On October 21st of last year, Alicia Keys held “The Element of Freedom Lecture & Performance Series” at New York University’s Skirball Center. During the event, she gave NYU students -- most of which were aspiring songwriters – solid advice and discussed her songwriting process, before wowing the crowd with an exclusive showcase. Since then she has released her newest album The Element of Freedom. We caught up with the inspired Miss Keys in the East Village.

There is a lot more pop, 80s-inspired elements on this album, like Prince…

Alicia Keys: Ooh, I love that! I love him very much. It’s so funny to hear different people say what the songs remind them of. It’s really funny, cos some people say, “It sounds like Michael Jackson! It sounds like Fleetwood Mac! It sounds like Madonna!” I’m like, Madonna?!

Maybe her first album.

Alicia Keys: Really? That’s cool! Before I do an album, I never sit down and contemplate what it’s going to sound like. It just begins to create itself, so it’s really interesting to see what happens. I did want to try new sounds and I did get a chance on my last album, As I Am, to start to explore different keyboards and synthesizers and things. But on this album I really went farther into it. It was really fun. I definitely went into this album knowing I wanted to try new things and just try new styles. I like it when things become different than maybe what people are used to hearing from me. I would really like to do that every time since I’m different every time. First I thought that this album would be very broken down, very strict. I still want to do a record like that. That would be fun.

By strict you mean pure, unplugged?

Alicia Keys: Yeah, just all about the music and all about vocals and instrument, with a very minimal amount of instruments. Who knows what’ll happen next?

At the NYU lecture, you said that you felt lonely during the last album, that you finally have found the key and balance with this album. What happened on the last one?

Alicia Keys: A lot of things were different on the last record, but the thing that I learned the most between the last record and the last tour was that working is great and I love my job. I love to perform, to play, to write, to sing. I love the effect that it has on people and when people come to me and tell me that certain things have changed in life or that I’ve gotten them through certain times in their life, there’s no greater reward for me. At the same time, there’s also a balance between working and life. And so I learned that it’s very possible to do both. You don’t have to choose career over life; you don’t have to don’t choose life over career. You can do them both. That’s why the world is set up where you work from Monday to Friday and you have the weekends off, because everyone needs some time to have with their family or the people they love. So I just thought about putting things like that into my world, like I’ll work this day and this day and these days will be my off days. So that’s the first time in all these years that I really realized that that’s easily done. It’s a great way to create a better balance in my life and happiness in my life, more calm in my life and not get so worked up because I feel overworked! In fact, because I did that, the album got created way faster than I ever thought because I balanced it out. So it’s just about learning what’s good for me and putting it into the next album. So that’s how I found a new way to be creative.

Last time we met, you said you were trying not to spread yourself too thin.

Alicia Keys: See? So I’m staying good. I’m staying consistent!

Your lyrics are also very personal. Some of the songs talk about loneliness, lost love and longing. Did you tap into your own personal life and feelings?

Alicia Keys: Yeah. All the songs have emotions and feelings that I’ve been through, that I’m going through or that I was going through. But it’s all open to interpretation, I find, because when I listen to the songs I know what I was thinking or what I was feeling. And sometimes when other people are listening to them they get a whole other story from it. So hopefully it just resonates with whatever the listener is going through. But the songs are actually very diverse. “This Bed” says “I don’t want to go through life wishing we could do it right.” So if a relationship is on the verge of falling apart, it’s me saying that “I’m realizing that this bed is too lonely without you. I don’t want to hold my pillow; I wanna hold you.” That’s not really about loneliness but realization. “Love Is Blind” – people will think it’s a break-up song, but it’s not a break-up song. It’s really about the fact that when you love someone, you love him very strongly. When you really love someone, no matter who he is – it could be your children, the person you love, your family – there’s no deterring you from that love. No matter what anyone says, you know how you feel. Love is very blind, you know, so that’s just a fearless statement. But I love hearing people’s different perspectives about my songs. It’s kind of fun, like “wow, what did they take from it?”

What is freedom for you?

Alicia Keys: Freedom for me is to be able to be myself and being able to express myself as I grow and change cos I’m never going to just be the same. Freedom is the ability to change, to grow and to not be held back because of it. So that’s freedom for me.

Did you feel the lack of it at any time during the past few years?

Alicia Keys: Musically, I have to say I feel pretty free to express myself, and I’m fortunate to say I always have. But in life there’s always some type of way that someone is saying that you should only do this, you shouldn’t do that or that’s not a good idea, that will never work… We all get that. Someone is always going to tell you what they think you should or shouldn’t do. But freedom is the ability to choose what you want.

You were also saying at NYU that you got rid of people who didn’t have your best interest in mind. How did they hamper you?

Alicia Keys: They hampered me in a way… It was just heavy, like weighted, like carrying extra weight. Some of those people that I was doing business with and the only reason that I found out was because fortunately I have other good people that I work with who said, “You know what? Strange thing came up that I heard from someone. What do you think about that?” And it was something I hadn’t even heard. I realized that I was working with some people that were just… People have their own motives and everyone’s intentions aren’t always the greatest. So I’m fortunate that I had people to watch for me when I couldn’t see and show me so I could change that. I don’t know if it felt heavy at the time – because at the time everything felt OK – but the heavy part was actually changing it, fixing it and correcting it. That’s the hard part.

Well you started out really young and people take advantage of that. You’re not even 30 and you’ve achieved so much!

Alicia Keys: I feel very proud of everything that I’ve achieved so far and I definitely feel excited about all the things I want to still achieve. I just try to take it day by day.

How do you see yourself at age 40?

Alicia Keys: I see myself very much in control. I see myself be the head of my businesses as I’ve always been. I see myself diversify a little bit more. Maybe I’ll be more into songwriting and producing as opposed to doing the artist thing. But I also see myself in other things. I see myself producing films, scores and creating music for films. I see myself starting my own businesses that are outside of music, which I am in the process of doing now, just to continue to grow and have a real positive effect on the world.

What kind of businesses are you setting up?

Alicia Keys: Many. One that I’m starting now is a jewelry line. It’s called The Barber’s Daughter. What I love about it is that it’s all hand done and they have these beautiful inscriptions on them. When you read them, they move you and you feel proud to wear it cos it reminds you of something that you want to remember. And I love words so much. I feel like we’re all searching for something and I want to introduce people to the things that want to help them on their search in a positive way. So that’s one first step. But I want to do a lot of things. I want to be the female Magic Johnson! I want to be like Oprah and I want to build schools. I want to continue to introduce people to positive things. But I’m still starting!

And you can be Linda Perry.

Alicia Keys: And I can be Linda Perry as well! Linda Perry, Oprah Winfrey, Magic Johnson, Quincy Jones!

You seem to like strong personalities and did a duet on Jay-Z’s album. Is there anyone else you’d like to work with?

Alicia Keys: Oh, so many people… Prince is on top of my list. I’d like to do something with Gwen Stefani, M.I.A. and Lady Gaga would be interesting. They all have personality, you know?