Alicia Keys arrives a bit late to our interview, sporting gym clothes, large Dior glasses on her nose and a small tube of hand cream which she applies generously every few minutes, just to keep them soft and supple for her piano keys. The 26-year-old pianist, who was working out at the gym, is the essence of the maxim “a healthy body breeds a healthy mind.” Two nights ago, at an exclusive showcase for the press, she mentions how difficult 2007 has been and how she’s made a new resolution: Don’t spread yourself too thin. She has spent the last couple of years playing, performing and making movies. Now more focused on just one thing at a time, the singer has passed on to a more mature phase in her life as she talks about her new aptly-titled album “As I Am” (JiveEpic/Sony BMG) where she tackles herself and… some rock-sounding vibes.

You said you wanted to explore new genres. Why did you take this particular direction on this album?
You know, it’s funny because everybody has a different opinion as to what it sounds like. I don’t say, “I’m going to make a pop record and I’m going to mix in some rock.” I don’t think that hard about the way the music is going to sound. It’s something that happens naturally. I think that I’ve been listening to a lot of Beatles. To me, it’s very soulful, very passionate and genuine. Even though pop just means popular, every time I think of pop I think of shallow for some reason. I guess I have my own interpretation of what pop means. But, you know, pop just means popular and then if it’s going to be popular, then I’m very happy about that. So it wasn’t ever intentional to be more pop or anything like that. It’s just because of the things I’ve been listening to and experiencing, and the way that it’s all come together has been more of a mixture than ever before, so it has a lot of elements in it that are new and fresh for me.

You mentioned new sounds. What else did you listen to besides the Beatles?
I’ve been getting into Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker. To me, they have very classic chord changes that are just huge. When you think of them, you think of really big songs. And always I listen to Nina Simone, just her rebellious spirit. I’ve been listening to a lot of U2. So a big mixture of styles of music and just really getting into the way that they make their songs sound, and what is it about it that makes it sound the way it does.

When I was listening to “Go Ahead”, to me it sounded more like a rock song.
Wow, I love that! And I thought that if you replaced the keyboards with an electric guitar, it would be a rock song.
Right! YEAH! I just love that! I love the attitude behind it and I love, as I’ve been discovering, that there are so many personalities that keyboards have. As a piano player, you would think that I would kind of know that, but I think I’ve discovered more than ever the personalities of different keyboards. Each one. In the studio, I have a Wurlitzer, a Rose, a Yamaha CP80, an organ. On “Go Ahead”, we used a lot of clavinet sounds. You put the Wurlitzer through a delay and all of a sudden it sounds like a mixture between a sound you never heard and some of those great Isley Brothers guitar echoes, and it’s a keyboard! So it’s very exciting for me personally to be able to explore the way that keyboards, instruments that I play with my own two hands can have these different personalities and create these different feelings.

Is it a more ambitious record?
Today. I’m sure I’ll get more ambitious! (Laughs)

Do you see the progression from your first album to this one?
Oh my Gosh, I totally see the progression! It’s very exciting to feel that. I love all of my albums. They all represent a different point in my life, a different time, where I was and who I was and who I am, as I am. But whenever you create something… I’m sure when you’ve written something, you look back at it three years later and you’re like, “I could’ve probably written that a little bit…” You know?! (Laughs) It’s the same thing with music. You look at it years later and you’re like, “Oh man, wow! If I was doing that now, I would do it a little bit differently.” But that’s what makes it great – being able to grow like that and that’s what makes it so exciting. And that’s why I’m so excited about the record. I feel my growth. I feel like you’ll hear it and I feel like I’m proud of the way that I’ve been able to learn as I’ve grown and learn how to shape music and put it together and produce in a way that I hear it in my head and the way I want it to sound, be it very intimate and small or be it bigger and grand. So it’s definitely fun.

Some of the more surprising collaborations on this album are the tracks you did with Linda Perry. What brought you together? Did the fact that she’s one of the rare woman producers make it more of a challenge?
Yeah. I think that definitely brought us together and the fact that we’re both very independent women, we’re both writers and we’re both musicians. We’re very much alike in a lot of ways. Her background is slightly different than mine but it’s not that far removed when we both admire people like Carol Kane, the Beatles, the styling of Aretha Franklin, the way that they arrange her music. What else brought us together was the spirit of our energies. She’s the sweetest person, but she also comes up pretty clear on what she wants to do, and that’s who I am as well. It was very easy to work together and that’s not often the case when you’re working with people for the first time.

She’s worked with Pink, Courtney Love, Gwen Stefani who said that Linda helped her release what was inside her, things she didn’t know she carried within. Is that what happened with you?
I think that at the point that we got together I had already gone through such a transition through myself and I was already very adamant about being a lot more vocal and just direct. I just didn’t want to hold anything back anymore. And so I came to her already with this mindset: This is where I’m at, this is who I am and I’m tired of the things that I’ve been dealing with before and I want to change that. So she kind of got me right at that moment. I probably might have shocked her a little bit because I was extremely fed up. I think it was just the right time because her nature is to make you feel at ease and not to really explore. Because that’s the thing about music. You can do music with anyone but you can’t get your purest and best, your most honest thoughts with everybody because there has to be a comfort level. I think that was something that was really, really just perfect timing. I don’t know if she necessarily brought something out of me that wasn’t ready to come out anyway, but I think that she definitely encouraged it gently, which was a good thing.

You said during your showcase that you’d like to work with the White Stripes on your next album. You’re already thinking of the next album?
Yes! Actually I’ really thinking of the next album ‘cos obviously I’ve been gone for a little bit and I have such a large collection of music at this point – maybe 60 or 70 songs – and naturally I already see: “OK, these songs are going here with this album and it looks like these songs are heading for the next album.” So that’s really a nice feeling to have already the vision of what I want the next album to be and to know that that won’t take really too much time because of the amount of songs that I’ve collected. Honestly, the way that the next album after this was in my mind, this album felt very big and I want the next album to feel very small. But thinking about the White Stripes, I don’t’ know if that’ll sound very small! (Laughs) We’ll see. You never know how it all works out, and that’s the other thing I really learned this time: to just let it be, let it flow. In my mind, of course, I have a vision of what I want the next album to be. In reality, who knows how it’ll end up.

Lyrically, you also seem to just let it flow. Is it more personal than your previous stuff?
I think all of the records that I’ve done have been very personal and based on personal experience. I think maybe at this point I may have transitioned more than ever before. I think it might happen all the time, especially in your mid-20’s where just you can get knocked over the head by everything that can possibly knock you over the head. I don’t know if that’s just a phase, but I feel like, wow, this has been such a huge growing time for me. Between 19 and 26, I just feel like I’ve been flipped around, upside down, turned around, and then landed back on my feel. And I’m like, OK, wow, this is who I am now. I think because of the things that I’ve learned, especially this year and that has gone to this album, it’s been a lot more variety and more intensity, and because of that, the music is more strong, I think.

You also said that you had a tough year. So toughness breeds creativity?
Yeah, it does. I never wanted to be one of those people that have to make themselves miserable in order to write. I never wanted to be one of those people. I don’t believe I’m one of those people. Bu it’s interesting that when you’re forced to look at yourself, you’re forced to see what’s going on and really pay attention to it, it’s incredible the things you discover that you’re feeling. 

So it’s a cathartic album.
It’s definitely a cathartic album. It’s definitely my shrink! (Laughs) This album is my shrink. Thank god ness for it. I really am thankful for that. I’m thankful for being able to have had that outlet and to have this outlet to talk about things that are going on.

You mentioned doing some self-destructive things. But we can’t imagine you as a self-destructive person! What happened?
That’s the thing. I don’t imagine myself as a self-destructive person either. That’s what I mean. It’s funny the things that you’ll discover about yourself that you don’t even realize you’re doing. I’ve always looked at myself as a level-headed person. I’ve never been very up and down. Since a young, young age, I’ve always been extremely responsible, focused. I’m very driven. I’m social, I like talking about people, I like hearing about peoples’ lives. I like having conversation. I like rambling to people on the street walking up to me, and I love asking them about themselves. But I discovered that as open that I always thought that I was, I was actually very closed. I would always avoid the topic of myself. I would be great at asking people about them and giving people great advice about other people’s life. I’m blessed with the ability to speak in the way that sometimes surprises even me because a person can walk in a room and I can know what they need ot hear and what I should say to them. I don’t think about it, I say it, and they say, “How did you know that?” I’ve always been like that. So I can do so well with other people that sometimes I think I got so caught up with other people that I was really not paying attention to what I was thinking or feeling. And then on top of that, having a life where people are constantly asking you questions, you go as far a certain place. If the real answer’s over here, you’ll go right here. You don’t go totally into it because there are things you can’t explain to a person in such a short time.
So I got very used to going right there to what I meant. And I think what happened to me is that I got disconnected with my feelings and I became this painted mask that would be this person that I figured would be the easiest person to be, and if people were asking very serious questions, I would definitely give the answer but I wouldn’t be giving all of who I was and what I felt. And so it became like this wall that I was putting up that I thought was protecting me from giving away too much or being too vulnerable or whatever. But in actuality, the wall was destroying me because when it would come time for me to really be able to say what I feel to my friends, to my family, I would give them the same answer, those same answers that were halfway: “Yes, everything’s good. I’m great! Yesterday was amazing. We did a show. So I’m good, I’m great.” But I wasn’t great, but for some reason, I wasn’t able to say I wasn’t great. I wasn’t even able to understand that I wasn’t great ‘cos I was so used to putting on the happy face. I didn’t think I was hurting, but it was really, really hurting me because it was disconnecting me from my real emotions. And as a writer, that’s dangerous ‘cos my emotions are my art and that’s my job, that’s my work. And if I can’t understand what I’m thinking I can’t write what I’m thinking, and I definitely can’t be a happy person if I don’t know what I’m thinking. It’s very complex and it’s very complicated, and it wasn’t until way a long time later, more recently, that I was able to realize what I was doing and the way that that was bad for me in a lot of ways.
So I just promised myself to be more honest and to be more direct. I was never not honest, I just wasn’t fully honest, you know what I mean? So I just wanted to be more fully honest just for me so that I can be aware of what I’m feeling. If I’m exhausted, I’m going to say I’m exhausted. That’s it. You get so used to just playing up the good part that you don’t get a chance to honor the other sides of yourself. So that’s some of the way that I was being self-destructive and I didn’t quite realize that that was affecting me in any way.    

You’ve also embarked on an acting career. Do you feel more complete as an artist when you touch on different mediums of expression?
Yes, I think that as an artist, it’s inspiring to take yourself out of your element a little bit and be able to explore other sides of yourself, ‘cos it’s all very creative but it’s creativity in a different way. It’s a little bit of freedom, I think, because you’re free in that set amount of time to be totally different. No one’s asking you about you, no one’s even really concerned with you, just that you’re this particular character and you making sure that you’re really representing that world. It’s a good feeling to be able to do that, immerse yourself in another world. And, for me, I realized that the way I’m able to connect to the characters is to identify the parts in them that are like me. And so, in that way, it’s really interesting because there’s some digging that has to be done to find those correlations. You find out a lot about yourself through that and it’s a very interesting way, in a way that maybe you wouldn’t look any other time. So it does balance things off in a couple of ways and I really enjoy it. It’s something that I’ve always been surrounded by, so I always knew that it was going to happen and was just waiting for the right time and the right moment to move into that.

Are there plans for Halle Berry’s movie to go through? (“Compositions in Black and White, a biopic of Philippa Schuyler)
I am really, really hoping so. So far, we’re good. I’ve been involved since the very beginning, and it takes so long to create a movie. It really does – five plus years just to make a movie happen. At this point, we’re in the second or third phase of scriptwriting and we’re just trying to make sure the script is perfect. And then it’ll go to the next stage. So it’s still in that area. There’ll still be at least another year.

What else do you want to achieve?
There are other dreams that I have. I want to really bring other fantastic artists on the scene. I want to help to expose so many talents and people out there that are really special. So I want to help them that way. I want to definitely be one that owns ways of communication, like radio stations and television stations. I think that there’s so much power in those areas in regards to what people hear and what people see, all of that. That really influences our society. I think that television is more influential than any one person. So I really would like to own things like that and be able to decide what influences people. And I would also like to build schools. I want to be build charter schools, especially in America. I’m sure all over the world there’s a need, but in America, I just feel that the kids in certain areas are treated so much like criminals. They go in and they have metal detectors and they get padded down for weapons. They’re just trying to go to school. And the system is so cruel that any teacher that has a big dream or a great idea on how to inspire us to be better, they can’t. They’re forced to do this broken curriculum that doesn’t even really teach us anything the right way. So I want to create schools and environments where we can start to influence our own curriculum and the way that it really works for people to become their best. 
And I definitely want to continue to explore and get more into social and political issues and figure out my place in there. How can I motivate people? How can we work together?

Are you thinking of the 2008 election?
I am thinking of the election. It’s an extremely interesting election period for America. I was just saying today that this is the only country that’s still resisting having a female leader. But it is an interesting election for us having finally some variety.

And getting rid of George Bush.
Please, there’s not been a worse president.

Do you also want include more political views in your songs?
Yeah, I do. The way that I did it this time was that I took issues that I wanted to talk about and I personified them, so maybe I made them sound like a relationship. But when I wrote it, it was really about a bigger issue or a social situation. That was a less obvious way ton talk about the things that I wanted to talk about. I just find that people respond when they’re able to interpret it as they wish. I know what I meant, but if it happens to hit you in a different way, it’s OK. That’s fine. But I like to personify social issues. And then I think as I keep going, when I took my pilgrimage to Africa, I met this boy – he was 16 but he looked like 9! He had Aids and not able to start the medicine early enough. You can have the medicine but if you don’t have any food. So he was one of the people that we were trying to get to the most because it just represented how important what we do is and to get it to the kids at a young age so they can be strong. We revisited him in his home and he was really sad, just really down. You could tell that he was just so sick of everything. How must that feel? He live din Kenya and we then left to South Africa. When we left, he passed away. It really drove home the point of how important this is. That was a death in vain. It didn’t have to be like that for him. So I went home and I wrote a song for him, but it didn’t make this album because it wasn’t right for this.
As I see more things, it naturally influences the things that I talk about.

You’re starting your world tour in Europe.
Most of the time, we really want to be in Europe longer than we actually can be, but this time we’re really making the point to be in Europe. So that’s a nice way to start it. I also have another project that I really quite can’t talk about but I’m really excited!

Does the track “Superwoman” have anything to do with your advice the other night: Don’t spread yourself too thin?
Yeah!

Who’s superwoman for you?
Both my mom and my grandmother. Both of them are such strong examples of what a superwoman is. And that’s not to say that a superwoman can’t be weak. That’s the point of the song. You’re still strong even when you’re weak. At times that’s just how it is and that’s OK. We are still beautiful and we can still be great, wonderful supreme people. My mother raised me in the middle of the madness all by herself, helping to keep me on track and helping to really shape my world when it could’ve easily been not that way. She also showed me how to be very strong-minded, how to respect myself and how to demand respect from other people. My grandmother showed me benevolent, gracious; kind and think about others, want to help people in need and not just be all about yourself. So those two women in my life have been a major influence on the way that I am now.