days after September 11, she told a reporter that she "saw lies" in the American flag, but three months later, she appeared in a US music magazine posing before an enormous floral Stars and Stripes. In fact, Wake Up is surprisingly direct, sung from the viewpoint of a serviceman's partner, pleading, "Bring my baby back home." It's not the Internationale, but it is an anti-war song likely to find its way into millions of American homes.
Quite what Wake Up will do to her approval rating remains to be seen, a fact not lost on Keys. Questions about the track have received an even more stony response than usual. "It's definitely important to think before you speak," she said. "You don't just want to blurt something out." Her album seems similarly straitened: there are a handful of great moments, where risks are taken and ground is broken, but too often it opts for the familiar and the bland. Listening to The Diary of Alicia Keys, you can't help but wish she threw caution to the wind a little more often”.
Keys is someone who kept her cards close to her chest in the first years of her career. As her popularity grew, there was a lot of pressure on her to speak and ‘open up’. Whilst I think Keys’ words and sense of leadership defines her strongly, one cannot her music and how she evolved and grew through the years. Again, Keys waited a while from her sophomore album until we got a third. As I Am, again, could have people guessing regarding the title’s significance and how she portrays herself in music. If her sophomore ‘diary’ was not as lovelorn and tantalising as some hoped, I think As I Am is a defiant and true statement.
Released in 2007, As I Am was laid down at various recording studios between 2005-2007. With contribution from musician John Mayer and production by Keys and Kerry ‘Krucial’ Brothers; Jack Splash and Linda Perry, the album went in at number-one on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 742,000 copies in its first week – the highest ever from a female R&B artist! One of the album’s singles, No One, was the most-listened-to song of 2007 in the U.S. and there were a lot of positive reviews for As I Am. It is gob-smacking thinking some were critical of Keys’ songwriting, seeing as her third album scooped three Grammys and has sold over five-million! In this review, Blender remarked on Keys’ progression as an artist:
“With each album, Alicia Keys becomes more of an oddball and peeks back a little further in time. Her new record glances toward the ’60s, but she’s not just retro-soul anymore.
Keys isn’t an incisive lyricist. She sings generalities, which at worst can make her a platitude-monger, but at best can lift her toward classic pop writing. Here she switches between lovers’ plaints and inspirational self-help, elevating both by the grainy intensity of her voice. She also has subtleties; “Go Ahead,” a kiss-off set to squelchy Stevie Wonder funk, doubles as commentary on the Bush years: “What have you given me, but lies lies?”
Only 27, she has learned classic soul: “Teenage Love Affair” has the gleam of Motown, and “Where Do We Go From Here,” built on an obscure Memphis-soul sample, turns into a vintage cry from the heart.
Her first two albums showed how well she could renovate an old structure. As I Am advances by showing an experimental side. The daring single “No One” may have the least swinging beat of any 2007 hit: a midtempo bass drum under unsyncopated classical piano. Dullsville, but Keys piles on other parts — a tuba-like synthesizer, a tearfully-determined vocal — until it marches toward obsession. And “I Need You” could have been a hymnlike ballad but instead rides atop sputtering drums and percolating keyboards. So what if she’s only singing, “East needs West and No needs Yes”? The music is dizzying, even mesmerizing.
With several albums under her belt, there was that growing intrigue from the media about the woman behind the music. Even after her third album, Keys marked herself as one of the best artists of her generation and, years from now, we will look back at her first few years in awe. I will bring in an interview Keys conducted from 2010 soon but, now, I wanted to talk about her fourth album, The Element of Freedom. Again, the title suggests Keys was looking for freedom; maybe the freedom to write as she wished or not be slavish to commercial and media demands. Keys has said she wanted to find who she was and a sense of liberation after her third album. The Element of Freedom consists of a strong and bold side and a more vulnerable one. This was Keys’ most tender and emotional album to date, but there is still a lot of energy and fire that we would hear on her next couple of albums. Whilst recording the album, Keys listened to a lot of Tears for Fears, Fleetwood Mac and Genesis – one listens to The Element of Freedom and you can pick up notes of each group in certain songs. I feel each album Keys has released in her figuring herself out and growing as a person; looking for answers and revealing new sides to herself. There was a lot of love for The Element of Freedom. USA Today had their say:
“Though none of the tracks has the instant appeal of hits like Fallin' or No One, the songs are consistently strong and thematically cohesive. The only one that seems out of place is the club anthem Put It in a Love Song, a collaboration with Beyoncé (produced by Beatz) that's catchy but ultimately underwhelming, considering the talents involved. Rapper Drake's background vocals bolster a sexy highlight, Un-thinkable (I'm Ready).
Freedom marks not so much a departure for Keys as it does the evolution of an artist still seeking higher ground”.
Around the time of The Element of Freedom, Keys was more visible in the media in terms of interviews. I knew a bit about Keys before I heard her music, and I was sort of piecing things together after that. When she spoke with The Telegraph, she was asked about her music and her success:
“Keys wrote her first song at 13 when she was coming to terms with the death of her grandfather. Her debut album, 'Songs in A Minor’ , released when she was 20, was one of the best-selling debut albums ever, shifting more than 12 million copies worldwide. She has continued to be relentlessly successful, picking up 12 Grammy Awards over four albums; and the track she made with Jay-Z, Empire State of Mind, is probably the most played single of the past year.
But, she says, 'I never think I’ve reached that pinnacle, so to speak, but I do feel satisfied with what I’ve achieved, so I don’t feel this endless need, “I’ve got to get there, I’ve got to get there.” ’
And what’s that been replaced with? 'I’ve got to get peace. I have to be peaceful and I have to be happy.’
What does make her happy? 'I don’t have a ton of friends but the friends I have are great ones. I don’t have huge family but the family I have is a great one. I have solid decent people around me and I believe that is all it is, because you will get destroyed if you have people bringing you down.’
She recently played two nights at the O2 arena in London, which houses 20,000 people. 'It’s unbelievable,’ she says. And she really does seem shocked at herself. 'I’m thinking, “What am I doing, two nights at that venue?” ’
She commented to me earlier, 'I think sometimes we confuse success with happiness,’ but Keys has always wanted this kind of success – success is what gets you appreciated. Success has come from being strong and in control. Throughout her teenage years she would carry a knife on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen, New York, where she grew up, to help her feel that she didn’t need anybody.
She was brought up by her mother, Terri Augello, a part Italian, part English, part Scottish actress who also worked long hours as a paralegal, often until midnight. It harnessed Keys’ self-sufficiency. Her African-American father, Craig Cook, was a flight attendant turned masseur. Her parents were never married and never lived together, but their relationship was amicable. Cook’s parents called Augello their 'daughter-in-love’ . But Keys’ contact with her father was minimal until recently.
I wonder if that is what created the emotional reticence that appears now to be dissolving. 'I would say that in the process of growing you sometimes realise you hold on to anger. I was angry then and I’m sure I had the right to be angry, but if you hold on to all this anger the only person you’re hurting is you.’ How did she give up the anger? 'It came from my grandmother being ill. That was his mother and it caused a shift in the family dynamic.’ She was incredibly close to her grandmother and was with her when she died, in 2006”.
Two more albums arrived after The Element of Freedom. Girl on Fire came along in 2012 and, in my view, is one of her best albums. Some might disagree, but I feel Alicia Keys stepped up another gear and found fresh inspiration. He fifth album, it was Keys’ first release with RCA Records, following Sony Music Entertainment’s decision to close J Records. I like the production on Girl on Fire, as it is quite minimal and there are some interesting melodies and chords. With a largely R&B vibe, there is that balance of traditional R&B cuts and piano-driven songs. Every album is about Keys stepping into new sonic ground. On Girl on Fire, there are attempts at Electro Soul and Hip-Hop that sounds brilliant against all the other genres she explores. Relationships and faith are under the microscope, but Keys also talks about marriage and motherhood – she gave birth to son, Egypt Daoud Dean, in October 2010. There is a sense of personal rebirth and meaning that runs through Girl on Fire. Many compared Keys’ work with that of Beyoncé who, around 2012, was hitting her peak with the 4 album – she would release her eponymous album the following year and reach new heights. I want to bring in a review from AllMusic, who had some interesting observations regarding Girl on Fire:
“Two of the better songs, both of which feature assistance from John Legend, immediately follow and are closer to Keys' personal breakthrough. The first one, "When It's All Over," is a gushing testimonial over a dizzying Jamie xx co-production -- a clash between acoustic jazz, synth funk, and minimal techno that will either thrill or repel. "Listen to Your Heart," the second one, is mechanical yet plush and dials it back for Keys to embrace new love; it's one of Rodney Jerkins' unassuming yet stunning beats.
After a pair of bombastic anthems -- including the oddly written "Girl on Fire," which has her "living in a world, and it's on fire," then "on top of the world" with "both feet on the ground" and "our head in the clouds" -- the album loses its grip. It hits a low with "Not Even the King," an obvious "love is worth more than money" ballad, and "That's When I Knew," a tender back-porch ballad presumably about Mr. Keys. (If the mind wanders, consider that the object of affection is the man behind hits such as "Money, Cash, Hoes" and "It's Me B*#@hes.") Once "101," the last listed track, fades out, a chaotic outro fades in and peaks with Keys screaming, in a celebratory and defiant manner, "Hallelujah -- kicked down the door!" It ends the first chapter of her new life with several exclamation points, but it's missing one. The album could have used some swift and uplifting neo-disco like "Million Dollar Bill" or "Everybody Needs Love," exceptional songs that Keys and her husband wrote and produced for Whitney Houston and Jennifer Hudson”.
Family was entering her lyrics more, and it is interesting comparing the themes and tones of Girl on Fire with that of Songs in A Minor. I will move on to Keys’ most-recent album in a second but, before then, I want to bring in a couple of other bits – including another review for Girl on Fire. This is what The Telegraph had to offer:
“It’s been a while/ I’m not who I was before,” are the opening lines of the opener, Brand New Me, and she delivers them with the spine-tingling self-possession for which all those Saturday night talent-show contestants are so desperately reaching. The emotional involvement is immediate as she draws you into an empowered narrative which does what she does best and rises above: “I’m not expecting sorry/ I’m too busy finding myself.” It unfurls from a simple piano motif – heavy on her trademark echo. Her keyboard is, as ever, the intimate sound of vulnerability facing up to the big drums (and sampled sirens) of the big city. The melody is unsurprising, and the programmed percussion is off the peg. But the bold, soulful vocal – with just a scratch of a catch in the throat – refuses to let you go.
Elsewhere New Day finds her noodling a bit over a squelchy, upbeat bass line but title track Girl on Fire has a thrilling energy and compelling melody, even if I’m not entirely sure if Nicki Minaj rapping about the “bawling” ghost of Marilyn Monroe has anything to do with Keys’s main lyric and a video featuring Keys (who married and had a baby in 2010) as a housewife. Sometimes the powerful simplicity of her lyrics tends toward the trite: missin’/kissin’ rhymes dull strong, Motown-style songs like Tears Always Win. But as right-on as ever, the beautiful solo-piano ballad Not Even the King finds her breathing new, believable life into the old truth that money doesn’t make happiness. And if this album doesn’t find Keys consistently “on fire”, it does at least see her classily smouldering and occasionally ablaze”.
I did mention how Keys was becoming more open to interviews and, whilst she was selective about who she spoke with, there are some interesting articles. As much as anything, many years had passed since her debut album, so there was more to talk about. Keys talked with Complex about her latest album (Girl on Fire) and how she thought it was her best work to that point:
“She believes her new album is her best work yet. “It’s not a departure,” she says. “It’s growth. I love the way that I’ve been able to go deeper into my lyrics and my songwriting and go to a place I was too afraid to access before.”
On “Not Even the King” you can hear her sit down on her piano bench, take a deep breath, and start to sing about how you can’t buy love and trust, about how much it sucks when you “ain’t got a friend who’s not on the payroll.” On “101,” a hair-raising song written with the brilliant British artist Emeli Sandé, Alicia sings about loving a man who’s played 100 girls, her voice so breathy and naked that it’s almost painful to listen to. And then there’s “Tears Always Win,” which is just as wrenching as its title suggests. The standout of the collection is “Brand New Me,” which Alicia calls “the anchor” of the album. It’s a song of catharsis, a telling-somebody-off song that feels like it’s been a long time coming.
Having spent most of her 31 years in show business, Alicia is understandably guarded. “I mean, what the hell?” she says of the whole art-imitating-life thing. “The whole freaking world is looking at your shit. It’s scary. I didn’t want to say every single thing because you don’t want people to know that. There’s personal and there’s public, and I deserve the right to have a personal space.”
And yet, she’s opening up more on this album than ever before. Part of that may be because so much of her business has already been aired out. It’s no surprise that she has much to get off her chest with Girl on Fire, her first release as a married woman and mother. She announced the project in August via an open letter on her website. “Before making this record, in some ways I felt like a lion locked in a cage,” she wrote. “I felt like a girl misunderstood that no one really knew. I felt like it was time to stop making excuses for any part of my life that I wanted to change. Once I made that choice I became a girl on fire, the lion broke free!”.
It has almost three years since Here was released. In 2016, the music landscape had changed drastically since Keys arrived, but the inspiring songwriter was adapting and still standing out, some fifteen years since that debut! Here was recorded at Jungle City Studios and Oven Studios in New York; the music, Keys stated, came together quicker than ever before; inspiration flowing out of her rain-like.
Although four years seems like a big gap between releases, Keys found out she was pregnant with her second child during recording, so that changed plans and put new material on the back burner slightly. One might imagine Keys would lose spark and majesty so long after her debut album but, like all titans, she seemed to get better and better! Here is an album I remember listening when it arrived, and I was interested seeing how it differed from her previous work. The fact that Black Lives Matter features so heavily makes Here a vital and powerful work. This was noted in a couple of reviews of the album. I want to introduce this review from The Guardian, who were suitably impressed by Here:
“From the cover photo, which has an afroed Alicia Keys giving the camera an equivocal gaze, to the contents, which throw her weight behind Black Lives Matter and other social justice movements, her first album since 2012 is a sobering piece of work. Its sprawling 18 tracks pit a raw-voiced Keys and her piano against a catalogue of intolerance and -isms, with New York, her lifelong home, as the fractious, polyrhythmic setting. Nina Simone and Black Panthers leader Elaine Brown, both namechecked in songs, are among her totemic figures, but much of the music transcends race: the rippling Where Do We Begin Now prettily toasts same-sex relationships; Blended Family employs hip-hop crackle to address her husband Swizz Beats’s children from former relationships; Girl Can’t Be Herself is a Tropicália-laced takedown of beauty standards. Despite an undertow of glum earnestness, Keys has never sounded so committed”.
Keys was definitely among the most regarded, revered and respected in music by 2016. There was this great wave of love for Here and, whilst there were some mediocre reviews, there were plenty who had some kind and passionate words. In their review, The Independent remarked the following:
“There are several similarities between Here and Solange’s recent A Seat At The Table. Both deal with issues of family, empowerment and diversity, and both convey black history through anecdotal spoken interludes. But crucially, Alicia Keys’s musicality is far superior: whether developing swaying gospel fervour on “Pawn It All”, threading balofon through the two-part reflection on African-American queens “She Don’t Really Care/1 Luv”, or riding a perky Latin shuffle for “Girl Can’t Be Herself”, her work is grounded in a melodic appeal that’s almost magnetic. Advocating individuality, the latter is especially laudable, Keys wondering, “Why is being unique such an impurity?”. Elsewhere, “The Gospel” offers a vivid rap tableau of a poor black upbringing, and “Where Do We Begin Now” reflects on sisterly affection; but “Holy War”, critiquing the separatist urge to build walls, seems somewhat after the fact in this of all weeks”.
The great reception for Here means that, as we look into this new decade, there is plenty of demand for a new Alicia Keys album. I will mention that in a second. I am keen to quote from an interview Keys gave to The Guardian when prompting Here in 2016. We learn more about her early life, and Keys discussed the political situation at the time – 2016 is the year Donald Trump was elected President in America:
“At 12, in 1993, she attended the newly created, publicly funded Professional Performing Arts School, 10 minutes walk from home and just off Broadway. Claire Danes and Britney Spears were pupils at one time. She was tutored by “Miss Aziza…” she says wistfully. Aziza Miller – “One of the most phenomenal women jazz instructors ever to be born. She was a pianist, an arranger, a producer, a composer, and she had so much vocal prowess. She was badass. And I know for a fact that she influenced a large part of what I became.”
The school kept her off the streets. “You walked out the door, you had to be ready to protect yourself,” she says. “Be covered up, just get to where you were going. I couldn’t wear skirts, I couldn’t wear heels. On the other hand, it was kind of the area where whoever didn’t belong anywhere else could come, and belong.”
Keys has said that having children has made her feel more womanly. “As I grow and I get older I’m realising more and more that there’s such a beautiful, sensual power that we have as women,” she says. “It’s really unbelievable and that’s why everybody falls to our feet.”
In a piece for Lena Dunham’s Lenny newsletter, she explained the decision to go without makeup which has gripped the world – from the TV hosts on NBC’s Today morning news show, who wiped their own off in solidarity, to the messageboards of Muslim girls debating the difference between liberation and empowerment. The stuff made her feel like a “chameleon”, she says. Going without it is a terrific marketing trick: she even wrote a lyric that goes, “Maybe all this Maybelline is covering my esteem”. And her makeup artist recently revealed that the no-makeup look actually requires quite a bit of makeup.
Does she think there’s been a change, in the way female R&B looks now?
“Yes. To me, it just seems like there’s a lot less variety,” she says. “When you talk about the TLCs, or the Marys, you had a chance to see women in different orbits. [TLC’s] Chilli was one way, T-Boz had a whole other style. Now, I think we see almost only one thing when it comes to female performers. Obviously they’re beautiful, so you want to emulate that. But I think there’s some confusion as to what beauty looks like – it can only be oversexualised. What’s refreshing is when you see people who know how to express themselves in a multitude of ways.
“We think – or maybe we’re shown – that the only way to express ourselves is through that very sexy energy. I think there’s more than that which shows our power. For me, I sometimes feel the most sexy when I’m totally covered head to toe.”
We meet in the week that it was revealed that Donald Trump acknowledged that his daughter is a piece of ass – and that 35 is the age he tends to check out on a woman.
She cracks her knuckles unnervingly loudly. “I don’t listen to anything that he says. Does anybody care what he thinks about women? That’s the only question. I just was wondering?”.
There is an album rumoured this year, A.L.I.C.I.A., that will be very interesting in the wake of #MeToo, Trump’s continued reign and political events around the world. I am not sure how long we have to wait, but keep your eyes peeled for Alicia Keys news. She has no tour dates planned yet, but that will change when we get a new album. At the moment, I was eager to show how Keys’ work has evolved and what a remarkable artist she is. Keys is, as the song goes, a girl on fire; a woman with few equals and a long career ahead. For so many reasons…
PHOTO CREDIT: Philippe Bialobos
LONG may she burn brightly!