HOW Alicia Keys Redefined SUCCESS: Empowering Women to Embrace Their TRUE SELVES – MUST WATCH!

Alicia Keys, sissy sis. Dun dun dun dun. I need some music. I need some music for that. People always told me like, don't you, you know, you should be wearing dresses and be, and it just like wasn't really, was never my thing. As long as people are like, I feel you, that to me is the most important thing. I do believe that you can have it all. You can have everything that you want, you know?

She's an American singer, songwriter, pianist, actress, record producer, and philanthropist. Throughout her career she's won 15 Grammy Awards and has sold over 35 million albums worldwide. Billboard magazine named her the top R&B Artist of the 2000s.

This girl is on fire! This girl is on fire!

She's Alicia Keys, and here is my take on her top 10 rules for success. Rule number 10 is my personal favorite, and make sure to stick around all the way to the end for some special bonus clips. And as always, if Alicia says something that really resonates with you, please leave it in the comments below and put quotes around it so other people can be inspired. Inspired as well. Enjoy!

So what are the Alicia Keys to success? The Alicia Keys to success. Dun dun dun dun. I need some music. I need some music for that. I don't know, you know, I'm learning as I go too. You know, that's the truth. And I think that, you know, one of the things I've learned most recently is just really to just really find who you are. Like, find who you are and don't be so worried about who everybody else around you is. You know, what people tell you you should be like or act like or think like or talk like. Like, really try to find it out for yourself and figure out what really resonates with you and what you feel, 'cause you know it. Like, when you know something's right for you, you feel it. And so I think a lot of times we talk ourselves out of it. We say, "Oh, but I don't know, my friends feel different," or, "My boyfriend feels different," or, "My mother says that," you know, and so we don't get a chance to really explore who we are. And so that's one of the things, that's one of my most recently learned keys to success, just really understanding who you are and embrace it and be it fully. When I sing that song every night, I'm like, wow, like, who'd have thought that all of this from that, you know what I mean? And, you know, people told us that was a bad record to go with. Nobody plays, you know, slow records. It'll never cross over. Nobody's gonna get it. You won't make it. I mean, they told us everything under the sun, but it felt good and it felt special. And when people heard it, they were moved. And, you know, all the pieces just fell into place. So it's definitely It's definitely, you know, my calling card. It's like my little baby, you know, and I cherish and respect it. I love this song, "Girl on Fire." They all mean something and they all came from something, but "Girl on Fire" is definitely ill. It came from this interview that I did. I was reading it and she said something like, "She's like a girl on fire," and I was like, "Mm." I was like, "I love that." We were in the studio one day and I was working with Jeff Bhaskar and Salaam Remy. I was like, you know, I've been wanting to write this song called "Girl on Fire." I'm like, what does "Girl on Fire" sound like? Somehow we start kind of tossing around these ideas and thoughts and these different sounds come out and these different things come out. Eventually we came to the chords that are "Girl on Fire." And I guess you'd want me to play the chords. So the chords are like, you know, pretty, you know. That ain't the chord. Hold up. There, there go the chord. So, you know, it's like, she's just a girl and she's on fire. So anyway, those are the chords, right? So the CP-70's on it too. It's like a different kind of, a little bit twangier type of sound. Hotter than a fantasy. There go that damn chord again. Lonely like a highway We started going through all these different crazy drums and then there was like these loud, obnoxious, just destructive drums. I was like, "Yes, a girl on fire is loud and obnoxious and destructive and like free." You know what I mean? So I was like, "That's what a girl on fire sounds like." And then we just went into the room. I just had a mic set up like over here. Oh And it's just flowing. It's like one of these crazy moments. That everything is just flowing, which like sometimes happens, sometimes doesn't happen. But this moment, everything was just magic. We sat down on the couch, we start writing some lyrics down, and I'm like, "She's just a girl and she's on fire, higher than a fantasy, hotter than a fan, lonely like a highway." It's just flowing, boom, boom, boom. Then we go in again and I just sing it again from top to bottom, and I don't know what happened, but it was like an explosion of like magic fairy dust that came down. And that's basically what happened. Sometimes with songs, but it's very rare. I just remember being in the bathroom and I'm singing the song and I'm like, "Uh, uh, uh, uh," and it's just going around and around and around and around and around and around in my head. When I left the bathroom, my husband called me and I was like, "Yo," and he was like, "What's up?" I said, "I think we just came up with something." Mm. She's just a girl and she's on fire. Hotter than a fantasy, lonely like a highway. She's living in a world and it's on fire. Filled with catastrophe, but she knows she can fly away. Oh, she got both Feet on the ground and she's burning it down. Whoa. Got her head in the clouds and she's not backing down. Now what I'm going to ask myself is why did I choose to write this song so high? And I mean, that's probably what's going to come up on some occasions. Because I didn't even get to the chorus yet, and I'm asking myself, what made me write this song that high? So now you have to wait for the chorus because we could have a disaster. Even when I was, you know, just, just starting, I was different. And, you know, I looked way different, and I played the piano, and I had the breeze, and I was like straight off of the streets of New York. People always told me, like, "Don't you— you know, you should be wearing dresses and be—" And it just, like, wasn't really— was never my thing. Like, my thing, I wanted to be the everyday girl that I was and be able to relate to other women and girls and be able to just, like, be who I was, 'cause I didn't see myself in the music or in the entertainment world or whatever. And so now I feel like I have actually really come back to that place and really recognizing, you know, I've always been that person. And, you know, as you grow, you try different things and you go different places, but that's where I'm the most comfortable, and that's where I really am able to be truly myself, so. My mother instilled a lot of principles in me just by being her. But one of the things that she helped instill in me was also just to, you know, see things through to the end. You know, don't give up halfway in the middle just 'cause you tired. You know, see it through. So that's definitely a thing. Something that helps me get through a lot of things. You know, a lot of people who are creative, they often get kind of shut down by their parents or things like that, you know, saying it's not a real job or it'll never work. And I'm glad that I was encouraged by her like that. My goal is to always be the realest that I can be and bring the best music that I can bring. And that's the goal. That's the most important thing. All the other things are, you know, kind of illusions, I think, in a lot of ways. But For me, like, as long as people can feel it, like you said, as long as people are like, "I feel you," that to me is the most important thing. Everything changed when I went to Egypt, just because it was like a turning point in my life, you know? Like, you have these points in your life where you really learn something important. And that was a beginning of me, you know, one of my big lessons, which was about, you know, really even creating the life and the world that you want to live in. Like, you know, you don't have to necessarily do— live in this life of chaos and unhappiness. Like, what is it that you— what life do you want to have and what life do you want to live? For myself at that time, that was the question. Because I was learning how to juggle my own personal life and my professional life and, like, how to be happy inside of it. And so that was a big lesson for me at the time. What's the perfect day? Wow, the perfect day for me? I have— I— this is my perfect day. Do you remember what it was? You said a perfect day would be waking up at 3 in the afternoon and reading a book. Mm-hmm. Still sounds perfect. Back then, and you tell me if I'm right, it did seem to be all about the work. Oh my gosh, you kidding me? I mean, it was totally all about the work. First of all, you know, I grew up with my mother who was a was my everything, and a single parent, and she had to work her behind off. And so she also instilled that in me, because being a young girl growing up in the city, I mean, you have to be busy or you're going to get lost. What's one song that still has the ability to move you when you sing it? Every song has the ability to move me when I sing it, which is something I'm very grateful for, because the songs that I write, they're very personal and they're very like emotional, and I can, I can understand them, you know. I can understand them even if the time has passed already. I can understand it. I have to say, I'll probably say "Fallin'" is a song for me. Obviously I've sung it a lot, but there's a magic about that song that is just unbelievable. I keep on falling in, in love with you. And the way that signifies the beginning of, you know, kind of my career and my life as I know it in this world. It's like, you know, it gives me chills every time. It's just a brand new kind of me. Well, you're certainly bucking the odds. I mean, they always say you can't have it all at the same time. I do believe that you can have it all. You can have everything that you want, you know. If you want it and you want to work for it, you can have it. Don't be mad. It's just a brand new time for me.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because a local fan stopped me in a store and said, "Hey Evan, you gotta do a video on Alicia Keys. She's my favorite." So this one is for you, bro. Now if you guys have a famous entrepreneur that you'd like me to profile next, leave it down in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know what did Alicia say that really meant the most to you? What rule had the biggest impact on you and why? Leave it in the comments. I'm gonna join in the discussion. Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to Nancy Johnson. Nancy, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word. It really, really, really means a lot to me. So thank you guys so much for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever Your one word is much love.

I'll see you soon. She turned down her scholarship for a demo deal with Columbia Records. Alicia co-wrote and recorded a song which featured in the blockbuster film Men in Black. It was never released as a single, and her union with Columbia soon ended. Alicia then met powerful industry mogul Clive Davies, who originally signed her to Arista Records and eventually to J Records. Me and my manager, Jeff Robinson, we looked at each other like, okay, so what are we gonna do? And we believed enough in my stuff to find somebody who also believed in it. So at the time, it was Arista where Clive was. And so he brought my stuff into Clive, and that was the first time he ever heard it, and he loved it. And so he wanted to meet me, and, you know, that was how our first meeting was set up. And when all of that went well, Sorry, I'm giving you the 3-second version of it. He moved over to Jay. You know, I had the option to go numerous places at that time, but I felt loyalty to somebody who was loyal to me when I needed help the most. And so we went over there with him. I just keep going forward with light, you know, positivity, good energy, you know. And I think that, you know, I think you have to really protect yourself, you know. You have to be cautious of your choices and stuff like that. But, you know, we're all human beings. You know, we're all human beings, and no one's perfect, you know? So I just try to keep forward with light and love, and that's what I focus on. I just don't focus on the negative. Yeah, but girl can't be herself, I think that's just been something that's been on my mind so much, and that's part of what this album is all about. It really started from this place of completely taking down any walls, taking down any veils, any reason to kind of not 1,000% you know, just speak truthfully to what I was feeling and what I feel like is happening around me and to us. And so, um, and so, you know, "Girl Can't Be Herself," I feel like there's such a feeling for us as women that, you know, there's such a standard, there's such like a high level of scrutiny that happens to women and to young girls. And it's really, really heavy. It's intense. It is. And it's like very oppressive, and it's like too much, you know? And I think that, you know, From the minute that we're, you know, able to see, we have this— we're fed this vision of what a woman looks like, or what a woman's supposed to look like, or what a sexy woman is, or are you beautiful, are you not beautiful? It's like, "Whoa!" So anyway, the deprogramming that has to happen to all of us for many reasons, but especially for us as women, is pretty intense. So I wanted to write that song just because that was how I was feeling, you know? And so later on, when it came back around later, when I was just recognizing that, I felt like I was in a lot of ways just becoming a bit of a, you know, almost like a bit of a slave to always feeling like I had to be made up in order to go pick up my son from school, go to the grocery store, go, you know, like down the block to meet my friend. And this was my own doing. I mean, you know, this is something that I, you know, I felt that I needed to do. But I wanted to kind of like, I didn't want to feel like that all the time. I felt it kind of made me feel crazy. Yeah. So again, you know, I was expressing how I felt in my kind of personal journey. And it definitely has never been anything about, like, starting, like, a movement. Like, let's all do— it wasn't about that. And it's definitely not about, like, anyone who does wear makeup is now something. It's not about that. It's definitely like, I want women to feel empowered to do what they feel is best for themselves. Not because your man told you and your daddy told you and your homegirl said, "Oh, girl, you look like this," or because your boss said, "If you don't—" It's like, what feels beautiful to you? So that you can just feel yourself. And whatever that is, whatever expression that is, you do that. And do that fully. And don't hold back. And don't let nobody tell you that you're not beautiful in any way that you want to express it.