Alicia Keys. Welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
(chuckles) Thank you, thank you. How's it been for you?
Have you... How have you been feeling
with all of this conversation, communication so far away?
I feel... I feel more connected
and disconnected than ever before.
I don't know if you're feeling the same thing, you know?
'Cause everything we do is like this now.
But then, like, you know, you're talking to someone,
but they're not there, and then I'm trying to see your face,
but then I see my face in the corner
'cause there's another picture,
and then the camera's in another...
It's like... How are you dealing with it?
-Are you... are you coping? -Yeah, I mean, you know,
first of all, the family is healthy.
The family is good, so that's-that's step one.
I think I definitely have gotten
more used to communicating in this more digital space,
where, you know, at first,
I was completely weirded out by it.
But now I'm-I'm embracing it,
and I feel, you know, I feel like I get it.
So working out.
You-You've written a new song. And again,
you know, Alicia Keys writes songs about love.
Alicia Keys writes songs about, like, the journey
of falling in love, you know, heartbreak, et cetera.
But this is a different type of heartbreak.
You know, you've written a song,
and-and the title of the song is "Perfect Way to Die."
Tell me... tell me a little bit about the why of the song.
Why did you write the song,
and-and what does it signify to you?
Wait till you hear it. I mean, oh, my gosh.
It-it really started...
The-the catalyst for the song
was, uh, Mike Brown and Sandra Bland.
And-and, so, you hear these stories,
and you hear their stories in these lyrics.
And-and the devastating thing is that...
it's never not going to be relevant.
And where we are right now in the world
and in this country, in America, particularly,
we are in a real...
a real place that we can all see,
that there is a major...
This is the most major pandemic of all.
You know, this deeply rooted racism,
this police brutality,
this treatment of black people
that is just completely unacceptable,
to the point where, daily,
we're seeing, you know, lives lost,
people murdered for nothing,
nothing.
For being black, you know?
And-and so this song really does encapsulate that
and also the fire of the cities that we're all in,
the fire of energy of the-- of the rallies and the protesting
and-and the-- and the outrage
and the place where we've all reached
where we will not be silent anymore.
Um, and-and it says,
"I guess you picked the perfect way to die.
Is there a perfect way to die?"
It's so powerful,
um, and I'm just honored
that this song can be alive
in this time, when, you know,
we really are on the precipice of great change.
That's really amazing.
Um, I-I would argue, you know,
you're one of the people who I've seen
really mobilizing every resource that you have
to make change happen--
your music, your networks,
you know, the-the spaces that you inhabit.
Because, for some, the music would be enough.
But you're part of an initiative that's really beautiful,
where you-you've put together this group of women,
sisters in the industry,
who all have a voice.
You know, everyone from-from yourself to Cardi B
and-and Tracee Ellis Ross
and-and just amazing women in this space
who-who you've brought together
and have worked with to-to come together and say,
"Hey, let's speak out specifically
"not just about the issue
but specifically about what happened to Breonna Taylor."
You know, a woman who was killed in her bed
because police knocked on the wrong door,
broke down the wrong door, rather,
and-and killed her as she slept.
And-and, I mean,
as we're speaking now, there still have been no arrests.
The only person who was arrested was her boyfriend,
who was protecting his life
because people just came in with guns.
And you've been-- you've been working on this, I believe,
with, uh, Breonna Taylor's mother as well.
T-Tell me about the initiative
and tell me what you're trying to achieve.
Yeah, we spoke to her family, her mother, her sister,
-who actually had a bedroom right next to Breonna. -Mm.
Um, and for whatever reason,
thank God, that night she wasn't there.
Could you imagine-- this mom would have buried two daughters.
Two.
And it's terrible that she had to bury one
and that this has been months that this has been going on
and, to your point, no charges, no arrests, no firings.
And it's-it's outrageous.
So we got together.
We-we did a simple thing,
saying, "Do you know Breonna Taylor's story?"
And so we also knew that-that the--
her city, Louisville, was-was voting
on, uh, banning this no-knock warrant,
which is the reason why all of this happened.
-Right. -And so we had to be very timely,
because the vote was happening on Thursday.
And I believe our collective, kind of, voice-voices
and our post came out on Tuesday.
And so, on Thursday, sure enough,
along with everybody else who's been doing so much work
around this, um, sure enough,
it was a unanimous vote
-that they banned the no-knock warrant. -Wow.
So, um, I think that's one step.
Obviously, those officers need to be charged,
need to be arrested, need to be convicted.
Um, and so, a-actually,
on the Until Freedom website,
there's a very clear outline of who you can call--
the mayor, the-the attorney general--
there's a-- there's a-- the general attorney--
there's a-a nice list of people that you can call.
So, no matter where you live, where you're from,
um, you know, just continuing to be relentless, I think,
is a part of all of the justices that we want to see.
Before I let you go,
you know, part of the journey of-of being a black person
is living between two states of, um, pain and joy.
And for this Juneteenth,
you-you are gonna be...
is it piano battling against John Legend?
Is-- Do I-- do I understand this?
'Cause they said there's gonna be a battle,
and I was like, "Between John Legend..."
And they're like, "Yeah, it's a piano battle."
And I was like, "I've never heard of this."
This is, like, the most highbrow,
like, hood thing that I've ever heard of.
'Cause I love battles, and then I was like,
"But it's gonna be pianos." I was like, "What?"
Tell-tell me a little bit about the Juneteenth
John Legend/Alicia Keys piano battle.
Well, you know Verzuz.
Uh, my husband, Swizz Beatz, uh,
created and Timbaland created this forum,
which is really a celebration of greatness,
you know, where two really awesome artists
will come together and battle,
have a Verzuz opportunity to share their music,
to share their-their moments.
And it's been incredible.
And especially during this time of COVID
and us being, you know, so,
kind of, you know, confined to our spaces.
I think it's-it's really been something
that so many people look forward to.
So, um, Juneteenth is-is happening on June 19,
and it really commemorates and it's a celebration
to commemorate the, um, liberation
of the last enslaved people in America.
And, to me, you know, it's-it's far more accurate
of a time to celebrate than a July 4,
which still had many people who, um, were not free
and were not-- were not liberated.
And so I think this is what we're celebrating.
So, me and John,
we do come together for Verzuz,
um, and we are going to have
a beautiful battling celebration,
um, of music, piano, songs.
I'm excited.
I mean, I don't even think you know what's gonna happen.
I, myself, don't even know what's gonna happen.
I think nobody knows with those Verzuz battles,
-which is exciting. -That's what I'm saying.
So I'm just excited to, you know, have this moment.
I think it does-- You know, it helps so much
with-with all that we have coming forward.
Alicia Keys, thank you so much for your time today.
We'll tune in to the Juneteenth battle.
-Yeah. -And, uh, congratulations
on all the work that you're doing.
We'll make sure we direct everybody to try and help in.
Thank you. I'm so-- And you, too.
Such-- So much love. Thank you for all that you're doing.
Thank you to everybody who's watching,
for just being awake, aware, and open to, you know,
the great change that we all want to see.
Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day.
Thanks. You, too.