THE DIVA INSIDE

AS LOLA OGUNNAIKE DISCOVERS, THE ONLY TIME THE DIVINE MISS KEYS BEHAVES LIKE A DIVA IS WHEN SHE OPENS HER MOUTH - AND SINGS

At a time in the not so distant past when her scantily clad peers were lip-syncing to digitally enhanced tracks, R&B star Alicia Keys opted to rely on something so old it was new again: talent. Blessed with a voice built for church choirs solos, Keys, a classically trained pianist, quickly won over audiences with her ability to bang out Biggie Smalls and Beethoven. On the strength of the wildly infectious hit, Fallin,her debut, Songs In A Minor, earned her 5 Grammys, including one for Best New Artist. Fans from Harlem to Holland copied her signature look: beaded cornrows and floppy hats precisely cocked over one eye. Those who dared to wonder if Keys could do it again got their answer this year with The Diary of Alicia Keys, which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, selling a staggering 600,000 copies in its first week. Here, Keys, just days before her European tour, takes a break to discuss catfights, mind sex and grand pianos. —Lola Ogunnaike

LOLA OGUNNAIKE In the video for your song, If I Ain’t Got You,rapper Method Man plays your love interest. Mos Def is the man of the hour in the video for You Don’t Know My Name. But would Alicia Keys ever date a rapper in real life?

ALICIA KEYS No. Never. Nobody in the industry will ever touch me. My body is just too sacred and beautiful to be dirtied by the thousands of people that they constantly come in contact with and probably sleep with as well. We can definitely talk and I might even say, he’s a cutie,but other than that, it’s not going to happen.

LO You make the moves on Mos Def in the You Don’t Know My Name video. That’s not very Rules of you. is this customary?

AK You have to really be special for me to want to say hey to you. I meet a lot of people who can’t even have a basic conversation. And I’m not talking about fans that may be a little too nervous. I’m talking about people who have it in their head that they’re going to sweep you off your feet because they have a couple of hundred in their pocket, but they don’t have on interesting thought in their head. They haven’t read a book. They can’t philosophize. They’re empty.

LO You just finished headlining the Ladies First tour with Beyonce Knowles and Missy Elliott. I heard that you and Beyonce weren’t on the best of terms. Was it one big slumber party or one long PMS-fueled catfight?

AK Of course there are reports that we didn’t get along. People wish we didn’t get along. People hope there was fighting and arguing and that we were competitive. I bet if I said that our whole show was about outdoing each other, we never spoke, and we had problems backstage, you’d be eating it up right now.

LO Definitely. People love the drama.

AK I know, I know. [Beyonce and I] welcomed each other from the beginning and we’re both very proud of each other and our accomplishments. But a true pimp -which I can be sometimes- would never put their business out there anyway. It’s the people who don’t know how to handle themselves who run and tell everything.

LO I understand that you’re working on several book projects, including a mystery series and a compilation of your diary entries?

AK I’m still deciding how to structure the first book, but it’s going to be a collection of diary entries from when I was young following me all the way up to today. The challenge is me facing myself and deciding what I want to share. But the point is to be honest. The mystery series is still a thought, but I love the idea of doing something like a Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys. Those types of stories have never been told from the perspective of where I grew up or what I saw.

LO You’ve tickled your fair share of the ivories. Are you partial to any type of piano?

AK Steinway is one of the best in the world and I definitely like them a lot. My first and favorite piano was a Steinway. I got it when I signed with Columbia, and I was head over heels. It ended up not working out with Columbia, but I still got to keep the piano.

LO So a person doesn’t have to be a gazillionaire to date Alicia Keys?

AK You could be dead-ass broke for all I care, but if you have drive and something that you’re striving for and you’re intelligent, that’s a lot to me. For us women, mind sex is deeper than the physical touch any day. If you can make love to my mind and really just get me stimulated, I will melt for you.

LO The title of your latest album is The Diary of Alicia Keys. Was that clever marketing or do you actually keep a diary?

AK A diary is always with me. If it’s not directly in my bag, it’s in my hotel room. There’s always one by my bed. I have this passion to write it all down, so I can remember the details of my life. I don’t want to wake up and ask, Was any of this real? I also write as a form of prayer. I find when I’m feeling confused or tormented or indecisive or low, I’ll write. I’ll describe what I’m feeling and ask myself why. If I can actually give it a word, then I feel like I can understand it.

LO What are the five albums that anyone who considers himself a true music fan should own?

AK You need some Coltrane, Miles Davis, or Theolonius Monk. Some early rock and roll like Chuck Berry or the Rolling Stones. A real moody classical pianist like Chopin or Mendelssohn. Definitely a great R&B soul musician like Otis Redding, Prince, or Stevie Wonder. And some sort of opera.

LO If you had to program someone’s iPod, what songs would you input?

AK Everything from the Eagles, to Nirvana, to Alanis Morissette, to my album, Jill Scott, all of Stevie Wonder, Prince’s Sign ‘O’ The Times, Biggie, Tupac, Wu-Tang, Beethoven, Tony! Toni! Tone!, Sly and the Family Stone, Tina Turner, my favorite new group Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and the Krucial Keys mixtape volume III.

LO Lets’ play Sophie’s Choice. Which of your talents would you leave in Germany if you had to: the ability to sing or play the piano?

AK That’s evil. That’s soooo evil. [Long Pause] I would choose to keep singing because I want people to listen to what I have to say. That’s if I really had to choose, but that’s so wrooong.

LO Jay-Z and R. Kelly collaborated for the Best of Both Worlds album. Who could you work with for an entire album?

AK Lauryn Hill. I think that would really be fly. It’s tough because it has to be somebody you really like, someone who has the same ideas as you. Prince, too. But that might be a little too much Apollonia. [Laughs] I wouldn’t let it be like that,, though. I would make sure that it was a true representation of the both of us. Alicia-onia. Just joking!

LO Lauryn Hill sang and rapped. Could you ever see yourself rhyming?

AK I definitely could. I wouldn’t just drop a hip-hop album right now. I would probably start by rhyming a bit on one of my songs. It would be cool to have another female out there that is versatile.

LO So, I hear that you recently took up boxing?

AK Yeah. It’s really good for my mind. I love to challenge myself, and it’s a great way for me to be at the top of my health. And if I need to bust someone’s ass, it comes in handy, too.

LO Do you ever just want to walk on stage in sweatpants and Timberland boots?

AK When I’m ready to perform, I like to put it all on. I remember one time I was set to do one of my real big shows and none of my clothes were there. I had just gotten off the plane, and I had on these pink sneakers and crazy pink pants and these knock-off shades and a crazy-looking baseball cap, and I got on the stage. And it was one of the hottest shows I’ve ever done. It’s not my clothes that make me. I like to enrapture people in the moment and the music. That’s all that matters.

LO You’re one of the few artists who managed to avoid the sophomore jinx. Was it a relief?

AK I felt that was inevitable for me because I’m going to keep getting better. I haven’t even reached my peak yet. I haven’t even come close to the best that I’m going to be. So I feel like every time I’m going to get better. I’m going to learn more. I’m going to be smarter. I’m going to be more of a woman. I’m going to be more in control of myself, my mind, my feelings. I’m going to understand them more, so I can explain them better. I’m going to be more liberated, more skilled as a musician, as a writer. I feel like it’s just going to keep getting better.

LO Is a lounge act in Vegas in the foreseeable future?

AK My manager is so funny. He said in sixty years I’m going to be singing “Fallin’” in Vegas so I better get used to it. The incredible thing about music is that if you write great songs, they live forever. I plan to get to a point in the next ten years where I’ve made all the right moves and I don’t ever have to work again. So if I do end up in Vegas, it will completely be my choice.

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