Keys eager to connect with fans "As I Am"

By Gail Mitchell

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.