Alicia Keys

Original Article with audio.

 Alicia Keys

She’s just a girl and she’s on fire... A moça dessa canção é obviamente ela própria, Alicia Keys no seu melhor momento. Aos 31 anos, Keys cresceu, amadureceu, casou, tornou-se mãe e acima de tudo conquistou uma coisa importante que lhe faltava: confiança plena em si. Ouça ela mesma contando como foi essa grande transformação! 

by MARCEL ANDERS

ENTERTAINMENT

When Speak Up interviewed American R&B singer and actress Alicia Keys in 2008, she told us that it had been a difficult year. She had spent much of it nursing a sick relative and she felt exhausted. 

Since then she has, however, bounced back. She has married and become a mother and she is working on a number of film, theatre and musical projects. Pride of place goes to, her album, Girl on Fire, which was released in November on the RCA label. Alicia Keys was born Alicia Augello-Cook to a biracial couple in New York. She was in born in 1981 and this means that she has entered her thirties since our last interview. Yet she doesn’t seem to be worried about growing older: 

Alicia Keys (Standard/African American/New York accent)

Women, I think, just get naturally, increasingly, more delicious with time. Like I find that I’ll sometimes look at women who are 50 or 60, and I’m like : “ Man, there’s something about them,” that there’s like a regality or like a confidence. That I used to look at them and be like: “What is that? What is that? How do they have that thing?” And it’s like really cool. So I look forward to just getting better over time! 

SHOW BUSINESS 

Alicia Keys has been a star since her early twenties, but she reckons that she is now better at dealing with life in the entertainment industry: 

Alicia Keys 

Now being a mother and being married, like it is the next chapter of my life. And there’s certain things that come with that. Like you’re not going to do the same things that you did before. And you’re not going to take the same crap that you took before , to be honest, you know. You become in a place where you’re like: “You know what? Here’s my life, and I don’t really want to deal with that extra stuff  any more!” I think when I first started in this business, or when I was in my early twenties, it’s like you’re kind of be more willing to take people’s crap because, one: 

you don’t probably know that much better , or, two: you feel like you have to, to do whatever. And it’s like then you get to a place where you’re like: “I don’t have to do this!” And it’s not just because I’m me or because I’m quote, unquote “successful” or something like that.

 It’s just period . It’s just a life understanding that like I don’t have to deal with things that I don’t feel comfortable with, you know. You just... it’s a life choice.

FREEDOM?

She also feels that she is handling stardom better these days:

Alicia Keys 

This interesting world, this interesting entertainment world, it can free you or it can jail you. And it’s so crazy, you know, how that can happen. And it happens for many reasons, and different reasons for different people. But I think that it’s so interesting because here you have this opportunity to speak and say and sing and reach so many people. And that in itself is a freedom, you know. That in itself is a privilege, it’s a freedom, it’s a power. And then, at the other side, sometimes I think, you know, you could end up feeling so restricted at the same time. And so I think, in some ways, in certain periods of my life, I did feel restricted or misunderstood or unable to be fully myself or whatever. And, you know, it’s different now, though.

Glossary

nursing a sick relative  = cuidando de um parente adoentato.

Since then she has, however , bounced back = voltou em forma

Pride of place goes to = o destaque fica com

Increasingly = cada vez mais

and I’m like = e ai eu me digo

Man = cara!, gente!

Confidence = autoconfiança

I used to look at them and be like = e eu costumava olhar pra ela e pensar

she reckons= ela acha, imagina

you’re not going to take the same crap that you took before = nao aceita mais os abusos que aceitava antes

to deal with that extra stuff = me preocupar com mais isso

willing = disposta

you don’t probably know that much better =  a gente provavelmente nao sabe mais do que isso

it’s not just because I’m me or because I’m quote, unquote “successful” = nao é porque seja eu, ou por ser eu ou não “um sucesso”                                                                                   

 It’s just period = simplismente é assim, ponto final

she is handling stardom better = ela lida melhor com o estrelato

it can free you or it can jail you = pode te libertar ou pode te aprisionar

misunderstood = mal-entendida