Free Spirit

On her latest album, this R&B good girl doesn’t just sing—she soars.  And when scandal threatens to derail Alicia Keys, she does what any self-respecting diva would do and simply flies above the haters

By Tomika Anderson
Photography by Mike Schre & Yu Tsai
Styled by Wourie Vice/Epiphany Artist Group


Alicia Keys is hunched over a sparkling black Yahama piano in the middle of an old creaky warehouse turned film studio in Brooklyn.  It’s so cold inside the wide, desolate space that you can see your breath.  The R&B singer, clad in a charcoal gray minidress adorned with silver sequins, is a trooper though.  Her legs look long and lean in gray-and-black-spiked boots, and her thick tresses are gathered in a neat braid at the crown of her head.  As the 12-time Grammy winner performs on this brisk October day, at least 50 people hover around her—adjusting lights, moving equipment, and shouting instructions.  Keys’ voice rises above the ruckus.  “This is your last shot!” she shouts playfully at the director, who has persuaded her to reshoot a scene for her video “Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart,” the second single off her highly anticipated fourth studio album, The Element of Freedom.  It’s past 2 p.m. and the singer still hasn’t eaten lunch, plus she’s due in wardrobe.  Her manager steps in to speed things up. bAnd Keys chimes in, “I’ve got some place to be.”