Alicia Keys Thought Swizz Beatz Was Arrogant When They 1st Met + Refuses To Go Back To The Earlier Days Of Her Career: I Was So Blind

Swizz & Alicia

Alicia Keys Thought Swizz Beatz Was Arrogant When They 1st Met

“I swear, I wouldn’t go back to being 20 if somebody paid me — it was literally the worst time ever. I wanted to fit in so desperately. I was so blind, so dependent on everybody else’s opinions, so uncomfortable, so unclear.”

Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys remembers a time in 2006 where she had an emotional meltdown at a photoshoot, saying that she could have turned to drinking or drugs, instead, she canceled all of her engagements and went on a solo pilgrimage to Egypt, which ended up being the name of her first son, Egypt.

“It was either get the hell away or just explode.”

Later in her career, she split from her longtime manager and began taking more control of the business side of her career.  Before meeting her now-husband of 10 years, producer Swizz Beatz, she says that she viewed him as an arrogant show-off because he bragged about being able to complete a song in 10 minutes,

“I was like, ‘Of course he does his songs in 10 minutes — have you heard his songs?’… and when we got into the studio and started working together, we literally made a song in 10 minutes. I was like, ‘Aw, sh*t!'”

She says that once she stopped dissing him, she started dating him, and she is still trying to find ways to tap into his creative abilities, describing Swizz Beats style as,

 “a place that’s all feeling and emotion and spirit.”

Alicia also recalls being raised by a single mother and sent her father, Craig, “who was basically absent,” a “You’re dead to me” letter at age 14.  Although he never responded she says, in current day she’s developed a relationship with her father but makes note of the importance of being present,

“You need to be there and spend the time, because you never get that back.”

Alicia has spent two decades cultivating her passion for ambitious ventures, including Keep a Child Alive (which helps kids around the world affected by HIV/AIDS) and She Is the Music (which advocates for women in the music business.) Although she has never really been into bling, she says she and her husband Swizz Beats have a tradition of out-spoiling each other with extravagant surprises on their birthdays.  One birthday in New York, she rented out the Louis Vuitton store and the Guggenheim Museum.

“Swizz is such a wild dreamer, and he loves beautiful art, beautiful clothes, and things that are well made,” she says. “I’ve learned that I can totally remain humble but I don’t have to cut off the wonderful things that I deserve.”

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