Alicia Keys: 'I'm not angry any more'

By Chrissy Iley

UPDATED: 19:01 EST, 17 November 2012

Mellow, open, relaxed – what’s happened to the famously intense soul star? She explains her new-found peace to Chrissy Iley

'A lot of people, when they have babies, take them home and think, who are you? What are you doing here? Then eventually they fall for them. Not me. It was love at first sight'

Alicia Keys is jet lagged, picking at some mango, pineapple and cucumber, and drinking almond tea sweetened with agave. She has never drunk coffee. She doesn’t need the stimulation; Alicia is always switched on.

Her face is fresh but for Cleopatra eyeliner that makes her look like a silver-screen movie star. Her hair, recently shorn, is slicked back close to her head. Her nails are blood red ovals with the half moons painted creamy, very 1940s.

A string of mega-selling albums – Songs In A Minor (her debut, released when she was only 20, sold more than 12 million copies), The Diary of Alicia Keys, As I Am and The Element of Freedom – made her a worldwide superstar, yet she remained strangely ambiguous, never releasing any personal details about herself.

Alicia grew up an only child with her hard-working Irish-Italian mother Teresa Augello, who was an actress and legal secretary. Her father Craig Cook, a former flight attendant turned masseur, left her mother when Alicia was two, and she spent many years having no relationship with him at all. But upon the death in 2006 of her paternal grandmother, with whom she was very close, she gradually came to reconsider their relationship and recently decided to give it a fresh start.

When we meet, Alicia is listening to one of her new tracks, ‘Brand New Me’ from her album Girl on Fire. The track best sums up how her life has changed since finding love with Swizz Beatz (rapper and producer Kasseem Dean) and becoming a mother to son Egypt (named after the country, which she visited a few years ago).

It’s been a slow revolution that has seen Alicia transform from a feisty street kid from New York’s Hell’s Kitchen with her hair in braids, a girl who expressed everything through music yet was wary and uncomfortable in her own skin, to a new Alicia, not only more confident but more warm, open and trusting. With each album there has been an emotional shift, with Alicia becoming less afraid to express who she is.

The album Girl on Fire is fierce. ‘Brand New Me’ didn’t happen straight away, it was an evolution. It was a whole journey to get there. Some of the songs on Girl on Fire are very vulnerable. Some are me talking to myself in a subconscious way. Some have a sense of abandonment, of letting go.

Egypt is awesome, he’s two and just so silly. We feel so right together, we definitely fit.

A lot of people, when they have babies, take them home and think, who are you? What are you doing here? Then eventually they fall for them. Not me. It was love at first sight and it got progressively obsessional. I want to be there every second. I would like to have more. At least one. Every woman thinks she wants a girl and so did I, but I’m so glad he’s a boy. The mother-son bond is really powerful.

Women are more complex by nature. Daughters are often closer to their fathers. I grew up with only my mother. Recently I feel both me and my father have grown up. I think something happens when you become a grandparent. You have a different mind-set. There’s less pressure on the relationship, so maybe it’s closer. He was with Egypt last week and he loved it.

Since Egypt I’m more peaceful. I’m a more comfortable-in-my-own-skin person. But it happened before that too. I was becoming more open. I started to understand things better.

My father and I are fine now. I would say in the process of growing up you realise you’ve been holding on to anger. I was angry then and am sure I had the right to be angry, but if you hold on to all this anger the only person you’re hurting is you.

The process started when my [paternal] grandmother became ill. You realise what’s important when you see a person you love dearly and you’re not going to have them for long. It was important to her. And I saw [my father’s] love for her. I realised he wasn’t an evil person so I said, ‘Can we start from this point on? Can we be friends? I can start to understand you and you can start to understand me.’

'I feel I have roots in Egypt, although I’m not sure of the exact origins. Who knew one trip
to Egypt would change my life?'

It’s been a long process sorting out my work-life balance since having Egypt. The first process was just bringing him home and for three months just being with him. ‘Do I start to record now? How do I do that?’ What I learned from Egypt was that I should not always be in the studio. I thought I got more done by staying there longer, but I can get more done in less time by being more sustained and focused.

I never had a social life before when I was making a record. I would think nothing else should come anywhere near it and I was so boring. I’m much more fun now.

There are so many babies born with nobody. Having a son makes me realise, wow, what about those babies who for whatever reason are abandoned? Perhaps their mothers passed away and they have never known contact, that touch from their babyhood. I don’t know if I would adopt, but it’s a beautiful thing to do.

I learned that it takes 18 months before you really shed the baby weight. I gained 30lb, which isn’t that much, and once the baby comes out a lot of weight comes with that, but the rest, about 10lb, seems to stay. You are constantly trying to figure out what to do. Eventually I resigned myself to the fact that this will take as long as it takes and at around 18 months the last 10lb went.

When I ran away to Egypt it was the first vacation I had ever taken in my adult life. I went on my own, completely alone. It came at a time when I realised I could not hold everything together.

I had been dealing with a lot [her grandmother’s illness and death and the onslaught of fame]. I went to the Valley of the Kings, I sailed down the Nile and I swam in the Red Sea.

I saw the power of human beings and the inspiration of things that have lasted for thousands of years. I feel I have roots in Egypt, although I’m not sure of the exact origins. Who knew one trip
to Egypt would change my life? I’d like to think I could still go on my own. Everyone needs alone time.

There are times when I’m not alone, but I’m in my own space. Like in the gym. I’ve just started to do boxing. I’m loving it. I don’t care what the music is that I work out to, I just need a rhythm. Afro-Cuban is good, Spanish is good too.

There are some things you can’t change and some things you’re going to have to change. I’ve learnt so much recently. I think I had boxed myself in because of other people’s opinions, other people’s fears and thoughts, so I stopped worrying what other people’s worries might be.

I cut my hair and I love it. It really is the embodiment of everything I’ve been doing over these past couple of years. Letting go, freedom, empowerment, doing my own thing. I might never go back to long hair.

I feel connected to both my parents’ roots. My mother is Irish-Italian. Her Italian grandparents were from Sicily. I have never been there so I would like to go. Whenever I’m in Italy people always ask me, ‘Are you a little Italian?’ They can see it. I would like to take one of those DNA tests because it would be great to know where my exact lineage is from. I’m not sure of my father’s roots. He is African-American, but what does that actually mean?

'If I went back to college I would study business and marketing. I’d like to understand the fundamentals behind the things I put in action every day'

I feel at peace when I cook, though these days I don’t cook a lot because there’s often the question of do I sleep or cook? Definitely sleep.

When I went to college I had no idea what I wanted to study. I went for the experience and to find out what pulled me. Now if I went back I would study business and marketing. I’d like to understand the fundamentals behind the things I put in action every day.

My husband and I knew each other for years. We were both in the same industry. We first met when we were something like 16 – a high-school friend of his ended up being managed by the same people as me. He and I used to hang out and say things like, ‘Maybe we’ll work together one day.’ It’s cute that we knew each other when we were 16 but it was not an instant connection. It was a very slow burn, but it does still burn and it’s beautiful.

I’ve always had to be part of myself with people, but with him I can be my whole self and he loves me when I am. And I love when he is his whole self.

Sometimes we walk into a room together and everyone gravitates towards him, and there are times when we walk into a room and everyone gravitates towards me. I love it when people love him. And he loves it when people love me. It’s a really balanced thing, and I’m glad I don’t have to pull back this part of myself.  It’s pretty special and now with our beautiful Egypt we just thank each other every day.

My collaboration with Emeli Sandé came about randomly and I love how things happen like that. I was celebrating the tenth anniversary of Songs In A Minor with four shows. One of them was at the Royal Albert Hall and I was looking for a support act. Emeli has a song called ‘Breaking The Law’ which I had played endlessly, so I said, ‘Let’s have her open the show’. [Although] we didn’t meet each other that night, she was coming to New York and we ended up getting together and decided to do some writing. It was instant chemistry. Rarely does it happen like that. She is a unique and important artist who will be around for a long time. We worked on three songs on this album which are all awesome.

'I cut my hair and I love it. It’s the embodiment of everything I’ve been doing − letting go, freedom, doing my own thing’

NEW KEYS

BEST RECENT READ Isabel Allende’s book about Haiti. Unbelievable.
LISTENING TO a lot of Afro-Cuban, Fela Kuti, Frank Ocean, Emeli Sandé and Alabama Shakes.
WEARING I’m in love with Givenchy. Also I love sweat pants and low-hanging tanks with heels.
MUST-HAVE MAKE-UP Eyeliner. I like a make-up line called Tarte.
RECENTLY SPLASHED OUT ON I haven’t, but my husband bought a Morgan car. It’s handmade and incredible. I’ll gladly drive that bad boy.
CITY New York. But outside that, Barcelona.
UNFULFILLED AMBITION I have so many. I want to be able to try new passions, do things I don’t even know yet. I want to learn.
STYLE ICON Bianca Jagger.

Alicia’s album Girl On Fire will be released by RCA Records on 26 November