Alicia Keys, photographed in New York for a feature in W magazine by Jenny Gage & Tom Betterton in 2007.

In the corresponding March interview, writer Whitney McNally describes Alicia as “an Egyptian goddess,” “with her smooth Ovaltine skin. Glossy slick-straight black hair and heavily charcoaled eyes—courtesy of the shoot’s hair and makeup artists—she looks like an Egyptian goddess, albeit in a cropped fur-trimmed bomber jacket.” 

Alicia opens up about taking time for herself and slowing down but also getting back into work after a mental-health vacation as she stars in Joe Carnahan’s Smokin’ Aces and Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini’s The Nanny Diaries. 

Smokin’ Aces director Joe Carnahan describes working with Alicia for her first big screen role: “She’s so amazing that you forget how young she is,” says Carnahan. “She projects this strong, dynamic woman and has this power source that she uses to great effort.”

Three months after wrapping Smokin’ Aces, Alicia went to work on The Nanny Diaries. “[The role] was completely and totally different from Smokin’ Aces, and that’s really my goal in everything that I do, from my music to film,” says Alicia. “I want people to not know what to expect from me.”

 

Alicia Keys, representing the organization Keep a Child Alive, photographed as she speaks at the second day of the ServiceNation Summit in New York at the Hilton on 1335 Sixth Ave on Friday, September 12, 2008. 

For over two days (Sept. 11-12) in New York City, 500 leaders from universities, foundations, businesses and politics came together to celebrate the power of citizen service, and set to lay out a bold policy blueprint for addressing America’s greatest social challenges through expanded opportunities for volunteer and national service.

The Summit began with a presidential candidates’ forum on the evening of September 11, where Senators McCain and Obama spoke about their views on the role of citizenship and service in post-9/11 America. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg welcomed the attendees when the proceedings continued the following day, and the summit concluded with a keynote addressed by then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The lineup of speakers and panelists included Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Caroline Kennedy, Alicia Keys, Usher, Kenneth Cole, Tobey Maguire, Jon Bon Jovi and others.

 

Alicia Keys, photographed at AOL headquarters at 770 Broadway in New York City by Diana Levine in December 2009.

Levine photographed Alicia for the promotion of her special performance on ‘AOL Sessions,’ premiering on January 14, 2010. Alicia played material from her new album “The Element of Freedom,” which debuted on the Billboard 200 at #2 that December with 417k units sold. Including hits like “Unthinkable (I’m Ready),” “Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart,” and “Empire State of Mind (Part II).”

The Boston photographer revealed some behind-the-scenes action of the shoot to her social media: “It was a pretty simple set up because I was photographing her in a lobby with white walls, white ceiling and white floors,” Levine explains. “So I didn’t even need to set up a backdrop! I lit the wall with 2 lights in the back, and I used two octobanks [lights], I can’t remember the size — maybe 3 or 4’ octabanks?. One for my key, and one for fill. Usually I set my key at a couple shots above the fill.”

Alicia Keys, photographed at AOL headquarters at 770 Broadway in New York City by Diana Levine in December 2009.

Levine photographed Alicia for the promotion of her special performance on ‘AOL Sessions,’ premiering on January 14, 2010. Alicia played material from her new album “The Element of Freedom,” which debuted on the Billboard 200 at #2 that December with 417k units sold. Including hits like “Unthinkable (I’m Ready),” “Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart,” and “Empire State of Mind (Part II).”

The Boston photographer revealed some behind-the-scenes action of the shoot to her social media: “It was a pretty simple set up because I was photographing her in a lobby with white walls, white ceiling and white floors,” Levine explains. “So I didn’t even need to set up a backdrop! I lit the wall with 2 lights in the back, and I used two octobanks [lights], I can’t remember the size — maybe 3 or 4’ octabanks?. One for my key, and one for fill. Usually I set my key at a couple shots above the fill.”

 

Alicia Keys, photographed before the release of her debut studio album on East 21st Street in New York by James Patrick Cooper in early 2001.

Cooper used the Mamiya M645 camera with Fujifilm NPS 160 film to photograph the young star.  

 

Alicia Keys, photographed before the release of her debut studio album on East 21st Street with Gramercy Park in the background in New York by James Patrick Cooper in early 2001.

Cooper used the Mamiya M645 camera with Fujifilm NPS 160 film to photograph the young star. This was the first time he met Alicia, describing the shoot to social media: “The first time I met Alicia Keys and had her hang out the studio window over E21st. This was before her first album on J Records ‘Songs in A minor.’” 

 

Alicia Keys, photographed wearing Iceberg for the cover of the 78th issue of British lifestyle magazine Dazed & Confused (now Dazed) by Terry Richardson in June 2001.

In Alicia’s 2020 memoir More Myself, she recalls how she felt “manipulated” and “objectified” during a photoshoot before the release of her debut album around 19-years-old. Although she did not name the photographer nor publication, many fans and news outlets drew unmistaken comparisons between her descriptions.

Known to models as "Uncle Terry," Richardson has been infamous since the 1990s for "an almost soft-p*rn aesthetic" featuring nudity, innuendo and simulated sex acts, according to The Guardian. Since the early 2000s, he’s been accused multiple times of using his influence in the fashion industry to sexually exploit models during shoots. In 2017, major fashion magazines like Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair announced they would stop commissioning Richardson.

While on set, the photographer insisted that he needed to shoot photos of her alone, which her team obliged. “When I emerge from the dressing room, there’s just the two of us on set. ‘Open up your shirt a little,’ he directs while firing off a flurry of camera snaps,” Alicia writes in her book. “My spirit is screaming that something is wrong, that this feels sleazy. But my protests, lodged in the back of my throat, can’t make their way out.”

The photographer then asked her to pull the top of her jeans down a bit in the front. “If I say no, what doors will be closed to me? I swallow my misgivings, tuck my thumb between the denim and my skin, and obey,” she recollected. She says she “cried harder than ever” once she went home after the shoot. Alicia was appalled once she saw the cover when it finally dropped. “On the day of the cover’s debut, I pass a newsstand where the magazine is on display. I almost throw up.” 

Alicia added that the discomfort didn’t just stem from showing skin on a magazine cover, it was the feeling of being taken advantage of: “This isn’t about me showing some skin, which I’ll do on my own terms, for my own purposes, in the coming years. It’s about feeling manipulated. It’s about being objectified,” she writes. “I am beyond embarrassed, ashamed that I’ve sold part of myself…Had Jeff Robinson been in there, he would’ve voiced what I couldn’t at the time: Hell no. Close that shirt. Take your hand off your tit. And you’re not going to yank down your jeans.”

The experience had a profound impact on the now mother: “I swear that I’ll never again let someone rob me of my power,” she wrote. “It’s a promise I still work to keep.”