Into The Light

Alicia Keys attributes her boundless joy to one essential rule: Bring good vibes only

- Cori Murray And Charli Penn

Alicia Keys sits before us as a grown woman.

And she says it feels damn good. Keys wants every one of us to have this feeling because, according to her, it’s the century of the woman. Just one look at her receipts and it’s clear that the twenty-first century has been hers: Her debut album, Songs in A Minor, solidified her as a Grammy Award–winning artist in 2001, sending her home with five wins, including Best New Artist. Keys was only warming up. From there she went on to rack up another ten Grammys and a spot in Billboard’s history books as the number one R&B/hip-hop artist in the aughts. Her creativity hasn’t been limited to songwriting and performing. Between acting, producing and being a judge on The Voice, she’s been a tireless advocate for people with HIV/AIDS through her nonprofit, Keep a Child Alive, and an avid supporter of the arts through her work with The Gordon Parks Foundation. Now, at 38, there’s new music on the way, as well as an autobiography on Oprah Winfrey’s publishing imprint, An Oprah Book. The memoir is aptly titled More Myself: A Journey because Keys has become a woman whose evolution knows no bounds.