Words by Bailey Agbai
As her debut album turns 20, we look back on the trailblazing career of the legendary Alicia Keys.
Although a 15-time Grammy Award-winner and piano prodigy with four number one albums under her belt, Alicia Keys is criminally underrated when it comes to discussing the 21st-century greats of music and culture.
There’s often a debate surrounding whether or not song writing is vital to a musician’s authenticity. I would personally argue that, yes, it is: how are we to truly understand an artist if the words they sing or rap are not their own, and therefore not reflective of their emotions and thoughts? Alicia Keys, through her power to craft a song from the ground up, perfectly encapsulates what it means to be an ‘authentic’ musician, and she represents one of the last great singer-songwriters of our time. What makes her ability to create songs so unique and inimitable is her aptitude for effortlessly blending different genres – a claim which artists often make without the body of work to support it.
For instance, her debut album, Songs in A Minor (which also happens to be celebrating its 20th anniversary this week), features elements ranging from neo-soul to classical. Keys, as a multiracial woman raised in New York, has always taken inspiration from the different cultures she grew up around and combined them with an artistic flair that most musicians would struggle to emulate.
But this ability to transcend the often-rigid borders of genre is a talent she’s constantly demonstrated beyond her first album, too. Skipping eight years after Songs in A Minor, Keys released The Element of Freedom, which boasted tracks such as “Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart” and the stripped-down version of Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”.
What both this album’s material and Keys’ appearance on the now-iconic Jay-Z hit demonstrate is her willingness to move with the times. Artists come and go, and often they fail to remain relevant because of an inability to evolve with the culture. The Element of Freedom showed that Alicia Keys was aware of mainstream music’s shift towards both a hip-hop sound and electronica-tinged R&B production.
The keen ear she has for the sounds of the time has resulted in an endless slew of hits: “You Don’t Know My Name”, “If I Ain’t Got You”, “My Boo”, “No One”, “Girl on Fire”. The list goes on. However, I would suggest that perhaps the true power of Keys’ talent for song writing, vocals and understanding the world around her can be found within her lesser-known songs. For instance, I Need You, an album cut from her third effort As I Am, completely relegates the use of the piano: a very un-Alicia-Keys thing to do. Instead, the track boasts an inarguably soulful sound accompanied by unexpected rock elements that aid Keys in differentiating herself from the average R&B singer.
Beyond the studio, Keys has made a name for herself in the beauty world, too. 2016 saw her adopt a make-up free image, revealing that her previous use of it had been born out of a misconceived need rather than genuine desire. As a well-known celebrity, her openness in rejecting make-up in favour of a natural look was a brave and admirable stance to take in an industry so often concerned with the superficial.
But despite her advocacy of a more natural look and her social activism spanning issues such as HIV/AIDS and human rights, Alicia Keys’ legacy is still very much synonymous with her music. There’s an element of honesty to be found in the sound of her voice: she speaks her truth and creates the music she wants to, because she can. Her ability to write, sing, produce and play several instruments has resulted in one of the most authentically soulful careers of the 21st-century, and the worlds of music and beyond would be wise to remember her enduring impact.
Check out our profile of influential Hollywood filmmaker Spike Lee.