Alicia Keys: ‘Music Can CHANGE A Kid’s Life’

Published on September 09, 2016

ALICIA KEYS wants music to be a “game changer” for the younger generation like it was for her.

The Girl on Fire singer has teamed up with denim brand Levi’s for its first ever Music Project to launch a Music x Technology curriculum at Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn in New York, near where Alicia grew up.

It’s been a rewarding experience for the star who hopes the students will learn how music can help to empower them.

“It’s in a tough neighbourhood, but it’s this beautiful beacon of light for the kids who go to it,” Alicia said of the Brooklyn high school, according to Billboard.

“I’ve studied piano since I was seven years old and that’s a game changer for me, 100 percent. The fact that I know how to write, create and produce my own music means I don’t ever have to wait for anyone to express myself.”

In a YouTube video posted by the brand earlier this year (16) the 35-year-old is seen visiting the school to meet the pupils and perform for them. Alicia first worked with the denim company last year (15) to promote its new women’s line, but this project means so much more to her.

“It felt like such an incredible opportunity to help students really go to the next level of creating with state of the art facilities – with a media lab, isolated recording booths, and mobile recording carts, audio/visual production, engineering, post-production, mastering, songwriting and all of the things that go into making visuals and music,” she explained.

Levi’s chief marketing officer, Jennifer Sey, has hinted that there’s plenty more big names lined up to get involved, and each music star will help a school in their hometown. She shared that the musicians didn’t ask what the initiative was before agreeing to it, as she quips: “Music chose us.”