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“This is my first official time doing something like this,” announced Alicia Keys as she took the stage for Tony Robbins Achieve The Unimaginable event in Dubai hosted by Najahi Events. The Grammy award-winning musician, best-selling author, entrepreneur, and activist empowered audiences through her story and of course song. “I wanted to be an artist. I wanted to be a person who could create on my own terms with my own vision,” muses Keys, “I had all of these dreams I was imaging and envisioning for myself.”
Even for Keys finding people to believe in her proved difficult. Instead of following her dreams and being who she truly felt she was, she says, “It was much easier to not break the mold. To be marketable. To be what happened before.” Before breaking into her hit single “Fallin’” she added, “I was making a mistake believing people knew what was best for me.”
“I was falling,” she said, “Trying to find my way. Little by little there was all this fear and all this doubt crowding my head.”
Speaking of her life growing up in Harlem and living in a one-bedroom apartment, far away from the reality she now lives, she opened up about her doubts. “I felt so lonely. I didn’t know who to turn to. Things weren’t going the way I was hoping or expecting it to go,” she explained.
One day a friend shared a saying ‘Would you jump if you knew a net would appear?’ “I would jump,” she said, the audience echoing in agreement. Discussing the fear of failure and how it reminded her about love, she spoke about how she began to open up her heart, making her less afraid and being full of faith. “Everybody loves, everybody cries, sure it can hurt you baby but give it a little try,” she voiced before singing “Girl On Fire”.
“One good thing is to know you’re not the only one going through it,” said Keys, “Once you’re on fire there’s no stopping you.” Talking about love, she spoke about the importance of finding people who love us for who we are. Also, the importance of loving ourselves. “We’re always looking for someone else to do it for us,” she said.
Believing in the power of giving what you want to receive and it shall be returned back to you, Keys also talked about the importance of letting go of negativity. The journey to self-discovery is powerful, one that has undoubtedly led to the success of Keys. “This song reminds me to keep going and to find faith,” she concluded before finishing out the set with “Empire State of Mind”.
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