Alicia Keys and Swizz Beats are expecting their second child by New Years and just celebrated their baby shower over the weekend. Just in time for the holidays, Keys dug into her archives to bring us an outtake from her 2012 album Girl On Fire called "Somewhere In The City" as part of her "12 Days of Christmas" giveaway. The full song was never officially released, though it was featured during the end credits of her documentary, Keep A Child Alive With Alicia Keys.
The piano-driven ballad shows Keys singing about the harshness of the city and the conquering power of love.
"Somewhere in the city like mine, sky is falling / Somewhere in the city like mine, father's calling / Seas are rising, see yours crying / Dreams may wash away," she croons. "But we're surviving, mothers trying / Help us see your ways."
Earlier this month, Keys released a song called "We Gotta Pray," inspired by the tragic deaths of Eric Garner in New York City and Mike Brown in Ferguson and the grand jury verdicts to not indict the police who killed them.
Once she gives birth to baby No. 2, you can expect to hear more information on the release of her upcoming Pharrell-produced album. In an interview with Vibe, she called the effort "the best album I've ever done, period."
"I went into the studio this time with a lot more purpose and intention," she told Vibe. "I've come to the place where I recognize things about myself and the world that I didn't quite recognize before. I just want to really talk truthfully and honestly about all of those things.
"One of the things that spawned me for this album is the amount of stereotyping that we're faced with every day. It's like we're all forced the check a box: Are you a black woman? Are you a single, black woman? Are you a black rapper man? Are you a gay man? Are you a divorced father? And each one comes with it's own set of stereotypes, and I think it's crazy-limiting and really inaccurate to the complexity that makes us who we are. So just breaking down a lot of those stereotypes and getting to the heart of it."
Listen to "Somewhere in the City" below, and let us know what you think in the comments section!
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