Billboard Music Awards Swizz Beatz Alicia Keys - P 2012
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesAlicia Keys has not yet released her fifth studio album, but her husband — producer Swizz Beatz — is already raving about it.
“My wife’s album’s coming out. It’s an amazing, amazing album full of timeless pieces — which is what music needs now,” Swizz told THR at the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York on Thursday.
He worked with Keys on a “selected few” tracks on the record. “She’s her own creative genius. She needs no handouts from me,” he said.
STORY: Alicia Keys Recalls Sleepovers, Sisterhood With Whitney Houston
Keys’ previous album, 2009’s The Element of Freedom, spawned such tracks as “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart” and a pared-down version of her “Empire State of Mind” hit with Jay-Z.
Swizz declined to give a release date or a title.
The couple married in July 2010 and welcomed a son, Egypt, in October of that year.
“It’s the best thing ever,” Swizz, who has three other children from previous relationships, said of fatherhood. “The best thing from god is to get a gift … to see yourself all over again.”
He said he’s finishing up rapper Nas‘ new album, Life Is Good, due out next month; at the Songwriters Hall gala, he presented the Hal David Stralight Award, given to younger artists who write their own music, to his friend, R&B star Ne-Yo.
“First of all, he’s a great spirit,” he said. “And to write good songs, you have to have great soul. Ne-Yo, from day one, he’s proven himself to be more than a one hit wonder. He’s proven himself as being able to reinvent himself through trial and tribulations. One minute, you’re cold; one minute, you’re hot. That’s the laws of the industry. But he stood the test of time.”
On Tuesday night, Keys debuted one of her new songs, called “Not Even the King,” at a City of Hope gala dinner held in Los Angeles honoring Clear Channel’s Bob Pittman (Zac Brown Band and Katy Perry also performed). Hear a snippet of the song in the video below.
Twitter: @THRMusic
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