Alicia Keys, a 15-time Grammy Award-winning artist, knew as soon as she heard the hook for her single “Girl on Fire,” in 2012, that she had made a masterpiece. “We wrote the hook, you heard that big beat,” the singer-songwriter told USA TODAY.
“And I was in another room, and I heard it banging against the wall. I called my husband (Grammy-award-winning producer Swizz Beatz), and I said, ‘Babe, I think something special is happening right now.’ ”
As a result, her instincts were correct. Therefore, Alicia Keys single earned five platinum certifications, and her album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The song’s lyrics inspire girls and women to assert their identity and power.
Alicia Keys’ Girl on Fire’ Song Inspired Her to Create a Book
As a matter of fact, the hit song has prompted Alicia Keys to write a book with the same title. Co-written by Alicia Keys and Andrew Weiner, “Girl on Fire,” is a young adult graphic novel. Keys, who insisted that she work with a black illustrator, appointed comics and storyboard artist Brittney Williams to create the artwork for her first book. The book came out on Mar. 1.
Alicia Keys explained the following in an interview with CNN:
“‘Girl On Fire’ is such a special song … I mean, who knew that this song would have this kind of energy, that it would hold and create. [The book] has been in the works for about five years. It felt like it would be so beautiful to really go deeper into the story of a girl on fire named Lolo, who is being raised in Brooklyn. She’s 17 years old. She has a single father who’s raising herself and her brother and her brother ended up getting harassed by a police officer. Out of the anger and the desire to protect her brother, she discovers that she has this power that she never knew she had.”
The Empowerment of Women and Young Girls
A decade after the song’s release, Alicia Keys ensures Girl on Fire inspires women. Similarly, girls need to stand up for their rights when injustice occurs. However, the author says she is already considering making the Girl on Fire book a film or television series.
Keys adds:
“It’s just as powerful now as we continue to see the world around us making us choose to stand up for peace, to stand up for justice, to stand up for the rights that we deserve. We wanted to use this song to really be that vehicle to remind people: ‘This is your voice. And we can use it to make a beautiful noise.'”
Written by Nikiya Biggs
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