Alicia Keys on How She First Met Her Now-Husband in High School | EXTENDED INTERVIEW

Did not know this about you, I'm the biggest fan of the dictionary Oh Because well, I was self-educated the dictionary is like I think the portal to all things good Yes, and you have a dictionary story, which is different than that. Yes how you found your name, though Okay. Well, it was one of the paths. Okay, so how I I found my name I was, you know, I guess around 15 or 16 when I first got signed to Columbia Records and And and so I had also gotten accepted to Columbia University at the same time Because it's obviously a theme yeah, so I thought it was a sign I was like this is a sign like how could this be this is a sign and during the process We were kind of trying to figure out like what's the name right like cuz I was born It's a really long name and it just didn't have a ring, you know, I mean it didn't have a ring to it So we're looking for didn't have that in there that punch, you know, so I'm looking through the dictionary. I was desperate I was like, I can't think of anything. I'm looking through the dictionary I'm like, come on dictionary has to have the name every word is in here and I get all the way I'm looking and I'm looking cuz I'm desperate at this point and I get all the way to W and I was like wild How about Alicia? wild and my mother was like I sound like a stripper And I was like those kind of sound like a stripper. I don't think it's a bad name. No, okay I do I can't ever hear anything. But What your name is which is not wild as we know so keys came from actually a dream So better even better story keys came from a dream a person who was working with me super closely Michael Maldon from the beginning I was in Columbia Studying and he text me on my pager and I go down and go to the phone. He's like I just had a dream. I Couldn't find the keys in my briefcase and I'm running around looking for the keys looking for keys and I woke up and I thought Alicia Keys and I was like keys Keys are piano keys keys are open doors keys is the word. It's better than why? Okay, so the dictionary did not find it but right he did right it worked out, okay I love that. I love that so much. Also it is I remember when I first was getting to know you on the scene the keys were Synonymous with your playing keys on the piano and it made me immediately associate you with an aficionado someone who really was inextricably linked with the key Yes, and it's a perfect name. And of course it came in a dream right good things And yet this one, oh one of my favorite books it's called off to sea by Richard Stein and the last page says You know, they found each other in a dream and the dream is real. Oh And it makes me think of your husband Swiss feet I would I added his full name because I don't know him. So I was a little intimidated to say Swiss It's okay. So see what am I? Okay, you wouldn't even mind says Swizzy Okay, so when you and Swizzy found each other where did you guys find each other? Oh my gosh Well crazily, we've actually known each other since we were both I was 15 and he was 16 because we both grew up in New York City and a friend of my of ours Mutual a mutual friend Said to him like you have to meet my friend Alicia She's gonna blow and said to me you have to meet my friend Swiss He's gonna blow and we met like in the Bronx at some high school that he went to that I can't even remember because he went to high school with my friend and I'm visiting my Friend and we met there and I was like very unimpressed and I was like, yeah like okay, and he always says that I look like I was like super tough because I had on my North Face jacket and Very New York. He's like that was scared of her And that was the first time we met but who would have known that now we're married for 15 years To add on top of that majesty is you're raising five kids Parenting advice, please. Oh beautiful. We love our family is so beautiful Big love Our family is a special special unit a beautiful creative unit all of the kids are just brilliant and beautiful and so unique and It's so special because each one teaches me something completely different You know like the oldest shows me what's coming and and he's actually here in New York He just opened an exhibit at Mercer labs. Oh my gosh amazing animation called one piece all the kids know one piece And so you have to go to Mercer labs. It's an interactive exhibition and he's curing. I'm going this weekend So it's beautiful having a span of ages which you do what advice do you have for me because I God, I care so much. I think I'm just gonna care myself to death Sometimes is there a right in a wrong way? Well, how am I ever gonna make it through this any parenting advice Cheers? And I love it. I love every second of it even the hard stuff I'm like, I don't know what to do other than to just enjoy this. I think that's the key I think you know you have your instinct and you know what you feel and I think we also do have to learn how to Separate ourselves from them because I think that's a big point that you're bringing up like naturally we do have our own triggers and we do have our own Histories and things that we're working through and and so knowing that they're so pure You know knowing that they are a clean slate and a pureness We can almost take a step and say hold on that's mine. That's not theirs I mean just take a breather It might be a beautiful way to just even become more conscious about the things that you are personally working through I think I find that with with our kids, too It's just like these things they bring up things in you and you're like, ah, wait a minute. Is that is that me though? It's probably me. So it's a beautiful way to work through I think that's why they're the most beautiful teachers because they bring to light what we have to see in ourselves Speaking of that one syllable that perfect word that you're looking for. You just gave that to me You said it's mine That's mine. Thank you. Oh, I love that It's one word It's like and it's the tip of that iceberg But it's a call sign that helps me acknowledge. Oh, I'm bringing the iceberg right? It's okay. All right Everything's okay disembark. That's mine, right? I'll deal with that later Somebody can say something literally I talked about this earlier that just changes your life forever as you know it. Thank you Oh my gosh mine. Okay. All right. I thank you. Okay. Um, all right I've been pouring through this book. I saw Hell's Kitchen. It's so much and Having seen the play I I really I was it was a real page-turner Looked at every single thing in it and it really does embody The experience so well and so much more Why did you decide to do a book of it? Because I feel like this could start a movement of also we love theater and we want more of it We want to live with the experience. You made a book of it and now we can have that with us. It's so special Thank you so much. I think it's very original. It's just so The you know to create Hell's Kitchen took 13 years It's definitely one of my greatest accomplishments in regards to bringing to life And an accumulation of many things. My mother is the quintessential New York story She moved from Toledo, Ohio to New York when she was 19 years old to study at NYU She's the reason I was born and raised in New York. And she's also the reason that she exposed me To so many things look at that beautiful woman She took me to all the to as many Broadway plays as she could we stood on the TK TKS like cheap ticket line And we'd be like waiting for our tickets trying to go to the show And you know I was able to see New York in a way that was really impactful with what creativity could look like and and so she this Has been her dream in so many ways too She came to New York to study acting and she has acted her whole life And now she's brought me into that universe. So to bring this New York story to Broadway. It was like a full circle moment in the most major way, so To capture the process it takes so long to put these things together 13 years. Whoa, and now it's been on Broadway for a year and a half. So that makes it for Tony winning Tony winning Compilation of the journey it is the journey. It's the artist. It's the very beginning of the casting. It's the costumes. It's the hair It's the lights. It's the everything in there I think this could start a movement of more books about the Broadway shows that are Tony winning that we come to love that we want to keep living with All right, I have a game that I like to play here if you will Memory bank and because you're in reverie of your life and Hell's Kitchen and storytelling I thought this was a good segue for that. All right, and will you play memory bank with me? All right, so I'm gonna pull up a photo and will you tell us what your first thought is where you are All right, I am I am at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Exactly. I am performing my very first unplugged album MTV unplugged MTV And it was like the biggest deal and the biggest thrill obviously, you know You have Nirvana you have Lauryn Hill and then for me to be able to do my own Unplugged was this moment right here and it was unforgettable and look at that beautiful set. I Yeah, yeah, and by the way, is it true that you're actually doing a very special pressed vinyl album and releasing it of this unplugged session Now out on a brand new vinyl that is so gorgeous just to celebrate this moment and it is really I mean the album is I It's so special. I can't wait to play it I'm just like this is brings back so many great memories Wild Horses with Adam Levine Of cool covers that I never did before This album is like really musical at its finest. Do you think that we should bring unplugged back? I loved that series and it was it like really meant something is really special. Well, thank you for bringing that back It's gonna take a note. Yeah All right. Here's another photo Let's see what this one is. Oh, is that you and Swizzy? Actually, this is really really amazing Swizzy and I have created and we have our we have our personal art collection which started Like a while ago, but this is not new. No many many many years ago In fact the first time that he took me out on a date He was late, okay, and I was very upset I Was like And then he brought me this bag and inside was glasses and I was like what? How come you're getting me glasses when you're late? They were very very very special glasses because he's a very fancy guy But I was still upset and on the outside of the bag Was this this interpretation of this artist named air tape and I said, who's this? You don't know air today and I was like no And so he was like I'm gonna introduce you to air tape so I was like Okay, I was still a little chilly, but I started to warm up and we had a nice, you know How late was he? I mean late enough. I was busy. Right? No, right. Yeah. Yeah, and so So I used to always be late one too, so This is what they're feeling it's a thing I'm not the best either so I can't be too mad But anyway, it's for the sake of the story. It really works, you know, so then the next time we get together We drive down to this place and it's kind of like kind of downtown like around here and and it's like kind of blacked out and I don't know what's going on and we walk in And he had asked our dear friend David Rogat who owns a gallery to bring all of air tase work to one place so that I he could Introduce me to air tape Wow, that's a move That was like The and I was definitely didn't know air table for that moment and it was the most thoughtful beautiful kind Over-the-top like loving thing. Anybody had ever done to me he got a chef to make all vegan food because that's you know, I'll meet a Pescatarian and it was like I couldn't even believe what was going on. So that was our first date To the our Collection because he loves art and we love art and we love supporting living artists and artists of color yeah, and really being a championship for Really putting out there the the genius and the Giants that that we all are collectively creatively and everything from a Gordon Parks to someone you may not have heard of and you're introducing people and that's this Collection and now it's in a museum. And so it started at the Brooklyn Museum was the first was the first place and It's the The largest individual and largest owned collection of individuals not owned by an institution and Then it went to the the High Museum in Atlanta and then it went to Minneapolis and now it's opening at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Oh my god in November So this it's a big deal. It's a really special Commemoration of what we care about and love and we're really proud of this Did you ever think like, you know, when you're coming up in New York, you're watching your mom You're standing on those lines right for tickets You don't know where your life is going Did you ever see? This Nope and now that you do, what do you think? Man I Think that I'm so grateful. I'm super super humbled and I'm particularly Excited by the fact that there truly is no limit to us We actually don't have any limits and I think a lot of times in our life were given limits were given this idea that we have a ceiling and I truly see now that there is no ceiling and as long as we Can be brave enough to try no matter what and we're gonna fall and it's not gonna go, right? And everything's not gonna be perfect But we're gonna get up and we're gonna try again and we're gonna not forget our dreams and no matter what age Well, I love all things Beauty and to me you are very synonymous with me In my mind of a healthy approach to beauty You have been someone that I've really admired Because I've wanted to be comfortable in my skin No matter what that looks like, you know, I've fluctuated in weight. I was a child performer who like at one point was getting like You know very strange thoughts and feelings told to me like well, you know, you're too young or you're too big or you're This and I you know growing up. I it growing up is so awkward for people anyway, and then you know Sometimes the beauty world I think can be a little impossible Standards hold on the impact I think people have chipped away at that and actually been the cause of change because I think you put such positive Empowering natural be yourself Put yourself out there confident again, very Untoxic healthy appropriate good messages that you give to people And so now you have keys soul care Yes, which I have been live this beautiful line of products, which I have been pouring You have these amazing highlighters actually that are illuminating and I love I've never seen a serum. That's also a highlighter. Yeah, isn't that spot? In fact today we put it just on my face first and then because it can be used as a primer It can be used by itself. It has three different shades all inspired by crystals moonstone golden Brown a little pinky tone. So it's so beautiful. It's great for all skin tones. It's so special It's purposefully made to one fill your soul because the idea is how can we create rituals in? Moments, you know, I think a lot of us are looking for meaning. We're looking for a purpose We're looking for like what what what what fills us up? How do we find that place where we don't feel so empty and so? for me through meditation or through affirmations, there's this kind of solidifying or or Ability to find strength in yourself instead of looking for it everywhere else And so each bottle has an affirmation on it. I've never seen the Messaging. Yeah right there on the bottle. It's very intentional This is the kind of storytelling with beauty that only you can do So it didn't surprise me that I'm reading the bottle with my glasses on and really taking it in the idea is like, okay You everyone washes their face Hopefully if you don't please do but you wash your face and you have you know The three minutes before you you know, you're rushing to get the kids and you got to get up, you know I have my son he plays basketball. I have to wake him up at 530 for the 630 practice Ah, so you're trying to think you're washing your face with the golden cleanser. The golden cleanser has turmeric as Manuka honey It has chamomile. It's calming. It's relaxing. It smells like sage and oat milk It has a beautiful scent it relaxes you and the an affirmation is I'm devoted to this moment So you can wash your face and you can kind of say like wait, I'm just present. I'm right here. I'm right now It really doesn't surprise you actually we wanted to give someone a little mini glow-up to a special audience member and Actually happens to be one of your biggest fans For 24 years Wow. Oh my gosh So you want to get a little a little bit of a glow-up I can't sure why not Oh my have you already glowing? So, you know, you're already a queen. What would you suggest from the line? well, actually what I like to start with is the candle and This is I like to create these little mini rituals that we were talking about It's kind of like modern science meets ancient rituals because I really believe in rituals And so if you were at home, you could light the candle and I like to just do a deep inhale Exhale Just like to release all the things and I would I would create an affirmation For the moment so say for you just today my affirmation is I am a glowing goddess Okay. Okay. Do you know that I know that okay So I am a glowing goddess is what we're gonna hold inside of us for the whole day you light your candle You know, you can put it on the top of your vanity wherever you might be You know just kind of let let the I am a glowing goddess energy permeate first I want to just show you like on the back of your hands Like it's just super beautiful and it just feels and then it just becomes you know It just has this glowing look at that hydrating other hand. It's illuminating and it's really really beautiful All right. So should we put a little in your face? Sure. Yeah, do you want to do it? Sure and hands are perfect by the way Look at that. Your skin is already glowing more. So true. We're all touching Your skin Beautiful. Thank you It is glowing can go on the lids of the eyes The lids tell a lot of story. Okay, so now you have and this has niacinamide So that's gonna be gentle on your skin. And when was the last time you took a moment for yourself by the way? Mmm, I can't remember Well Now you can get your candle set aside a minute. By the way, what grade do you teach? Well, I have middle school now, but oh my god. I have two girls in middle school any advice Well in middle school with the trend that's going on now is everything is six seven. Oh my god. What is this six seven? Everywhere And what it is some guy on tik-tok started it now we all say it myself included I literally sucked in And I don't know what it means but yeah, you're right they're all doing it and by the way when Because I get dressed up and made up at work I just give up in real life I really look like I just have given up on living at least my daughters and definitely I mean I do I See what they're saying like they're like, are you coming to the school thing like that? And I'm in like my big hat my dumpy sweat pants and my vintage t-shirt. I'm like why? But I I just have to say like I I really think that what you're introducing Here is also the notion of a few minutes of investment can pick us up So much whenever I just do a little something something. I'm like, why don't I do this every day? It made me feel so much better about myself. And now I'm not mentally scratching away that I don't feel attracted That investment really does have you by the way, you look so money right now You see how it's light, but it's so beautiful a little bit open Myself first I put myself Okay. Yeah, forget that Well, the good news is everybody can put themselves first because we actually Heard that your school needs supplies And so we want to donate $5,000 and I'm gonna match that We just want to support everything that you're doing gosh, thank you so much. Oh, yes They're in need. Oh my god Also a little something for you because if you put yourself first that is donating to you and your class But for you Colette is actually wanting to send and I love this travel company because they have the most chic luxury Accommodations, I'm not kidding. They want to send you and your husband on a 16 day wonders of Thailand tour starting in Bangkok Put yourself first probably in the moment It is hardest to even fathom doing so when you have so much going on special ritual and everyone in our studio audience is gonna go home with items from keys soul care and And we'll be right back everybody