Falling singer Alicia Keys is opening up on her journey to fame and how she could have wandered off in a dark place.
Explaining the meaning behind her recent single, Underdog, in her album ALICIA, the celeb, 39 in a recent chat with The Guardian opened up on being one of the underdogs referred to in the track co-written by Ed Sheeran and how she could have ended up in prostitution.
“I am that person. The one that wasn’t supposed to make it out of Hell’s Kitchen, who was supposed to end up being a prostitute, a young mother at 16 years old, or addicted to drugs. I am the one who was supposed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got injured or killed,” said the singer who grew up in New York.
Alicia also said she started dressing like a tomboy so that she wouldn’t be bothered by men in her community.
“I had to always wear something very baggy, very dark, always had my hair back; I felt like if people saw me, they might try to touch me,” she said. “That’s why I’ve always been such a tomboy – I’ve never been the one in pretty dresses and nails because I could not have nails and hair. And for a lot of girls, it still is a safety risk to walk the streets.”
The mum of two also opened up about another track from ALICIA, “Gramercy Park,” which is about a romantic relationship in which “you find yourself doing everything you think the person you love wants you to do,” she said.
“You find yourself changing because you’re trying to anticipate their needs, and then you realize that the person that they fell in love with is not even you,” Keys said, adding that her relationship with husband Swizz Beatz is not like that.
“We’re so connected and honest with each other we’re able to be completely ourselves. But that’s a new experience,” she said.
