Alicia Keys Brought ‘Divine Feminine’ Energy to the Apollo’s Stage

[classic jazz music]

I was raised in Hell s Kitchen in Harlem.

Harlem means so much to me as a New Yorker,

but the Apollo is everything.

[classic jazz music]

There s so much complexity to beauty

and I think is really

about taking care of yourself, you know.

Cause you can have all the things

and the latest everything,

but you can physically and emotionally

and spiritually just be drained, you know.

So I m definitely all about the balance,

trying to find,

and I m always trying to find

that I feel like I m a lot of times holding on the balance

by a thin thread, you know, like I think I balance,

but you know, it s definitely a conscious effort

to, you know, have that space, have that time.

And then also just, you know,

choose good things, things that are good for you.

The divine feminine is like this beautiful power

that s actually within all of us.

It s part of the male experience,

it s part of the female experience,

it s part of the human experience,

we all have masculine energy and feminine energy.

And that is, that does play a part on how,

for me dressing in particularly on stage tonight,

I am actually wearing this beautiful custom-made outfit

that the right side is like a pantsuit

and the left side, is continues at pantsuit,

but creates kind of this illusion of a dress.

And I really love it

cause I feel like it truly does define who I am.

So this is a black designer

that Jason Bolden and John decided to use

because it speaks to Alicia s masculine side,

which is the tailored side.

And then the very feminine with a sequence.

With my new album Keys

is really all about this idea of duality.

And I created a double album.

So there you could see both sides.

One is the original side,

it feels more kind of piano base.

The other is an unlocked side.

It feels more, has more rhythm, has more like hardness.

This idea of exploring the different sides

of who you are

and who I am

has been a big inspiration for me and I,

and embracing all of the sides

as opposed to saying like I ve always felt,

I ve actually always felt quite masculine

and drawing in my masculine side

because all of this inside of you, I love it.

And it kind of gives you a freedom

to just be and not even judge it.

[classical jazz music]

This show is gonna be so, so good.

You know, another thing about the Keys World

is I really like this idea of it being quite theatrical

and almost like dream-like, it s kind of magic in a way.

It s like, it s that place where you can come

to just let everything go.

Can let all the things on your shoulders

that s weighing you down,

all the things outside, all the calls, all the worries,

all the stresses you re gonna just let it go.

And you can come inside this world

and feel like you are everything you want to be, you know?

And so that s what you re gonna experience

in the show tonight and my serious, you know, radio show,

which is fire because everyone hears my voice

and they re like, you don t do radio, you should do radio.

And I should do radio.

And they re kind of surprised I never do radio,

but this is really good, we good?

Thank you.

The Apollo is everything, is such a powerful, historic,

monumental location for music and art.

All the people who have ever touched a stage,

Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday,

James Brown, it s phenomenal.

And literally these hallways

that we re sitting in right now, you know,

some of my greatest inspirations has walked,

place of renaissance, a place of blackness

and power and strength and creativity.

And so to continue on in those footsteps,

I m always in awe.

I m always like, there s a feeling you walk in here

and you can t help it.

[classical jazz music]