Very good.
I love the fact that you never know how a song is gonna come together.
I love the anxiety that you feel when you're like,
"There's a pretty likely chance that this isn't even--
I'm not going to find the right words.
I'm not going to find the right melody."
♪ My oh my ♪
Um, what is it?
♪ How can I? ♪
And then there's another chance this might be the day that you write…
that thing that you never knew you had in you.
♪ You give me life You give me life ♪
♪ And I can't deny ♪
Alicia Keys is a singer, songwriter, and pianist.
She's sold over 40 million albums and won 15 Grammys.
Time magazine named her one of the most influential people of the year
twice.
For the song "3 Hour Drive," Alicia worked with two collaborators:
Oscar- and Grammy-winning songwriter, Jimmy Napes,
and Sampha, an artist whose own debut album won the UK's Mercury prize.
♪ Oh I can't deny ♪
♪ -I can't deny -As hard as I try ♪
Together, the three of them found a way to tell one story
from two very different perspectives.
♪ You give me life ♪
I'm Hrishikesh Hirway.
This is Song Exploder.
Everybody good to go?
How's everybody doing technically?
Take two and marker.
What's your sign?
Aquarius.
-Hello. Exactly. Go. - You too?
Does that mean something? I don't know what it means.
-I don't know. A little bit. -Okay. I was wondering if we could start,
actually, like, the day before…
you started working on this song.
My son, my youngest son, was very young, like, really young still.
When you have a new baby, you know, it's pretty difficult to go away.
But it's also easier to focus
when you can take yourself and go into another location.
I had been writing with Jimmy Napes.
We thought it'd be a good idea to go to London,
and just switch up the energy.
And I was really excited to be with Jimmy, 'cause we have such a great chemistry.
Alicia Keys is one of those people
you just want to spend time with and be around.
It didn't feel like I'm just a songwriter that's drafted in.
Writing songs feels very effortless for us,
and there's a lot of trust there
just because of a friendship to begin with.
I think what made that particular session different
was Sampha being there.
I was really hoping to connect with Sampha.
Sampha is an amazing jazz musician,
and he hears melodies that are very, very unique.
You know, he creates his own world, and so, I love connecting with people
that create their own world just like me.
No one loves collaborating with somebody they never met before.
-It's just awkward. - Yeah.
But I think we both had faith.
And what was it about Sampha that would make you wanna have that faith?
I knew that we were kindred spirits in a musical sense, you know.
You can prepare as much as you like to meet people,
but it's always a little bit strange.
You're gonna have this really quite intense…
intimate experience with someone while making music.
And it's always a bit weird 'cause I've obviously seen this person
on my TV screen…and listened to albums.
It's super flattering when someone you've looked up to
gets in contact with you.
It's always weird 'cause it's like, "Oh, they're a real person!"
So he came in and it was good vibes.
He was pretty almost maybe melancholy…
and definitely shy.
I'm not very good at small talk if I'm honest.
So sometimes I can be, like, really awkward and shy.
So we were talking a bit, and…
he shared with me that he had just lost his mother.
And I was like, "Wow." Being that, you know, I am a mother
and I had just had a son.
So it was kinda like this crazy 360-perspective right before us
that was just circling the space
that I don't even think we exactly recognized at the time.
Even being in a place that's so emotional
and then have to, like, not know these people.
You know, it's so risky.
But maybe sometimes it's better when you don't know people.
You ever have that happen?
Like, if you are on the verge of tears and someone you love so deeply hugs you
you cannot contain the tears.
It's almost sometimes strangely better when you don't know the person.
So I already knew he was in a delicate space
and I was honored that he would come.
And then at some point we decided to go into the room and um…
write…
or whatever.
Feel, play, vibe.
- Yes, I can.
You can't man. You're Alicia Keys. You gotta sing "can."
I did a "thee." I never say thee.
So the footage of us in the studio… Did you see--
-Did they send the whole thing-- - They sent that to me.
♪ I don't love thee ♪
I think it was Jimmy who kinda came up with the initial chords.
Then I started to come up with melodies.
That's kind of the process of how we started to build it.
These are the chords that you're talking about.
Don't you love a stem?
I do. That's what the whole show is.
I think it was actually the piano.
Yeah, it's strange because I think…
making music is like a language.
It's just kinda my way of communicating with people.
I definitely go into this kind of stream-of-consciousness sort of world.
Sometimes it feels like I was in an alternate reality.
It was such a beautiful melody and almost so dreamy.
That was hypnotic.
There's, like, a bit of sweetness to it and sort of, like, a longing.
For me, it has this kind of hazy feeling of memory drifting away.
Something that you're sorta chasing, but you can't quite reach.
Just by the chords alone, you felt something so powerful,
but to give it word was what the journey was about.
So now we're kind of looking for the line.
We had these beautiful chords and beautiful melody, but no…concept,
even though the feeling was there,
and that's how songs come together sometimes.
So I started to sing the cadence that I heard…
and then words would jump out, like "traveling by."
So then Sampha's like, "Oh, traveling by!"
"You keep traveling by. It's more than I can take."
There's a longingness,
-like, to connect, but you tr-- - Traveling by…
♪ And I cannot pretend ♪
We need to think about what we're saying.
Jimmy was like, "We need to figure out what we're writing about."
He's very practical.
I like to visualize it in my mind, the situation,
-so I can get in-- -Yeah, so you can get in more.
We knew we liked this "three-hour drive."
We liked that 'cause that was, like, "What does that mean? A three-hour drive.
Where we going?"
The idea of a three-hour drive, yeah, I guess you just have this feeling of…
someone working through something, you know?
There is something super reflective about it and cathartic.
I think it's "no you, no me."
There's no you. There's no me. You know, that's like…
The-- Right.
You give me life.
♪ You give me life ♪
When we landed on "you give me life,"
that was, like, a celebration 'cause you felt it.
You're like, "That's it. That's the thing."
♪ You give me life ♪
That's it.
♪ You give me life ♪
And it's so simple, but it means so much.
"You give me life" means everything.
Earlier in your career, you were not interested in collaborating.
What do you think changed?
So much of my life, I was too scared to open myself up.
After you have kids, I remember immediately realizing…
I was like, "I don't-- None of this matters."
I'm done?
That's it.
♪ You give me life ♪
♪ You give me ♪
Alicia started the beat on the MPC. There are, like, 16 pads.
Basically you hit them and each one makes a different sound.
So she's there, just like jamming, making this beat.
And I remember just thinking, "Oh my gosh. Is there anything that she can't do?
It's so loud and ridiculous.
It's good. It needs it.
It's so pretty that I wanted it to feel more like rough.
I think you're going…
Doo doo by the kick.
And then it changes and it gets…
-even more spacious. - Right.
You know, there's not hi-hats in there. There's not, like, swells in there,
and you think that you have to fill things in
with the pieces that would be logical to put in there.
And actually, I find that hi-hats are restricting.
In fact, live drummers too, I'll ask them, "Don't play the hat.
Make it like it's the smallest set you ever had."
I just love that there's something about the space.
When you add less, it feels bigger.
There's, like, a element of just sound design. Like this.
Right.
Yes, but it fits so well
and there's such a hypnotic, kind of fluid thing that I love.
Just sounds that you feel, but don't hear.
That's nice. That's you?
That's nice!
-That's dope. - Is that original sound?
We didn't think that Sampha was gonna sing.
You know, he came in to write and he was gonna write
and it was gonna be cool, and it was gonna be my song.
♪ I keep traveling ♪
What's that? Tell me what you're thinking. You keep, right there--
You're hearing it and you're not singing it.
-Go ahead. -I just think…
But then he started singing…
and it sounded so good.
It just had a whole other thing to it.
♪ 3 hour drive ♪
♪ And I'm going nowhere ♪
I started singing quietly and they built me up with confidence,
and I started gradually singing louder and being more confident.
♪ I've got the time ♪
It was kind of, like, just an off-the-cuff idea.
We could write a second verse,
but wouldn't it be cool if Sampha sang the same lyrics…
back to Alicia and interpreted them in his own way.
I'm just gonna suggest that we get some Sampha vocals too.
I'm gonna suggest that he sing the whole shit.
And I was a little bit bashful, I think.
I wouldn't say I felt like sink or swim,
but I was like, "I've got to try." I felt the pressure a little bit.
♪ 3 hour drive ♪
♪ And I'm headed nowhere ♪
♪ I've got the time ♪
♪ But now that you're not here ♪
♪ I keep traveling by ♪
♪ Keep traveling by looking for love ♪
♪ You got me looking for love ♪
♪ I can't deny ♪
♪ As hard as I try ♪
♪ That you give me life ♪
♪ You give me life ♪
Listen to his voice.
It's so good.
Sometimes I listen to it and I'm like, "Ugh,"
just 'cause I can be uncomfortable
with, like, being, like, having, like, a confident full-voice vocal out there.
It's very kind of revealing.
♪ 3 hour drive ♪
♪ And I'm headed nowhere… ♪
It gives me goose bumps thinking about it because when he performs that vocal,
there's so much pain in his voice.
♪ Keep traveling by… ♪
There is definitely, like, an energy that you're sort of letting out
that kind of…comes from somewhere.
And a lot for me, I feel, like, is a lot of pent-up stuff.
♪ Sometimes I try ♪
♪ You give me life… ♪
The mic captures that.
♪ You give me life ♪
There's times where it's, like, I…
you know, life can be too heavy for you to try
and put on a mask or try and put on a face or try and be someone else.
I think I felt like, you know, I'm just gonna be myself
and what will be will be kind of thing.
Jimmy, now that I think about it,
and Sampha…
Yeah.
…it's kind of freaking crazy…
if he sings the same verse as me because it's like,
this is what I'm going through
and he's going through the exact same thing.
Now how many times does that happen?
Okay, now we're on the same page.
You take a minute, understand the point I was just making,
but I'm glad you're here now to face it.
Now I know you had this all worked out,
but I'm just saying.
It's so much sicker if it's the same,
just from two different perspectives.
Uh huh. It's pretty crazy. I mean, I'm in.
It's worth a try anyway, at the very least.
♪ 3 hour drive ♪
♪ I'm headed nowhere ♪
♪ I've got the time ♪
♪ Now that you're not here ♪
♪ I keep traveling by… ♪
Once I got into the booth to sing, that's when it finally started dawning
on me, the meaning of the song.
♪ You got me looking for love ♪
♪ And I can't deny ♪
♪ As hard as I try I try ♪
♪ You give me life ♪
You give me life, for me, meant my sons.
And you give me life for him…
meant his mom.
♪ It's more than I can take ♪
♪ Down on my knees, my love ♪
♪ It's more than I can take ♪
This kind of mirror…
of the sentiment from another sort of voice.
You know, two different ends of the spectrum.
Sort of like life and death.
Both things that when they happen to you, your life will never be the same.
Here my son was just born…
and here his mom had just transitioned.
At one point, his mom was looking at a baby she was bringing into the world.
At one point, his mom felt like he brought her life.
And I could imagine when my son is his age,
one day, I'm gonna transition.
And it was this crazy, beautiful circle.
♪ Heart on my sleeve ♪
♪ No, you know me It's more than I can take ♪
♪ Down on my knees ♪
♪ Come back to me ♪
♪ It's more than I can take ♪
The bridge is just us in unison.
♪ No, you know me ♪
♪ It's more than I can take ♪
♪ Down on my knees… ♪
You kinda can't tell. Is that him? Is that her?
♪ It's more than I can take… ♪
It becomes just one.
♪ No, you know me… ♪
But it wasn't harmonies and backgrounds and ahs and ohs.
It was just us.
♪ It's more than I can take ♪
It's so clear that you're singing from a place of joy
and he's singing from a place of grieving.
So evident. It's crazy. Just gave me chills hearing it like that.
I think we got the majority of what we hear now in that day.
It was captured in a moment and felt very free
and that had to be that way.
-Unbelievable.
The song wanted to write itself…
which I didn't know until it all made sense at the end,
when it all came back around to the beginning,
which it always does.
Music is that thing that you're able to express yourself
in a way that you just can't do it in any other way.
Honestly, I'm just excited about the emotion of it,
and it just so happens
that everybody's going to experience this feeling in one way or another,
and we got to put it to music.
Poetry to music and just, like, so be the conduit.
And so, to me, that is all that matters.
And now here's "3 Hour Drive" by Alicia Keys
in its entirety.
♪ You give me ♪
♪ You give me life ♪
♪ You give me ♪
♪ You got me looking for love ♪
♪ You give me life ♪
♪ And I can't deny ♪
♪ As hard as I try ♪
♪ I've got the time ♪
♪ Now that you're not here ♪
♪ Looking for love ♪
♪ You got me looking for love Oh ♪
♪ That you give me life ♪
♪ You give me life ♪
♪ I can't deny ♪
♪ As hard as I try ♪
♪ Oh I can't deny I can't deny ♪
♪ As hard as I try As hard as I try ♪
♪ You give me life You give me life ♪
♪ Heart on my sleeve ♪
♪ No, you know me It's more than I can take ♪
♪ Down on my knees, come back to me It's more than I can take ♪
♪ Heart on my sleeve No you, no me ♪
♪ It's more than I can take ♪
♪ Down on my knees, my love It's more than I can take ♪
♪ You give me ♪
♪ You give me life ♪
♪ You give me ♪