Alicia Keys has the voice and the songs - but there is more to this new soul queen than hitting the high notes, writes Jim Carroll
Alicia Keys is giggling like a little child. She's just been told that Prince was dropping her name at his Dublin show a few nights previously and she's sounding like the biggest fan in the universe. Ms Keys and Mr Minneapolis have a creative two-way thing going on, thanks to her cover version of Why Don't You Call Me? ensuring a steady stream of royalties into his bank account. "He's a cool guy, very good energy, a true musician, a true artist, very individual," she gushes.
Many have been singing similar praise of Keys since the 21-year-old emerged last year with the Songs in A Minor album.
Accomplished, confident and glittering with some major tunes (Fallin' been the one which gathered the lion's share of the accolades), this début may have appeared as a fully-formed bolt from the blue but the singer has been following this yellow-brick road for most of her life. Playing piano from the age of seven, writing songs from the age of 14 and signing a record deal with the legendary Clive Davis while still a student at New York's Professional Performing Arts School, Keys's biography forces a huge redefinition of just what is prodigious talent.
Her timing has also been spot-on: she has arrived as a whole bunch of talented female soul singers have begun pulling up to the bumper. Albums from such new soul sisters as Jill Scott, Angie Stone, India Arie and Erykah Badu have created an awareness and demand for real soul music, something Keys is acutely aware of.
"It's so important, so needed and so overdue," she believes. "There's a good genuine energy between us and what we do. I'm really happy to be a part of this group of really strong, beautiful women. We really have to show that strength and that confidence. It's not something which has been created or it's not something which has been marketed, it's very natural and positive."
What stands out about Keys's work is its diversity. If others simply concentrate on perfecting one stylish touch, Keys seems more than willing to jam in eight different directions. It's down, she says, to those who've inspired her - and those who she aspires to be.
"I loved the way Faith Evans wrote, I loved the way Mary J. Blige delivered, I loved the way that Biggie Smalls put words together. I loved the way Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye talked about issues, I loved the way Nina Simone mixed classical and jazz.
"These people were really influential on me when I was starting out but recently, I've discovered I have a huge admiration for someone like Quincy Jones because he's had such a diverse career. As I get older, I want to be like him, he's phenomenal because he's done every possible style of music imaginable."
Her grasp on songwriting too is slowly evolving. "As I get more experienced, it's easier for me to recognise what it takes to write a wonderful song and the reason why certain songs are so gravitated towards and others are not. Personally, I write because I need to, it's something I need to get off my chest, it's something which is very important to me or something that is haunting me. When I have the song written and I have all the passion and emotion in the song, I then evaluate it and work out how I can make it stronger and more poignant and bring my point across and clearer.
"Songwriting makes you realise that no matter how different we think we are or where we grow up, we as human beings experience the very same things."
In many ways, Keys represents a new breed of soul singer. While singers past may have concentrated solely on articulating personal issues, Keys also recognises a need for a wider, community-related focus. Earlier this year, she performed a show at the Houses Of Parliament in London.
"It was an attempt to bring a youthful spin to politics and to get people involved that were more my age and from my background. It was an experiment to get them interested in politics."
Whether it worked remains to be seen but there is no doubting Keys's sincerity about why she supports this sort of initiative.
"It's important for me to do this because people my age don't really have a lot of time for politics or politicians because they think they're all the same and that it's just a playground for older men," she says. "In the States, there are many things to which I lend support. I was involved in a campaign against budget cuts in New York City schools. They constantly do that, it was going on when I was in school. Education has always been the last priority on politicians' lists. It's the first thing to go, the first thing to be cut, the first thing to be attacked. It's terrible because there's nothing more important than learning. There was a big rally to protest at what was going on and I was at that. There are a lot of things like that which impact on a community that I want to lend my support and name to."
Education is certainly one issue which exercises Keys. "I had a good education because of the importance my mother applied to it. She made me be very serious about what I did and what I do - to be fully engaged with what I was doing, to do it all the way, not to do something half-heartedly or partially. What's the point in getting a C if you can get an A? You're just wasting your time."
In many ways, Keys is just beginning. Her hugely successful début album may be simply seen as the tip of the iceberg in 20 years time and it's striving for this longetivity which keeps Keys on her toes.
"Yes, I'm constantly surprised on a day-to-day level at what has happened. I felt very good about my record and myself as a musician and producer and writer because I put my heart into it and hoped people would get that. I never dreamed or imagined it would place this fast. But I plan to be around for many, many more years to come so I really hope the best is still to come."
Alicia Keys plays The Odyssey, Belfast on Sunday, October 27th and The Point, Dublin, on October 28th. Songs in A Minor is on Arista.