Keys eager to connect with fans "As I Am"
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Tucked away within a bucolic Burbank, Calif., neighborhood is a maze of bungalows known as Glenwood Place Studios. In one of the front bungalows on a late afternoon in mid-September, Alicia Keys intently tapped away on a laptop computer.
The singer was in town to film an episode of the new CBS series "Cane" and put the finishing touches on her third studio album, "As I Am."
The quiet, calm setting belied the multitask-filled evening ahead. After speaking with Billboard, Keys would change from her jeans, apply makeup and prepare to film spots for BET. Right after that, she would conduct a private rehearsal with her band for the upcoming appearance on "Cane."
Since Keys hit the ground running in 2001 with her first No. 1 J Records debut, "Songs in A Minor," industry observers predicted that the talented ingenue had staying power.
The 27-year-old has made a good head start. Within the past six years, Keys has scored two more No. 1 album debuts, 2003's "The Diary of Alicia Keys" and 2005's "Unplugged." And expectations are high that "As I Am," her third studio album (due November 13) will echo the success of its predecessors. The first single, "No One," already has reached the top of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart and has cracked the top five of the Billboard Hot 100.
And yet Keys, known for all-nighters in the studio, sometimes sequing from a day on a film set, knows she needs to keep the promotion cycle under control.
Indeed, Keys was run down a bit prior to the recording of "As I Am." "It was a tough time over the past 12 months," the singer said. "From the start, I'd been going nonstop (between touring, performing, awards shows, etc.) and it got to the point where I felt I was losing touch with my own feelings ... I wouldn't say no to anything. It wore me down, and I got depressed. I was smiling and going through the motions, but inside I was becoming too guarded and closed."
Sitting at her keyboard in September, the picture of calm, such troubles seemed far away, however.
"I'm feeling really excited because I can't believe this music," Keys said of "As I Am." "I'm excited for other people to be connected to it."
A STEP BACK
It took a tragedy to help Keys refocus her energies for this album. A close family member became ill, she said, and it put her career in perspective.
"It helped me get back in touch with my real emotions," Keys said. "I decided to take some time away from this ... to spend time and visit with my relative, and from that I began to understand what had been troubling me, understanding life and God's will ... That and other experiences over the past year left me with music bursting out from me. That's when I knew it was time to record."
As the title implies, "As I Am" offers more insight into Keys the artist. Deeper and more diverse in terms of its influences, the album was born out of a period of self-reflection.
Songwriter Linda Perry, who worked with Keys on "As I Am," said she noticed a significant difference in Key from when they first met, early in the singer's career. "She was extremely guarded, and I thought, 'How sad that that had happened so fast.' I reminded her of that when we talked this time and she told me, 'I've worked that out.'"
Keys recently shot the video for her Prince-vibed second single, "Like You'll Never See Me Again," written and produced by Keys and her KrucialKeys Entertainment partner, Kerry "Krucial" Brothers. That ballad is set to bow in mid-November.
And she collaborated with Floetry's Ambrosius on "Go Ahead," a female empowerment anthem about remaining true to yourself despite what others do or think. "It'll have you standing up and throwing a fist into the air," Ambrosius said.
As for "No One," currently No. 4 on the Hot 100, Keys said that "this is one song that just wrote itself," and she sang a snippet of the song, whose central idea is that no one will shake Keys' confidence in her feelings. "A lot of the songs didn't happen like that. It was one of the last songs I wrote. I needed to say this. It's full force, classical yet vintage, desperate yet triumphant. I want people to feel my soul."
Still, Keys said, she stays true to her music and isn't too conscious of what her fans may think. "Whether people get me or not, I will still feel great," she said. "I have to do what I feel. But," she added with a throaty laugh, "you do feel extra great when people can get you."
OTHER FRONTS
Key's November 12 guest spot on the CBS show "Cane," which stars Jimmy Smits, follows on the heels of film roles in two major releases this year: "The Nanny Diaries" and "Smoking Aces," which she filmed while recording "As I Am." Noting that the "acting bug came from my mother, a theater actor," Keys said she was only 4 years old when she appeared on "The Cosby Show" as a friend of Rudy Huxtable.
"Acting is a cool way to bring in multiple worlds the way others have," Keys noted. "Barbra Streisand, Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones: That's my mix."
One of her biggest ambitions currently on the cinematic front is to make music for films.
"I am dying to do some scoring," Keys said. "When the right thing comes along, I'll do that for film and theater. I don't like to do what everybody else does (such as lending their names to clothing and perfume lines). It has to be something I can do with a twist, something special. If it's something average, I don't want to do it."
Still, she considers music "something that will be in my life forever. I hope to be remembered as someone who respects and loves music, who brought something fresh and inspiring. I want to be remembered as a person of the people who had a voice and used it like a Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield."
Reuters/Billboard
