The BoomBox had the pleasure of sitting down by the piano with Alicia Keys this week when she came to our New York City studios for a six-song Sessions taping. Topics ranged from her new album ‘The Element of Freedom’ to porcelain frogs (long story). The songstress also shared what she considers to be the biggest moment of the decade.

“I can’t believe it’s going to be 2010,” Keys says as she stares up and seemingly begins to reflect on the past 10 years. “It’s been such a momentous decade for me. There is just going to be more to come. I have to say, the most momentous moment of this decade was probably having us electing Barack Obama.” (Read more… )

Alicia Keys’ album “The Element of Freedom” topped the R&B chart in its first week of sales, but fell short of Susan Boyle to land at No. 2 on the Top 200 Albums chart, her label said on Wednesday.

The album, which is Keys’ latest release since her 2007 “As I Am,” sold more than 417,000 copies in the week since it hit stores, earning the singer her fifth straight chart topping debut, said Sony Music.

The album also landed at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart, behind middle-aged British singing sensation Susan Boyle’s debut album “I Dreamed a Dream,” said industry tracker Nielsen/Soundscan.

Released on December 15, “The Element of Freedom” includes the single “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart.”

It also has a duet with Beyonce called “Put It In a Love Song” and Keys’ solo version of a recent collaboration with Beyonce’s husband, Jay-Z, “Empire State of Mind.”

Keys, 28, who broke onto the music scene in 2001, plans a concert tour beginning in March that will take her to Chicago, Detroit, Boston,

The First Annual Premier’s Award was introduced at the recent Cayman Islands Jazz Fest at Camana Bay on Saturday, 5 December and honored 10 local musicians, as well as international star Alicia Keys.

The Premier’s Award acknowledges the contribution of an individual whose professional life has been dedicated to and integrated with improving the lives of others, according to the Cayman Department of Tourism, and is intended to celebrate the outstanding achievement of individuals who have shown “great talent, enthusiasm and dedication” in the areas of culture, music, literature, theatre, visual and performing arts, education or sports. (Read more… )

Alicia Keys’s studio is close enough to New York to allow her easy access to the city, but far enough away to mean the very private singer, songwriter, producer, actor, author and businesswoman can keep her distance. It’s significant, because the multimillion-selling 28-year-old star seems to be caught between the pull of fame and fortune and the need to be able to disappear back into her own world at a moment’s notice.

‘I’ve always been a big, big people person,’ she says, sitting at the mixing desk on the ground floor of the three-storey house in a Long Island suburb she converted into a recording facility and office three years ago. ‘But I think that, in the past, there was a lot more of an extreme caution. I put up a wall against myself, and I know for a fact that I’ve purposely broken that wall down – for my own wellbeing and to be able to be connected to my feelings and my thoughts and my emotions, and not to have to put on this, kind of, emotionless armour. It was like Teflon, and really, I used to put it on all the time. But I don’t wanna be that person.’ (Read more… )

Congratulations to Alicia Keys for making it on to Entertainment Weekly’s ‘Best Singles of the Year’ list for 2009! Alicia Keys snatched the #1 slot for her collaboration with Jay-Z on “Empire State of Mind” and also made it on the list for her new single “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart” from her just-released album, The Element of Freedom.

With seven No. 1s on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs tally and four consecutive chart-toppers on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Alicia Keys has earned the title of Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop artist of the decade. Her 2001 debut album, “Songs in A Minor,” spent six weeks atop the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and launched a pair of top 10 singles, including the smash hit “Fallin’.”

Keys followed “Songs in A Minor” with “The Diary of Alicia Keys” (2003), “Unplugged” (2005) and “As I Am” (2007). With the exception of her third offering, each set ranks in the top 40 of the decade’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. On Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Keys’ No. 1 singles have led for 41 chart weeks, more than any other artist. Among them, “No One” and “Like You’ll Never See Me Again” combined for 17 consecutive weeks at No. 1.

Alicia Keys’ new album, ‘The Element of Freedom‘, is projected to sell 330, 000 to 350, 000 units in its first week. The figures were tallied by HitsDailyDouble based on the first day sales of the LP. While this isn’t the 742K units her last album sold, it’s still head and shoulder above what artists are expected to do in their first week of sales in today’s album-buying economy. The only other major album in her genre to be released this week is Robin Thicke’s ‘Sex Therapy’ which will struggle to do 100K first week’s sales. A bad economy combined with an audience who has been conditioned for free music has made the climate pretty rocky for record sales. Glad to see that Alicia can still do it, even in this rough terrain.

I’ve been adding a lot of videos to AliciaKeysMedia.com over the last few days. Check them out.

1. 4 Music Favourites – An Element of Freedom Special – Watch

2. Album Launch Party in London – Watch

3. Interview with W Hotels Global Director of Music – Watch

4. Interview with DJ Swerve – Watch

5. Today Show – Empire State of Mind Part 2 – Watch

The New Yorker said she would love to do theatre there. ”I think about doing Broadway but I think about doing Broadway in a different way. I want to develop Broadway, I want to create the stories for Broadway, I want to create the music for Broadway. I want to create a piece, a play and I don’t even necessarily want to act in it.”

That may not be for some time though. The singer and songwriter is currently promoting her fourth album The Element Of Freedom. The Grammy winning artist will also be hitting the road very soon, as her world tour begins in February 2010.

Alicia Keys is on the cover of Giant magazine. You can find the scans in the gallery.