SheвЂ™s continued to put up hall-of-fame numbers: in her first two decades, Keys never had an album chart lower than No. KeysвЂ™ combination of elegant songcraft and raw attitude would give hits like вЂњFallinвЂ™вЂќ (2001) and вЂњNo OneвЂќ (2007) ample crossover appeal among pop, R&B and adult-contemporary audiences, and she carved out a place in the rap canon thanks to her skyscraping chorus on JAY-ZвЂ™s ubiquitous 2009 anthem вЂњEmpire State of MindвЂќ. The artist born Alicia Augello Cook in 1981 was classically trained but a product of the streets, raised by a single mother in a rough HellвЂ™s Kitchen neighbourhood from which piano-playing offered sanctuary. All of me is poured into it, but it's just truly grown to another level.As R&B hurtled toward the future in the early 2000s and pop was achieving new levels of gloss, Alicia Keys stood out not just as a torchbearer for organic, old-school soul, but as a quadruple threat-captivating singer, skilled keyboardist, pop-savvy songwriter and ambitious producer-rarely seen since the heydays of Stevie Wonder and Prince. It sits in the same place in regards to my heart and soul. When you pick up this album, you're gonna feel the evolution from Songs in A Minor. 'My production has grown, my songwriting. 'I've just evolved so much and I've grown so much vocally and musically,' Keys said, commenting on her artistic advancement since her debut two years ago. 'It will never be the same,' she scoffs before taking words from the late comedian Robin Harris, 'Gotta go, gotta go.' Keys is left with nothing but her pride and a few tears when her lover bolts (again) after years of causing her heartache and pain on 'Samsonite Man.' Apparently Sammy has a pattern of leaving and then coming back into the picture, but this time Keys is turning the tables and making his departure final. Keys' flow is jazzy and it goes well with the drums, organs and horns as she tells us that 'Some people live for the fortune, some people live for the fame/ Some people live for the power, some people live just to play the game.' Alicia insists she's living for the love of that special someone, reiterating that 'Everything means nothing if I ain't got you.' It's just Alicia calling shots on the song 'If I Ain't Got You.' Although she produced and wrote the record herself, she was able to keep the old-school vibe. But for 'If I Was Your Woman,' we brought in Easy Mo Bee to work with myself and Dwayne Wiggins from Tony! Toni! Tone! That's like three worlds colliding and it's crazy.'

I experimented with that a lot, too, which was a great thing. In Gladys Knight's case she had the Pips, so it was like her as a woman and then male backgrounds. I really love how back then they really used vocal backgrounds in a different style. 'It's one of my favorite songs in the world,' Keys beamed. Keys took it back to 1971 for a remake of Gladys Knight and the Pips' 'If I Were Your Woman' for The Diary's 'If I Was Your Woman/ Walk on By.' I like to call it 'Back to the Future.' ' A lot of this album feels like that to me. It's just innovative - it's fresh, it's sweet. 'For me, the music that I love the most is the music from the '60s and '70s. 'Kanye is really a soulful brother, so we connected immediately,' Keys said. The old-school flavor of the duo's collaboration might remind listeners of records their grandmother played. Luckily, the five-time Grammy winner knew Kanye West's name, sterling track record and contact number. Your imagination runs away with you, but in actuality you don't even know them and they don't even know your name.' You think about what would happen if we went out on our first date, what would happen if we had our first kiss. You think about how their voice might sound. 'You imagine all these things about them. ' is about the first time you see a person,' she said. Her second LP, The Diary of Alicia Keys, dropped on Tuesday and many fans have already fallen for its first, piano-driven cut. The singer was only joking and is far from retiring. Sanford, because this is not the big one. I'm really excited about this 'cause it's is a brand new beginning, you know? Wonderful things.'ДЇans of the braided artist can stop clutching their chests like Fred G. 'I'm getting out of music and I'm now going to become a waitress,' Keys said recently, clad in a waitress uniform and holding back a smile on the set of the video for 'You Don't Know My Name.' 'So you'll see in the video that this is my new career.

Now Alicia Keys is saying it's a wrap for her as a performer. NEW YORK - First it was DMX, and then it was Jay-Z.

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