[TR24][OF] Alicia Keys - KEYS - 2021 (R&B)

Alicia Keys - vocals, piano
etc.

Alicia Keys was born in New York in a musical environment dominated by stars like Biggie and Jay Z. The natural talent of the young Alicia Keys was soon transformed into an explosive mixture of hip-hop and soul, with an incredible ability to create good songs as a composer, showing a maturity that one would expect in a young age. If we add all the vocal strength of Alice, his heartfelt live performances and his experience as a classical pianist, is easy to think that Alicia Keys has a good chance of becoming the new Roberta Flack of our generation.
From the beginning, Alicia Keys has been the subject of genuine dispute between some of the major record companies in the world, in their desire to incorporate into its catalog of artists to a star with so much future. Finally, Alicia Keys has signed its first contract with Arista Records in 1998. With a talent similar to that of artists like D'Angelo or Prince, continued to develop the writing, producing and recording his first album, an album in which he began working at age 14.
In late 1999, Alicia Keys followed the footsteps of Clive Davis when he created his own label, J Records, distributed by Arista, where he continued to shape its anticipated debut album. The themes show the unmistakable symptoms of finding a star of critics and audiences, through songs melodic, deep and full of content that allow us to discover in all its glory Alicia musical. Most of the songs on the album, including a composition as bright as Fallin 'Troubles shocking or have been written and produced by herself. In addition, Alicia Keys has worked with Jermaine Dupri and Isaac Hayes Girlfriend in Rock wit U, an issue that was included in the soundtrack to the film Shaft (2000).
Alicia Keys won five Grammys in 2001, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year (for the track Fallin ').
In 2003, he presented his second paper, "The Diary of Alicia Keys", an album that takes as its inspiration the American music of the seventies. Through this work, Alicia Keys got eight more nominations for a Grammy.Alicia Keys.
In 2005 appears "Unplugged", the acoustic MTV dedicated to the artist and debuted at number one in sales in the United States. With this album, Alicia Keys got four new Grammy Award nominations.
Published in 2007 Alicia Keys 'As I Am', her third studio album after the successful 'The Diary of Alicia Keys', published in 2003. With the song 'No One', as the first single, reached No. 1 on Billboard's list of only ten hours after it began to sound in the U.S. radio. Alicia defined as 'an encounter between Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin', 'As I Am' shows his talent for composition and production. and the situation as one of the few artists able to capture the spirit of the old school and update. In late 2009 Alicia Keys releases her fifth album, entitled "The Element Of Freedom", which includes a duet with Beyonce and a DVD with an intimate live recording of three of the most representative of the album, and their great success and No One Does not Mean Anything music video.

Alicia Keys is welcoming everyone into her world with her all-new double album, “KEYS,”
15-time GRAMMY® Award-winning artist and worldwide-celebrated music icon Alicia Keys is welcoming everyone into her world with her all-new double album, “KEYS,” out December 10th via RCA Records. Upon arrival to the world of “KEYS,” you will experience a dual world featuring all new Originals that are quintessential Alicia Keys as everyone has come to know and love her since her debut. Along with the Originals side, you will also experience the Unlocked version where Alicia sampled her all new originals with the help of GRAMMY® Award winning producer Mike Will for an all new kind of vibe on the Unlocked side.
The 26-track set, which she calls “one of the most exciting projects I ever did,” will feature two sides containing different versions of the same songs. The “Originals” side consists of 14 “laidback piano vibes,” produced entirely by Alicia, with appearances from Pusha T (“Plentiful”) and Brandi Carlile (“Paper Flowers”).
The “Unlocked” side boasts “upbeat, drums, level up vibes,” produced by Alicia and Mike Will Made-It. In addition to the single “LALA” with Swae Lee, the 12 tracks include collaborations with Lil Wayne on “Nat King Cole” and Khalid and Lucky Daye on “Come for Me.”
"The pandemic hit, and a lot of people would ask me when it first started, "Are you feeling so creative? Are you stuck in the house just creating everything?" And I actually wasn't. I didn't feel creative at all. I had lost my center and didn't really know how to find peace. It started to get quite uncomfortable and frustrating because how do we all return to some form of normalcy, right? Obviously, we couldn't tour and do all the normal things that we could do. So I did get right back in and I knew that I wanted to do this album called Keys. I've known it for years. It's been ready for five years, this concept, and this album really focusing on the piano and being about the songs and the rawness. And as I started to create it, I realized that it was a homecoming for me because it brought me back to that center that I was looking for but couldn't quite find for a minute there. It's so grounded in songwriting and raw expression. I didn't worry about production. I didn't worry about anything. It was all about the piano and creating songs that made you feel. And as we were creating, it did actually flow pretty effortlessly.
And as we were flowing through it, myself and my engineer Ann Mincieli — she's been with me for a long time and is a super badass magician — we started conversating about this concept about these two worlds. There's so many sides to all of us, and that's a lot of what I'm always thinking about, and exploring in my own life and music. So we started talking about putting together a whole other side of the Keys universe, and she suggested I connect with [rap producer] Mike Will. And when I connected with Mike Will, it was instant vibes. So I had this whole body of work that we were calling Keys, and I wanted to see what would happen if I sampled myself. Like if you found a vintage Nina Simone record and you wanted to sample it and give it another energy, what would it sound like? That's literally the concept of Keys. So Keys is the whole body of work. And then inside of Keys, there's the "Originals," which is all that music that was all about the piano and that rawness. And then there's "Unlocked," which is myself and Mike Will sampling myself, and coming up with this whole other sound." (Alicia Keys - Entertainment Weekly)