Alicia Keys Has Had Quite The Transformation

In 2004, eight-time Grammy Award winner Usher Raymond IV, simply known by his stage name "Usher," landed his fourth No. 1 single of the year when he and Alicia Keys collaborated on the track "My Boo." The song, he said in a chat with "CD:UK," came about because he and Keys had a good rapport. "Great chemistry is what it's ultimately all about," Usher remarked. "I respect Alicia as an artist ... and have been following her career. And every so often ... there are those artists that come together and just have great chemistry."

In February 2024, nearly two decades after "My Boo" hit the airwaves, the song was in the spotlight again for a different reason. At the Super Bowl LVIII halftime show, Usher and Keys performed "My Boo," much to the excitement of its fans, but it was the finish — a warm hug from the back to Keys who had a wide smile and closed eyes — that sent the internet ablaze. Although the public called out Keys for being too cozy for someone who is hitched, her spouse, Swizz Beatz, brushed off the sentiments in an Instagram post.

Despite the controversy, Keys has undoubtedly proven to be an all-round musician and performer who makes timeless music. From living in a rough neighborhood to conquering America's largest stage, here's how she has transformed through the years.

When Alicia Keys was 14 years old, she met Kasseem Daoud Dean, known by his stage name Swizz Beatz, through a mutual pal. At the time, a young Beatz was introduced to her as a deejay. Keys' relationship with Swizz Beatz started off rocky, as she was not warm toward her future husband. "I thought she was gonna fight me. She had on a purple Columbia jacket and some Timbs," Beatz said of that particular day on an episode of "Noted: Alicia Keys The Untold Stories," adding that Keys declined to give him her phone number.

Afterward, Keys and Beatz both got into the mainstream entertainment scene and would run into each other, but the former stayed in her lane. "He'd usually pull up in some fancy car, rolling deep with his Bronx crew and shining with diamonds. I wanted nothing to do with that scene or with Swizz," Keys wrote in her March 2020 memoir, "More Myself," per People.

After her deal with Columbia Records came to an abrupt end in 1998, Alicia Keys moved to Arista Records. When Arista lead Clive Davis left the label under duress in 2000, per The New York Times, he began J Records and brought Keys on board. Through the record label, Keys released her first single, "Fallin'," off of her debut studio album, "Songs in A Minor."

The track marked Keys' debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2001, but surprisingly, she was the only one who believed in it. "Everybody told me that, that song wouldn't work," Keys recalled in a 2019 chat with Billboard. "Everybody told me that it would never happen. It didn't fit into any genre. It didn't fit into any stations. It was too slow for some stations. It was too, you know, soulful for other stations."

The fact that the song stood out, Keys said, was its selling point. Its success represented the true essence of art: originality. "It really signified that you can be who you are, that I can be who I am. I don't have to follow anybody else to get to where I hope to go ... You can just be you," she remarked.

Although she was cold toward Swizz Beatz when they first met in the '90s, Alicia Keys warmed up to the music producer when they collaborated on a project and she saw how he worked. Beatz, she said in her memoir "More Myself," was more down to earth than she'd initially thought, and kept up to date with current affairs. 

He, however, nearly missed his chance of getting with Keys when he turned up late to their first date. "I finally agreed to have lunch. I made a reservation for noon at an outdoor restaurant in downtown Manhattan. I arrived at 12 on the dot. Swizz was nowhere in sight," Keys wrote. "He finally came strutting in at 12:20. As much as I wanted to stay mad at Swizz, he lifted the mood with a steady stream of humor and fascinating conversation."

As it turned out, Beatz was late because he'd been perfecting his first gift for Keys: a painting. The couple went on to walk down the aisle in a low-key July 2010 wedding officiated by multiple-time author and friend of the couple, Deepak Chopra, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea (via CBS). Beatz couldn't contain his excitement, as he made a post on X (formerly Twitter) the following day that read, "It's a brand new day I feel like Nas and Diddy song love y'all and blessing!"

In August 2016, Alicia Keys showed up to the MTV VMAs without an ounce of makeup. Alicia's bare-faced look became a movement, owing to the singer's large platform. In an essay for Lenny Letter, Keys made the revelation that, before going makeup-free, she was clouded by self-doubt. "Every time I left the house, I would be worried if I didn't put on makeup: What if someone wanted a picture?? What if they POSTED it???" She wrote. "These were the insecure, superficial, but honest thoughts I was thinking. And all of it, one way or another, was based too much on what other people thought of me."

As a result, she began an introspective journey which ultimately led to her decision. Her turning point, she shared, came at a photoshoot she had right after a gym session. Being pictured while fresh-faced — and eventually using those pictures as artwork for her single, "Common" — permitted her to tap into a more deep-rooted strength. "I hope to God it's a revolution," Keys concluded. "'Cause I don't want to cover up anymore. Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing."

Alicia Keys released a memoir named "More Myself" in March 2020. During an interview with "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," Keys said she preferred to call the body of work a "journey," and not an autobiography as some may perceive. She explained how the book came about, saying, "I've been on a journey to discover more of who I am and how to be more authentically who I am without, kind of, worrying about what other people think or changing because other people might like it better."

The making of the book was a combined effort between Keys' recollection of events and consultation with people with whom she shared memories. In it, she covered a wide range of topics, such as how she set limits when it came to her career after a trip to Egypt. Although that process began with a declaration that she'd have two weeks of solitude before and after each tour, standing her ground took a lot of practice. "It's tough to consistently begin holding your boundaries, but it gets easier the more you do it," Keys wrote. "You start to realize that the earth doesn't fall off its axis because you turned down a speaking engagement or even a movie role."

On the idea of abundance, Keys recalled how her poverty-stricken past had led her to be overly frugal, and it took a shopping spree for her to turn her thinking to one of affluence.

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz parted with a reported $20.8 million to purchase the "Razor House" — a three-story Los Angeles residence overlooking the ocean — in September 2019. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, the palatial home is the brainchild of architect Wallace E. Cunningham and was tailored to suit the area's topography, and it inspired Tony Stark's house in "Iron Man." It features four bedrooms, a two-bedroom guest house, two kitchens, and an auditorium, amongst other luxurious additions.

In an Architectural Digest tour, Keys revealed that despite the spaciousness that comes with their home — all of which is fully utilized — their disk-like living room provides the most fulfillment. "There is something about the circle that feels so good, especially with the view and the water which feels so calming and peaceful," the "Empire State of Mind" singer said. "This is the perfect way to welcome people in." The house's furnishing, Beatz added, was intended to be mellow and represent the countries they have visited.

On the day he was late to his first date with Alicia Keys, the painting Swizz Beatz gifted Keys was of a piano that had brushes sticking to the keys. As Keys detailed in her memoir, Beatz interpreted the artwork to be a portrayal of their relationship. Beatz has a love for artistic displays that has grown every year since he bought his first significant piece when he was 18 years old. Both the couple's home and Beatz's studio house several masterpieces.

In 2015, Beatz partnered with Bacardi to display "The Dean Collection" at a three-day show in Miami dubbed "No Commissions," and following its positive reception, had exhibitions in London, Shanghai, and New York. As of February 2024, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz's private art collection is on showcase at the Brooklyn Museum. The exhibition goes by the name "Giants" and features over 100 works by artists with whom the duo is acquainted.

"We collect from our heart. It's not transactional for us," Beatz said in a joint Interview with "Today." "All of the artists ... in the show are actually friends. They come to our house, some stay at our house."