Alicia Keys on New Year’s Resolutions, Upcoming Music and New Athleta Drop
Alicia Keys has dropped her latest collection with Athleta for spring.
“I love what we create, I love the collections we make,” the singer-songwriter said. “The collections have totally evolved. The very first one was so, kind of, colorful and bright. And each one became more unique.”
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The clothes are meant to be easy to wear, leaving space for thought and movement, she added. “You want to be grounded, and you want to feel like you are able to think and feel and be. And that’s the goal. So, the clothes really support your movement mentally, physically, emotionally. And they really make you look great in an effortless way.”
The latest release features a $69 bra and matching $199 leggings, a $179 wide-leg bodysuit, a sweatshirt and sweatpants set for $129 each, a $229 sweater and $279 sweater dress. Available in sizes 00 to 3X on athleta.com, Keys helps codesign the goods.
“Now, as we fast forward to today, it’s been the capsule that’s about the new year, about new energy,” Keys continued. “It’s the most subdued collection that we’ve ever done. But it feels quite intentional.”
Any New Year’s resolutions?
“We like to call them intentions as opposed to resolutions,” she said. “I think resolutions feels a little bit heavy, a little bit resolute. It’s very, like, finite. And I think that intentions also are fluid and you can start to think about what’s good for you, what you need in your world. My new year’s intention, I’m big on affirmations. And one of the affirmations that I’m living with is I surround myself with things that are good for me. You know when something feels good for you. And you know when it doesn’t feel good for you. So really just holding on to that is really special. And more pragmatically, I’m working on being on time better. Gotta work on my time. You know what I mean? I’m always about seven minutes late…I’m working on it.”
The partnership with Athleta, a division of Gap Inc., began in January 2022, with the first collection launched on International Women’s Day in March of that year. As part of the collaboration, Keys joined Athleta’s grant program “Power of She Fund” as a mentor and adviser, with a mission of empowering women and girls through nonprofit organizations.
In music, Keys is currently working on new projects, including the musical “Hell’s Kitchen,” which is heading to Broadway in the spring. Loosely based on her life, she composed the music with a mix of her familiar hits and some new tunes.
“It’s been 13 years in the making,” Keys said. “It’s a New York story in New York in the ’90s around a 17-year-old girl named Ali. It’s incredible. I can’t wait for everybody to see that, like seriously. There’s new music as part of ‘Hell’s Kitchen.’ And there’s beautiful arrangements of the songs that you love in just unexpected ways, which is super fun.”
There’s also more music coming with a potential new album, which would make it her 10th to date. “I’m going to start to work on the next body of work over these next couple of months,” she said. “And I’m excited to really just take all of the essences and energies and continue to explore where music takes me in its most truthful form.”
She’s looking forward to another unveiling, too: “Giants: Art From the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys” at the Brooklyn Museum. Opening Feb. 10, the show will present her and her husband’s personal collection of works by the likes of artists Gordon Parks, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Lorna Simpson.
“We’re going to be exhibiting in the Great Hall, which is outrageous,” Keys said.
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