Alicia Keys
Your path to becoming a celebrated pop star
Alicia Keys celebrates her 40th birthday on January 25th.
© RCA / Sony Music
Alicia Keys celebrates her 40th birthday on January 25th. But only last year did she fully come to terms with herself.
Alicia Keys (40, "ALICIA") is one of those women who doesn't lose any of their good looks. Similar to Jennifer Lopez (51, "Let's Get Loud") Keys exudes a youthful elegance, which she has intensified in the past few years through her increased renouncement of make-up. She focuses on naturalness and has virtually optimized the no-make-up look, whether in music videos, TV shows or on social media. The singer, who is now celebrating her 40th birthday, first had to find the way to more naturalness and to herself.
Alicia Keys' steep career
The singer had to fight for her success today. One of their most famous current songs is called "Underdog". Keys was also such an "underdog" as a child. "I was raised by a single mother. She's a champion, she's my inspiration. People said I would never get very far, but I was created to teach them better," Keys said in early 2020 in an interview with "Complex".
Keys grew up in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood in New York's Manhattan borough, which has long been considered one of the most dangerous places in the US city. She was enthusiastic about music from an early age, and at the age of five, the later pop star received her first piano and ballet lessons. Keys graduated from high school prematurely, after which she decided against studying and for music. However, nothing came of her first label contract.
It wasn't until 2001 that she achieved her big breakthrough with her debut album "Songs in A Minor", which sold over twelve million times worldwide. What came next is music history: Songs like "Fallin '" (2001), "Another Way to Die" (2008), "Empire State of Mind" (2009) and "Girl on Fire" (2012) conquered the charts on the the whole world. Alicia Keys has won 15 Grammys to date, and in 2019 and 2020 she herself hosted the award ceremony for the music prize.
"I am closer to myself than ever before"
In the meantime Keys has come to terms with itself. The 40-year-old said last year that she only found out who she really was while working on her latest album, "ALICIA". "I'm in a place in my life where I love and accept all the different facets of myself," she explained to "Complex".
"In the past, I've only known certain aspects of myself." Now she is ready to get in touch with all sides. She had never been able to name an album "ALICIA" before. But now she is "closer to me than ever before". The 40-year-old is also doing well in her private life: she has been married to rapper Swizz Beatz (42) for over ten years, and the two have sons Egypt (10) and Genesis (6).
Political pop against racism and police violence
Recently, Alicia Keys has also made more political statements. In the 2020 US election campaign, she called for people to vote. On her new album "ALICIA" she addressed racism and police violence, for example in the songs "Underdog" and "Perfect Way To Die". Keys sings the latter from the perspective of a mother whose child was murdered, as she explained in a statement on the song. "So many have died unjustly," she said. "We all know that none of these innocent lives should have been taken because of police violence."
Only recently, together with a few other artists, demanded a strict campaign against racism. She addressed the message to the new US administration under Joe Biden (78), who was sworn in on January 20. In the video which was published by "NowThis", are the names of some of the victims of police violence.
On Martin Luther King Day, which was celebrated on January 18, Keys wrote on Instagram: "There is so much to change, especially in the ongoing fight for justice and against white supremacy and racism. But we see how far we come, if we do it together! That really crystallized out for me over the past year. Don't let anything discourage you because we are so strong together. "