Where does Alicia Keys find inspiration?
But perhaps the secret has always been written in the stars.
Its okay if you dont exercise as much right now.
Its okay if you cant read a book anymore.
Its okay if you fall asleep at 8:30 in front of the same Netflix show every night.
Give yourself permission, be kind, practice self-care.
Its what the self-help people say on Instagram.
Alicia Keys doesnt seem to buy it.
Shes telling me how she tries to have a rig-free day every week.
Last night, my kids were in bed, she says.
It was Sunday her day of no devices.
I was sitting on a couch and I was like, What should I be doing?
Should I be doing something?
Writing in my journal?
I should be doing something.
That idea of sitting with your- self is just not something that were taught.
She held to it.
She sat there with herself.
It wasnt okay with her to push off her discomfort onto a TV show or distract herself with music.
In her view, letting yourself off the hook isnt relief; getting yourself to feel okay is relief.
But I dont ask for a virtual hug.
I keep the interview going.
We are only about 15 minutes into our first conversation.
(There will be two: first, a get-to-know-you session; second, a get-to-know-your-future session.
We will confer with an astrologer the next day, someone Keys has recommended.)
Oh, look, says Alicia Keys, when I mention this.
Keys and her husband, Swizz Beatz, have five children between them.
I ask Keys what a typical day in an atypical world looks like for her.
I take a stab at wake up at 5:30, she says.
I want some things before the day goes away and then I can never get it back.
I love to do mymeditationearly and usually piggyback that with a workout.
Ill be done maybe at 6:30, 6:45, and then Ill start to wake the kids up.
It takes me a hundred years to wake them up.
We leave the house about 7:40 and bring them to school.
Then I have adult time, she says.
A lot of the times I will work.
I will create until eight, nine, ten, sometimes later.
I give a shot to wake up at 5:30 to do meditation and a workout.
Then Ill start to wake the kids, [which] takes me 100 years.
Ive been traveling with music since I was 17 or 18, she says.
Theres really never been a time when Ive just been still.
Being still, being present, being solid with your family unit….
It all sounds wonderful.
And it sounds even more wonderful, if slightly incredible, in Keyss affirming, melodic voice.
But then: Man, if I cant find my own space, she says, shaking her head.
Okay, now were getting somewhere.
We all need our own space, just period.
No matter what you do or what your job is, you need your own space.
If Alicia Keys can have a crisis of confidence, isnt that validating for the rest of us?
Isnt that all part of it when she opens her mouth and sings about pain and loss and love?
Dont we believe her more?
In my creative process, I always start very insecure, she says.
Im like, Is this right?
How is this landing?
Do I feel good about this?
And Im like, You know what?
Then I start to feel more swaggy and confident.
To anyone else, it would be a bunch of products in a line of skin care.
She really does believe that we all need to fundamentally take care of ourselves, even our souls.
I dont want to sell people stuff, I really dont, she says.
Ive never felt comfortable in my skin.
The centering that Keys talks about is a process, one that has served her well over the years.
I love the idea of creating these rituals and [learning] how we can make new ones.
I started with the rituals that I use in my life, likelighting a candle, she explains.
I will say that to myself and that becomes my mantra.
This acceptance of being comfortable with good things happening to metheres nothing wrong with that.
This is when I get to watch Alicia Keys have an idea.
Its something it’s possible for you to kind of imagine.
(No One was the most-listened-to song of 2008 on the radio.)
But I dont want nothing at all if I aint got you, baby.
(If I Aint Got You, 2004.)
Then she does it right in front of me.
Were talking about how this past year has subtracted human connection.
Its so easy to never leave your comfort zone, I say.
Its true, she says, pausing, thinking.
We have access to everything.
It might be a song.
Let me see if thats a song….
I need to write that.
Its called, The Other Side of the Screen.
If Im honest, talking to Alicia Keys at her moment of inspiration is a little unsettling.
Suddenly, I feel like Im spying on her.
The next day, when Keys and I meet again, theres an astrologer on Zoom with us.
Alicia, this year, you are obviouslyan Aquariuswith an Aquarius rising, says Patricia, the astrologer.
What does that mean?
You got Saturn, you got the sun, Jupiter, and Mercury all in the first house.
It makes it very Aries.
That means its basically all about you this year.
Yes, says Keys.
As for me, it turns out I have a little problem with Saturn.
Patricia says a lot of things to me about Saturn.
What does that mean?
Saturn will bring frustrations, Danielle, Patricia says.
You have a 14 degree down there.
The Saturn is pretty much on your Venus right now.
You might have to fix stuff around the home.
I dont know if that means I should upgrade my kitchen faucet or get a divorce.
Keys wonders, asking the operative question.
Thats whyCapricornsare so successful they dont get emotional.
They just fix shit.
Im sure theres something else in there, says Patricia.
Its not the Capricorn.
If I drew a heart of a Capricorn sorry, Danielle Id put an ice cube in it.
(Yep, Im a Capricorn.)
Then Patricia returns to the good things shes predicting for Keys this year.
If youre happy, she says, you might make everyone else happy.
Im bringing it forth, says Keys.
Youre putting on your oxygen mask so you might take care of others, I suggest.
Patricia makes an observation about the importance of self-awareness that particularly resonates with Keys.
I love that, she says.
No matter what youre doing, you always have to meet yourself there.
This is where I have to admit my addiction to CNN.
I hadnt watched it in years, but this yearthe election, the pandemicI could not turn it off.
Alicia Keys, I realized, is here to help us heal.
But we need her to fix her oxygen first.
check that your oxygen is good that is the theme of this year for me, she says.
It brings us back to this idea of filling yourself up.
Once your soul is cared for, you become everything you should probably be.
And you’re able to spread that as far and wide as you want to.
PHOTOGRAPHER:DARIA KOBAYASHI RITCHFASHION STYLIST:JASON BOLDENHAIR:NAIVASHAMAKEUP:TASHA BROWNNAILS:TAMEKA JACKSONPRODUCTION:VIEWFINDERS
