Alicia Keys on her ‘sister’ Beyoncé and ‘mind-blowing’ son
Twenty years ago, New York’s own piano woman Alicia Keys swept the Grammys, winning five gramophones for her instant-classic debut, 2001’s “Songs in A Minor,” when she was just 21.
The Recording Academy kept on falling for Keys, who went on to earn 10 more of its prestigious prizes. But the now-41-year-old star — who will headline two hometown shows at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday and Friday — has one very special Grammy that she didn’t technically win: She picked it up when John Mayer shared his Song of the Year trophy with her after his “Daughters” beat out her “If I Ain’t Got You” in 2005.
“When he was onstage, [he said that] he just felt like I deserved that for ‘If I Ain’t Got You,’ ” Keys — who has also hosted the Grammys twice in her career — told The Post. “And backstage, he took off the top of the Grammy and wrote ‘Alicia Keys’ on it, and he kept the bottom with his name on it . . . That was a beautiful moment.”
As Keys brings her COVID-delayed Alicia + Keys World Tour to Radio City, the singer-songwriter is also dropping “Keys II” — a deluxe edition of “Keys,” her double album released last December — on Friday. “Keys II” features new joints with R&B artists Lucky Daye (“Stay”) and Brent Faiyaz (“Trillions”). They join previous “Keys” collaborations with Brandi Carlile (“Paper Flowers”), Pusha T (“Plentiful”) and Lil Wayne (“Nat King Cole”).
![Alicia Keys with husband Swizz Beatz and their two sons, Genesis and Egypt.](https://mamardi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Alicia-Keys-5.jpg)
In her already-legendary career, with solo-dolo hits such as “Fallin’ ” and “No One,” Keys has collaborated with everyone from Usher and Drake to Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston to Jack White and, yes, Mayer — the two memorably paired up on 2007’s “Lesson Learned” post their Grammy-bonding moment. Still, she was once used to it being all about her “Piano & I,” as the first track on “Songs in A Minor” so aptly put it.
“It’s so interesting because I never used to be a collaborator,” she said. “As a kid, I just was terrified about collaborating with different people. I was such a loner, and, you know, for me music is such a private space. And to let people into that space — it’s terrifying. But once I got to a place where I felt more confident in my craft, and I felt more confident in who I am as a woman, I started to open myself up to collaborating.”
In a queen-meets-queen moment for the R&B ages, Keys and Beyoncé joined femme forces on the 2010 single “Put It in a Love Song.” Now, on “The Queens Remix” of Beyoncé’s No. 1 hit “Break My Soul” — which features Madonna in a mashup with her classic “Vogue” — Keys is one of the iconic black divas who gets a shout-out from Bey.
![Alicia Keys at the 2002 Grammys](https://mamardi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/ENTERTAINMENT_GRAMMYS.jpg)
“We have known each other since the beginning,” said Keys. “It’s such a beautiful thing for us to be sisters … having this level of longevity and respect. Shouting out all the different queens that she wanted to shout out — it just felt like such a beautiful sisterhood. That’s what being a queen is all about — embracing the queens around you. So I love it, I’m with it!”
These days, Keys also has another new collaborator closer to home. Egypt — her 11-year-old son, who is the oldest of two children she shares with producer-husband Swizz Beatz — is showing some of the same child-prodigy skills that propelled his mother to the Grammy stage.
“He got onstage with me and played piano — his own little set that he created — in Mannheim, Germany,” she said. “I could not believe it. I mean, it was mind-blowing, because he completely arranged it all himself. And then he went out there and performed it with all types of personality and connection with the crowd.”
![Alicia Keys](https://mamardi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/1412664363.jpg)
And Keys knows which of her hits will connect deepest with the New York crowds at Radio City. That would, of course, be “Empire State of Mind,” her 2009 No. 1 smash with Mr. Carter, Jay-Z.
“People want to hear that song everywhere, [when] you go to another city, another country. But New York is about to levitate!” she said. “And it feels so good because what I love about that song is it really is about the possibility to achieve your dreams. And that’s what New York represents.”
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