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Interview
by SashaS
31-10-2002
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| Alicia in A Major Keys |
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Cook-ing in A Major
Alicia Keys works on “a double album released in two parts”
Hype machine never rests and right now the full media attention is on Ashanti, the writer of J-Lo’s ‘I’m Real’ and ‘Always On Time’, who’ s been delighting our Ameri-cuzes with her R’n’B brand as on the single ‘Foolish’. Only months ago the same focus was on Alicia Keys and it is not surprising that she, despite winning five Grammys, Soul Train and BET awards and selling close to 5 million albums, didn't find time for summer hols. On the contrary, the braided beauty is digging deeper into work mode, releasing another single, ‘How Come You Don’t Call Me’ (a reworking of Prince’s song), from the maiden album ‘Songs In A Minor’, touring it and recording CD #2.
Alicia Keys made tentative steps towards global recognition just over a year ago and scored two huge global smashers, ‘Fallin’’ and ‘A Woman’s Worth’. From another hopeful and (anonymous) sexy lady on a street she can’t walk it anymore without bodyguards. Ms Keys wrote and produced a song, ‘Impossible’, for Christina Aquilera’s ‘Stripped’ album, following the guest-spot on Angie Stone’s single ‘Brotha’ alongside Eve, the ‘xXx’ cameo-appearing rappette, whom she helped score a major ‘Gangsta Lovin’’ hit.
Keys has interrupted recording her second LP and working on developing a film for Disney (but not rumoured remake of ‘A Star is Born’ alongside Will Smith) with a co-starring role for the multiple Grammy winner. Her manager said that it would be “a tearjerker, a little bit of ‘Sparkle’, a little bit of ‘Lady Sings the Blues’.”
Alicia ‘Delicia’ (real name Alicia Augello Cook) was also invited to speak/perform in the House Of Commons, a very rare privilege indeed and is back for more live dates but now in the Arena-sized places.
“After my American tour,” Keys played sold-out dates during September, “I had some time off and did some music listening, reading and writing… I’m always writing, recording, getting down ideas. After I finish this half of the tour, I’m going to be in the studio, working hard on this next album. (I’m) Really, really ready for it. It’s gonna be off the hook.”
Sista’s doin’ it
For her sophomore LP Keys has a concept that will tie her two discs together “into one masterpiece.” (Such modesty, dear…) She’ll write and produce most of it but she doesn’t rule a possibility of collaborating with others for part of the project.
“I’m not writing from a different place,” Keys dissects her creativity, “I’m writing from my heart, and that’s where we all are… No matter what circumstances you are in, there’s these things that always affect you, that always happen to you no matter who you are. You could be dead broke and alone, you could be rich and troubled... Life always helps me write, it is such a great pool of inspiration…”
As much as we can learn about her from the music, she’s very guarded about private life; still, what happened to the guy who provided so much heartache on her debut album?
“Songwriting is trying to figure out,” her answer appears to skirt the issue, “when you are young especially, what you think, what you feel, what’s happening and what you are going through, how you deal with it… Such trials and tribulations supply a lot of themes. I think that it is the nature of what I was feeling, the period I went through…”
“And, you are right, I don’t talk about my private life but I can tell you that we are still together. He’s learnt his lessons… It is all good.”
Siren’s snog
It’ll be tough to match the success Keys’s had with her debut disc but touring out some of the deviant edges of her album this summer should be a help. The singer is giving some of her new work a test run on tour: “I may try new material. I also have learned so much from my last tour. I observed a lot and took in a lot. I definitely plan to change it up a bit, but the show is already a journey.”
Elevated to a star-circle she’s obviously met a lot of her heroes; has her wish-list of artists she’d like to work with, been shortened or lengthened?
“Of the living persons, I’d love to collaborate with Prince, who’s my idol, and Lauryn Hill. I think she is incredible… And, if he were alive, Danny Hathaway; he is one of my all-time favourite artists. And, if I could choose any time to live in, it would be the 1970s; there was so much truth in the songs of the day and I remember discovering Curtis Mayfield or Marvin Gaye, Sly and The Family Stone… They were people who sang what they felt about personal things, about spiritual, about political things…That period feels to me like they felt they had barriers to break and they did just that.”
Tour dates:
02 November – Wembley Arena, London
03 November – Wembley Arena, London
05 November – Centre, Brighton
06 November – NEC, Birmingham
08 November – Docklands Arena, London
SashaS
31-10-2002
Alicia Keys’s album ‘Songs In A Minor’ is available now on J Records/BMG
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