What's most impressive about Keys is her expressive keyboard work. It's rare to see a female artist (or a male, for that matter) at a keyboard these days, particularly when that individual is able to command it as Keys does. It's another link to what used to be standard in the days when Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack were doing it. Keys' strength may be in her musicianship even more than her vocal prowess, though she's certainly talented there as well. She's also a gifted songwriter (as she shows on the cut "A Woman's Worth") and producer.
And Keys is her real name.
"There are songs on the album I wrote when I was 15," she says. "The music is there for anyone who feels it. I hope to reach everybody, and with different records you reach different people. I want to be the type of artist that can reach a lot of people."
Despite her youth, Keys is no newcomer to the business. She says she started her first group at age 9. By 16 she had signed to a major label, appearing on the So So Def Christmas album and the "Men in Black" soundtrack. Then she signed to Arista (and appeared on the "Shaft" soundtrack) where she says things were going great until Davis' ouster from the label. She was one of the "baby" or developing acts that he inherited for J Records. She says the delays strengthened her resolve.
"It was a duplicate of what happened before," she says of her situation with Arista. "It was hilarious to me. I knew it would give me a lot to talk about. This is definitely what was supposed to happen. It was written. Ultimately, what is four years in an entire lifetime? That's the outlook I like to take on it. Nothing before its time. And the time is now. Believe that!"
Still, naysayers might say Keys is the subject of Davis' considerable hype machine. He's powerful enough to send a tape to Oprah suggesting a new-artist show (featuring his artist, of course). But the tape is what ultimately convinced "Oprah" producers to go with Keys. And audiences at the showcases, at private performances, and even jaded industry types have been duly impressed. But is it possible that the hype could sabotage her career? Keys doesn't think so.
"I just have to continue doing what I've always done, and that is be who I am, and that is who people will like. It's nothing coming from this hype machine. It's just Alicia. I like to be onstage, I like to write music, I like to make music. And that's really what the point is."
