Talk:Alicia Keys

Wiki Education assignment: Black American Music 209

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 23 October 2022 and 15 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Wesph148 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Wesph148 (talk) 17:49, 30 November 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 27 July 2023

She was born in 1981 not 1980 87.75.168.118 (talk) 08:42, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. — Paper9oll (🔔 • 📝) 09:53, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

She says or implies 1981 in her memoir More Myself a few times:

• "on a spring evening in 1980, I was conceived." - (P1, Ch 2 Beginnings)
• "TERRI AUGELLO, ALICIA’S MOM - When I got pregnant with Alicia, I was almost thirty and thinking about moving from New York to LA to see what acting opportunities I could get out there. It was 1980. I’d never had a pregnancy, and I called my mother." - (P1, Ch 2 Beginnings)
• "My father wasn’t there when I was born. On that January evening in 1981, as the city’s temperatures flirted with the freezing mark, Mommy arrived at the hospital already in labor." - (P1, Ch 2 Beginnings)
• "I am nineteen. In a few months, my first album will drop and my life will suddenly be divided into two distinct halves ... As 2000 draws to a close..." - (First Word)

But, that doesn't necessarily mean it's true. Nancy Reagan used a fake date in her memoir. AP and People both interestingly give her YOB as 1980. --Shivertimbers433 (talk) 00:32, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

Alicia Keys antisemitism

Is wikipedia going to include Alicia Keys's antisemitic social media post about hang gliding after the terrorist Hamas attack on October 7th, 2023? Boing55 (talk) 01:04, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

You are absolutely right. Added a reliable source that covered it. Let's see how long it lasts here. 2601:19E:427E:5BB0:8349:6307:2D41:BDA4 (talk) 12:21, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

seems to not be antisemitic though: Laura240406 (talk) 14:17, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

References

Not neutral POV / Fictitious references

I would like to call your attention to this part, specifically:

"From a young age, Keys struggled with self-esteem issues, hiding little by little when her differences made her vulnerable to judgment, and later uninvited sexual attention. Living in the rough neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, she was, from an early age, regularly exposed to street violence, drugs, prostitution, and subjected to sexual propositions in the sex trade- and crime-riddled area. "I saw a variety of people growing up, and lifestyles, lows and highs. I think it makes you realize right away what you want and what you don't want," Keys said. Keys recalled feeling fearful early on of the "animal instinct" she witnessed, and eventually feeling "high" due to recurrent harassment."

1. I want to first state that this is not my subject area and I just stumbled upon this page and these issues at random. First, I was taken aback by the latent misandry present in the description of Keys' childhood neighborhood. I visited the cited sources and noted that the summaries in the article overstate the "harassment" that she endured as a teenager (she never actually used that word). Looking specifically at reference 27, Keys never mentions any specific or tangible action taken by anyone toward her and instead cites feelings that she had and assumptions that she made about men that caused her to "hide herself". That is a major point of what that blog post she made is trying to convey. Near the end where she has her awakening and realizes that she no longer needs to hide, why is that? The men didn't change. Therefore, they could not have been the problem in the first place! She changed. That's the point. Her problems as a teen weren't the fault of random men hitting on her due to the unwelcome intrusion of puberty, they were caused by not growing up with a father figure to socialize her to being around a mature male presence, so it scared her. As she matured and had more experience with men, she realized that her teen self had over-reacted. The article should be changed to reflect this perspective. But I'm not volunteering because, as I said, this ain't my area.
2. To further prove the case about misandry, I would like to call your attention to the last underlined sentence in the quote above. This statement is a jumble of multple statements made at different times about different things. The "animal insinct" part is in reference to how she felt about guys leering at her on the streets. That then implies that 'guys on the streets' is the subject of the sentence which goes on to talk about "feeling high due to recurrent harassment". The only source that quotes Keys as saying anything about feeling high is the short movie The Gospel at 14:56 - 15:10 which is given as reference 33. The exact quote is: "I grew up around a lot of pimps and prostitutes. They solicited[sic] me all the time and it made me, um, it made me high. Like it made me not want to be a woman." So it wasn't men doing what men do and her having a coming of age crisis as the article seems to be implying. Instead, she's having a very specific - and quite alien to most readers - experience of being recruited (not solicited) into sex work. To me, this is no minor issue. The article reads like its skewing her words to support an anti-male agenda. But this is just a talk page and I've said my piece.

Note: I apologize in advance that I likely didn't fully support an accusation of fictitious references. I just don't know what else to call what's going on here. Adam Takvam (talk) 14:21, 4 August 2024 (UTC)

I dont know why you're so adamant to prove "misandry", but you are correct in pointing out that this article is dramatizing and sensationalizing her life—plus it is way, way too long.

Wikipedia is not a biography, and information contained must be relevant. Most of this information, if not all of it, is fluff that a simple biography should not contain. This could be condensed to half a sentence, something like: "Exposure to sexual violence and extortion, led her to ..xyz." You are also correct that it is inaccurate, though you are using your own perception of her words to read a different story into it , just as the writer of this article did.

It is interesting that this article is locked, as I would love to cut it down into a readable summary. [user:Taylor Lane locked out] — Preceding unsigned comment added by ~2026-42742-74 (talk) 04:51, 3 August 2026 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 3 August 2026

For the end of the Career section:
In August 2026, it was announced that Keys had signed with [[Creative Artists Agency]] after previously being represented by [[William Morris Endeavor]]. <ref>{{Cite news |last=King |first=Ariel |date=2026-08-03 |title=Alicia Keys Signs With CAA |url=https://www.billboard.com/pro/alicia-keys-signs-caa |url-access=limited |access-date=2026-08-03 |work=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |publisher=[[Eldridge Industries]] / [[Penske Media Corporation]] |issn=0006-2510 |oclc=732913734}}</ref> ~2026-41404-95 (talk) 20:14, 3 August 2026 (UTC)

 Done Umby 🌕🐶 (talk) 01:15, 4 August 2026 (UTC)