Now, with "The Diary of Alicia Keys" complete, Keys says, "When the final album was done, I was ecstatic. We had a ball and once we put the song aside, we jammed for six hours straight," she says. I already had a pretty cool relationship with Dwayne Higgins and we got some of the original guys in the studio, Dwayne, Jubu Smith, Elijah Baker, Carl Wheeler, Tim Christian and we had it done in two hours. Then I thought how much I would love the guys from Tony! Toni! Tone! to play on the track. I wrote the basis for the song in about 10 minutes. It was like he was my diary and I was his for that moment. That's the most important thing."Īnother standout on her latest album is the track "Diary," which features '80s hit makers, Tony! Toni! Tone! Inspired by "a very deep private conversation I had with someone on the road where we were talking about things you just never discuss with anyone. She says on The Early Show, "With everything going on in the world and me personally in my life, I feel like there's nothing more pertinent or important than having love in your life and having someone you can love and people that love you back. 11, the passing of Aliyah, different events in the world and in my life, the song took on a new meaning," Keys notes. The song was sitting there for a while and then with Sept. The soulful "If I Ain't Got You," which features acclaimed musicians Hugh McCracken on guitar and Steve Jordan on drums, is all about "how material things don't feed the soul.
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In fact, I just discovered better how to express myself and how to tell what I really feel. That's the way I write from my experience and things that I feel. She tells co-anchor Julie Chen, "Every song, I'm telling on myself completely.