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.”