And I never, ever had to wait for anybody to write something for me." "And the actual knowledge of music, which then unlocked the ability to be able to write my own music and put my own chords and things I heard in my own head to different lyrics I felt.
focus, the ability to pay attention for a long enough period of time to make progress," she says. And for me, mostly a piano and a voice." Keys was drawn to the piano from an early age, and reaped benefits from the hours of practice she put in while friends were outside playing. It's so opposite from me."īut, Keys says, "there are ingredients that make it more digestible. "Some people are very mathematical writers, which is very intriguing.
A REAL MAN ALICIA KEYS YOUTUBE SERIES
And I kinda always wanna be like that," she tells Jason King in the latest episode of NPR Music's documentary series Noteworthy. "Every time I write a song, I never know how it happens. 1 on the pop charts and became repertoire for televised singing competitions 15 years after that first armful of Grammys, Alicia Keys says her songwriting has not become any more scientific.
Even though these building blocks have helped her stand apart from pop trends while forging a remarkable career, Keys says the making of a classic song is still a mystery to her.įifteen years after the release of her first album 15 years after her first single, "Fallin'" went to No. There are a few elements that reliably form the basis for an Alicia Keys song: heartache or infatuation, an essential tenderness and emotion made heavy with wisdom, a patiently unfurling melody and, of course, that voice, yearning and ready to break, even as it remains in control.