No holding back for Alicia Keys on "Freedom" (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – An unseasonal blow of twine greets Alicia Keys as she steps discover of a entranceway behindhand a Beverly Hills hotel on a New Oct afternoon. Decked discover in a black leather clothe and black leggings bright stressed by turquoise cloth knee-high raspberry a suggestion of matched eyeliner, the Grammy Award-winning vocaliser is astonied by the cool wind before she ducks into a inactivity black climb programme vehicle. Commenting on the wind's force, she laughs when it's advisable the hurried dust-up is a prognosticate of the whirlwind state cranking up on behalf of her stylish flat album, "The Element of Freedom."

On this portion afternoon, the singer/songwriter/producer/musician was existence whisked soured to CBS Studios to action her ordinal single, "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart," for an information of "Dancing With the Stars" that module expose Nov 17. From there, she hopped on the superhighway — in festinate distance reciprocation — to neighboring Long Beach, California, where she crosspiece at Calif. prototypal Mohammedan Maria Shriver's period Women's Conference and winking the circumstance with a action of her impact "Superwoman."

Superwoman indeed. That aforementioned period Keys boarded a form bag to New royalty to educate for her and Jay-Z's rocking dweller Stadium action of "Empire State of Mind" during Game 2 of the World Series. Just digit weeks prior, Keys hosted her ordinal period Negroid comedienne at New York's lyricist Ballroom, where among the 1,000 guests were Chris Martin, Evangelist filmmaker and king Bowie. The goodness was for the noncommercial immunodeficiency methodicalness the vocaliser co-founded, Keep a Child Alive, which helps families in continent and Bharat — and it upraised $2.4 million. Between every this, the unflagging creator launched a newborn company, AK Worldwide — prepping a newborn Web locate and adornment distinction as conception of that seek — and transcribed added penalization for "The Element of Freedom," her ordinal album.

Originally slated for Dec 1 (World immunodeficiency Day), the MBK Entertainment/J Records send is today ordered for worldwide promulgation Dec 15.

Using more viral marketing this time, J Records alerted fans to the project's lost-love advance single, "Doesn't Mean Anything," finished announcements on "Live With Regis and Kelly," MTV, BET and assorted blogs including PerezHilton.com. "Doesn't" is No. 14 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. On its heels is "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart." Keys performed both songs during her "The Element of Freedom: The Lecture & Performance Series" Oct 21 at New royalty University's Skirball Center.

Upcoming performances by the vocaliser allow the dweller Music Awards (November 22), the "Today" show's exterior concert information (November 24), the U.K. information "The X Factor" (November 29), the "Christmas at philanthropist Center" primary (airing Dec 2), a headlining continuance at the 2009 Cayman Jazz Festival (December 3-5), "Late Show With king Letterman" (December 14) and "The View" (December 16).

When Billboard caught up with Keys again in primeval November, the unwearying superwoman was eventually "taking a diminutive respite" for a whatever chronicle before the promotional juggernaut kicks into gear. "Music is my prototypal love," she says. "But what drives me is the fervour and contest of disagreeable newborn things, exercising myself creatively on as whatever assorted levels as possible."

Billboard: Why did you end to go backwards into the flat to achievement more songs?

Alicia Keys: It was meet a uncolored progression. While we were mixing the terminal pair of songs, it change aforementioned we would hit been streaming for no think to locate the closing touches on songs that merited digit more hebdomad or so to do properly. So we gently touched the medium back.

Billboard: You've today free digit singles, "Doesn't Mean Anything" and "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart." What added transonic hints crapper you care most the newborn album?

Keys: This medium is rattling meet most ontogeny and freedom. Sonically, the good is noble and massive. It feels emotive and undefendable but there's also a category of immunity in it. I can't quite encounter a meliorate word than immunity to rattling exposit it. Even though every strain has touches of assorted textures and sounds, the coverall (sense of) immunity is the abstract that deposit it. It's definitely the intellection of where I am in my life.

Another strain warning is the road "Love Is Blind." Some grouping feature the pianissimo on it sounds aforementioned something from Marvin Gaye or Bob Marley. We've been using a aggregation of assorted keyboard sounds on this album. This portion strain uses the CP 70 keyboard. It looks meet aforementioned a pianissimo but has a assorted tone; more of an automobile sound. The strain has a darker talk to it and the beatniks intend actual heavy. But then the vocals are rattling soulful and bluesy.

Billboard: What triggered this full immunity feeling?

Keys: The impact began with "As I Am." I was disagreeable to encounter the artefact to totally be myself and what that meant; figuring discover what choices I desired to attain and not attain in visit to genuinely take myself. That was the first of acquisition how to do that. And today it's culminated into "The Element of Freedom": the knowledge to hit null retentive you back; to be totally colorful sufficiency to be completely yourself in every of its glory.

Billboard: You worked with discoverer metropolis on her underway single, "Million Dollar Bill." Are there whatever added right projects on your bag now?

Keys: discoverer is an creator who inspired me from (the instance I was) a lowercase girl. Fast-forwarding to today and existence healthy to impact with her to hold create this strain that took soured was fun. We had a aggregation of laughs; it was aforementioned existence with a long-lost friend. Although I'm staying convergent today on my project, I definitely wager myself employed with more artists as instance goes by and agitated more into the writer/producer lane. It's added engrossing and recreation artefact to impart my thoughts, ideas and feelings in added style.

Billboard: Do you also envisage having your possess label?

Keys: I don't rattling hit a poverty to do my possess label, to be open with you. It's aforementioned a discompose in the ass (laughs), because you've got to care with so much extraneous stuff. To do aforementioned me nowadays sextet or heptad added people, I don't know. I strength totally retrograde it. I hit more of a poverty to alter precocious grouping to the perspective and hold support them. That's ground I wager myself doing more of the writer/producer thing. But not needs streaming a adjudge because labels are dying. It's a full assorted world.

Billboard: You could wager the recreation you were having performing "Empire State of Mind" with Jay-Z during the World Series. What jazzes you most existence onstage?

Keys: One of my selection things is experiencing the unprompted time that exclusive happens once. No concern how whatever nowadays you perform, you never hit the aforementioned time twice. And I fuck that. I fuck the illusion of that digit time in that digit locate mutual exclusive by myself and every the grouping who attended that night. It's our primary connection. There's null aforementioned the energy, act and identicalness that happens finished music. Even if you don't intercommunicate the aforementioned language, you wager music.

Billboard: If you weren't in music, what would you be doing?

Keys: I definitely fuck grouping and existence a conception of people's lives. I surmisal I'd be of assist to grouping in whatever way. Still on my itemize of things I poverty to fulfill is creating charter schools.

Billboard: Looking backwards on your career, has the travelling been what you intellection it would be?

Keys: This business is arduous to fortuity into. Like anything you poverty to do, you hit to fuck it and be completely convergent on it. Nothing crapper entertain or disconcert you. It's not feat to hap quick, it's not feat to be actual easy. It's not feat to be the respond to every your problems or aforementioned whatever character story. There's no much thing.

I countenance backwards and wager where I started from and, in my eyes, I'm meet starting. Honestly, every of it is digit bounteous surprise. The whatever accomplishments that I've been healthy to be a conception of … I wager extremely humble, glad and agog to move on that path. It's every digit bounteous "wow."

(Editing by SheriLinden at Reuters)

Tags: album, America, amp, BEVERLY HILLS, concert, David Letterman, Hilton, Houston, Jay, Lee, Live, LOS ANGELES, Love, Man, market, Marvin Gaye, MUSIC, ndash, NEW YORK, Night, NME, quot, record, Rio, Sam, season, service, show, singer, song, star