Alicia Keys Finds Strength in Being ‘Gentle,’ Performs Hits in Our Studio

Just one week after releasing her fourth studio album 'The Element of Freedom,' Alicia Keys bounced back and forth from her piano to a standing microphone and gave a mini-concert in our New York studio. Dressed in all-black, Keys performed a mix of old and new tunes, including singles 'Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart,' 'Un-thinkable (I'm Ready') and her smoothed out rendition of 'Empire State of Mind,' before sitting down to chat with the BoomBox about her new found freedom and a "gentler" self.

"You can find your strength in being a little more gentle you know," the singer says of her new project that features ballads about undeniable, and sometimes crippling love [see: 'Love is My Disease']. "I think that a lot of my approach with this record was a little bit more gentle and not necessarily consciously, but it does come through like that."