Alicia Keys hosted an intimate evening at the legendary Abbey Road Studios for a small number of industry tastemakers and EUPHORIA. was lucky enough to be one of them. What did we get up to? Well, while sitting comfortably in a small studio altogether, the 15-time Grammy Award-winning musician celebrated her eight studio albums being re-recorded, remixed, and re-imagined in Spatial Audio on Apple Music.
“It’s inspiring being in this room. I feel like this is adding to the fabric of the timelessness music has created in these walls. I’m grateful for y’all to be here,” Keys explained.
Photo: Ramon RivasWith so much material to choose from, Keys personally selected six tracks — (“Brand New Me,” “101,” “Girl On Fire,” “She Don’t Really Care,” “No One,” and “If I Ain’t Got You”) — to play to us and gave us an insight into each song before hearing them.
“I would definitely say the most special thing about this experience is that Ann Mincieli and the engineers I worked with on this were able to take the raw files from the very, very beginning and reimagine every single mix. So there’s no template going on here, there’s no like ‘take the two track and just spread ‘em however’. It’s real reimagining of all the songs: all the music, all the tones, all the vocals, all the instruments – all of it,” Keys said. “So, it really, really is special. Plus, to be able to be here and listen in this magnificently historical room of Abbey Road!”
Photo: Ramon RivasThe re-recorded material will be available exclusively on Apple Music from April 28th.
That’s not all Keys has in the pipeline, however, as she also announced she flew over to London to record the music video for a re-recorded version of her legendary single “If I Ain’t Got You” for the Netflix series Queen Charlotte.
Keys excitedly revealed that she worked on the new version with a 90-piece orchestra made up of women of color.