>> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: please welcome alicia keys to this program. the 14-time grammy winner is out with her first album in years

after the birth of her son in egypt. it is called, as if you did not know, "girl on fire." from the disk, here is the video to the title track "girl on fire." ♪ we got our feet on the ground, and we are burning it down ooh oh oh oh got our head in the clouds, and we are not coming down this girl is on fire this girl is on fire fire walking on this girl is on fire everybody stands as she goes by,

because they can see the flame that is in her eyes ♪ tavis: being gone for three years. a baby. you learned that, taking three years off. three years in this business is so long. what trepidation, what angst, if any, does someone have when they have tried to put together a project that is three years in the making? >> this whole project, this whole time in my life, it really represents an important time for me. it is funny you bring up that word. i am actually in the process of removing fear from my vocabulary, because i believe there is so much greatness when we are not afraid. when we become afraid, we are never going to reach our highest potential, said that has been a big driving force to this

record, and in a way, it affects how i wanted to put this album together. this is about my journey. this is about a girl becoming a woman and all of those tests and trials and tribulations that it takes for someone to go through, and we all go through it. so in actuality, that is why this album is so important to me. it is not about, "ok, quick. how many singles can resell?" it is about a really artistic statement, having something to say, bringing the audience with me to say, "we are all going through this life together." i think it has really made me a much smarter, braver, for sure, person. tavis: i in trying to phrase it right, but someone said that we have to give our fears and

expiration date. maybe write a song about that, but i am not. >> i have got that for you. tavis: you talk about this part of your life being about removing if your, what were you afraid of? >> you know, i think what i discovered was the amount of fear that you all on -- i feel that the majority of fear that i have or that we have, we hold from other people. people that we trust. they are there for us. or people that we love, their fears, so we think that they are ours. so many are not ours in the first place. they are from somebody else. so i think it has been a cleansing process for me, removing it things that have

kind of hung around. living in a brand new out of the box, a fearless way. tavis: the difference in writing, producing a record, is what? >> the difference, the difference making this album, it has been everything. there has not been one thing. tavis: for one thing, he is on there. >> there is not one thing that is the same. even the process of recording the record when i first started. it was so different. i was like in a different time zone. 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. i will roll out of there when i felt like it. three or four months.

at 12:00, if there was not magic happening in the studio, i was, like, "let's pick it up tomorrow." i started a little earlier. i can trust bennett understand how things are unfolding. you do not have to beat your head against the wall, which is what i kind of used to do, and there is more of a freedom. i experience more life. more love. more capacity. the creation process was more open. that is why i combined with so many people, because i wanted to do things i had never done before. i needed to do things i had not done before. tavis: stevie wonder's daughter,

and when i see her, there are so many people that are amazed that she is the one. they are amazed. what you have done with egypt, what is going to happen 20 years from now. >> money, leave me alone. -- mommy, leave me alone. tavis: for those who do not know why you name him egypt, and there is a reason behind it. >> in 2007 or so, i went through a tough time. i think i grew up really fast. i grew up really fast in this fast-paced business. i didn't understand how to take a break, recover, and i paid for

it. i got down. i guess even depressed in some senses. i found myself in a place where all i was doing was crying. and i thought, not me. i am a bubbly person. so a good friend of mine told me that i should take a break, see the world, go somewhere, and that is when i chose to go to egypt. so i took this trip. it was the first time in my life i took those weeks of. we were in the temples, and it was a place that was so magical and intelligent and inspiring, and i had seen all of that power and beauty and structures, and i felt i knew how to rebuild myself, and when i came back, i

knew how i wanted to change. it is definitely the beginning of where i am now. when i was pregnant, my husband said, and he is such a big and important part of your life, why do you not made it egypt? and i thought, that is it. he was egypt in the embryo stage for so long. tavis: i do not need to name names here, but to your point about growing up fast, you have been around a lot of people, artists who were once great that are no longer here. trouble navigating certain aspects of their lives. what do you take from that? when you talk about your own challenges and fears and troubles? how do you manage? for those on the outside, you

have ups and downs, but you are putting up music. you are married now and have a baby. you are transparent with all of that in your miracle content. you seem to be to us well adjusted. >> thank you. tavis: how are you navigating? >> it is definitely a navigation. i think most incredibly what i have discovered is that it is mental. and it is your state of mind as to how your life becomes and is. i think what happens in this world, somehow, we get caught upped where things that do not really matter start to matter, and it starts to get confusing as to what you hold true for yourself, so for me, i think a lot of that comes from being raised by my mother.

she is no nonsense. she is incredible. she always kept me in mind. and i think part of that has been really good for me. i have a strong rounded cents, just from the beginning. i think another big part is where i grew up. i grew up in a pretty tough neighborhood. i grew up around alcohol, drugs, prostitution. i grew up around everything. never very far away from it in all of its forms. that was a big help to me. and i think being connected to a higher power, spirituality has been very good for me, and i pray all of the time. also, just last night i was saying the most important thing is to be proud of the work that you put into something.

i think it is the ego in us that screws us up. so i think about that a lot. i really do not want to get caught up in things that do not mean anything. so many things that we hold so much value. i really try to stay focused on being positive. be happy every day you have breasts. yes. right? tavis: pretty basic, but that is what it is about to go. >> twice now. every child, every one of us is a gifted and talented in our ways. most of us baby do not have two parents but have a parent in the

house. so what separates you from so many of the others that you were able to find your way to your gift and stay focused, and to enhance that a gift and now to explore that gift? how did you, with a single mom, stay focused? >> . i have asked myself that question, too, and there are so many things, a simple circumstance. a simple choice that i made one night to not do that and to do this, one night could have changed everything, and i do not really know why i did not make that choice. maybe an instinct deep down, and so i went the other way, but,

you know, it is as simple as that. sometimes i think about that so much, so i think following my instincts has proven to lead me in the right direction, and it is hard to hear sometimes in a noisy world with a lot of people talking to you. i think that is a big part of it. again, i think there was something about being in a tough environment that gave me a certain drive. i knew what i did not what really early. i knew what i did not want to have to do, and i think definitely, fortunately for me, i have a really strong mother, you know? there are people but i speak to a lot. family, it is because there are blood does not mean necessarily give you the best advice. finding people that support you, and hang onto those and try to

let go of those who try to take you down. i think because i had someone who was supportive of me, that helped me keep going. tavis: since you obviously know when magic is happening, what does that mean to you? the clock strikes midnight, and there is magic happening, so your point to stick around a bit longer. what is that like? >> your energy is reverberating, is the way i can describe it. you can feel it, but you cannot see it. things are exploding. maybe it is something lyrical, with a collaborator, and we are working on something. you can feel that there is an energy going back and forth, and then, "when this is done, we

have to go in there and make sure we can put that down, and it is just like an energy that is happening. basically, what happens is you do not pay attention to the time. tavis: and then it is 5:00. >> and then whatever time it is, it is. it is natural. it just happens, in there is. tavis: yes. you mentioned collaborating. this, to my mind, and you know your stuff better than i do, but to my mind, this is one of the most collaborative projects. >> it is. it is. i am never done a collaborative project. there was something that i wanted to start to see what would happen when i combined with people from totally different spaces than me, you know? and it was something like an experiment, i guess.

it was kind of like being free. we get so comfortable being or doing whatever we do. "this is how we do it." i do that, and then i kind of go here. tavis: and they say, if it is not broke, do not fix it. your stock ain't been broke, so why would you go and try to fix it? it worked. it seems that there is some risk involved because you were working. why? >> because i felt i needed to and i wanted to. i wanted to take it as far as i could take it. what would happen when you take it? i love what happens -- that is crazy. i would never have been able to think of that had we not done that together. remaining excited.

you cannot be excited -- you are at your most purist innocent state, doing something you have never done before. you are scared a little. you are a little vulnerable, and then you are also better because you are trying harder. it is not to say that in an incorrect way, but like you are giving your best energy to it, so i think it was really important for me to do this because i think i learned a lot. i found myself in zones i had never felt before. oceans that i never swim before. and there is something really exciting about that. i am very excited. tavis: i feel it, as does everyone in this room.

one of these things, and i remember you came out and others around that time, years ago -- it seems like a long time, but when you first came out, you and india, for example, you were both writing your stuff, and that to me spoke to a certain kind of control that you had over your career that another artist might not have, if they are not writing stuff. like there is something that turned me on about the fact that here is a rv's that was in control of her own content, and as a result, i thought, had a good chance to manage her brain in the future. how can you process the success

of your career, and at the epicenter of the -- of that, because you are not just a voice? >> my greatest pride, and also, i find that i am so grateful that i can play and execute what i hear in my head, because that is the tricky part. you hear this thing, but how do you get it out? i was with my son the other day, and some kids were outside, and he wanted to go outside, but he really wanted to say, "do not leave me." and it came out as crying. how do you make it real? there is something in another area, but how do you make it real? i am really grateful that i can play and that i can write so

that i can execute, so i am definitely very proud of that. i am proud of india, too. and not only does she have the guitar and this amazing -- i love this girl. but she pulled out this fallujah. she is learning and growing and orchestrating her talent and feeling, and i think there is something really inspiring, and i am glad. tavis: you have become that now. tell me all of the stuff you have got out there right now. shoes. i am asking you. you have got the issues. >> yes, i have done a collaboration with reebok, and

there is a digital book with a gaming experience, where each time the book comes out, it updates it. there is this girl, a piano, downloading music that i have also written, and so it is a whole world, unlike anything, and i am proud of it. with my music and television. and also producing some television. we did a made for television movie for a lifetime. and there is one that just got into sundance, that i will also

be scoring. this is my first time accessing this place, and i think it is really important to me. tavis: she is a very, very busy artist and wife and mother. fortunately for us, she is still doing the music. >> i love the music. tavis: her new project is called "girl on fire." i am so happy for you. thank you for coming to see us, and congratulations. come back when you want. that is our show for tonight. you can download our app from the itunes store. and hers, too. until next time, thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith.

♪ firethis girl is on this girl is on fire she is walking on fire this girl is on fire ooh oh oh oh oh oooyh oh oh oh oh ♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a and oscar nominee, andy garcia.

that is next time. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> be more.

>> be more.

♪ [male #1] we are on a roadtrip. [female #1] to stop off at different cities. [male #2] and talk to inspiring people. [female #1] did you have this space in mind, ever? [bob] no, not at al. i didn't have space in mind until i start building it. but i've always wanted to build a fantasy world. [male #2] more and more in this conversation, i'm getting content with not knowing exactly where i am in my life. [male #3] i figure if you're not lost, you're not much of an explorer. [male #4] commit, and then figure it out. because you cant get anywhere uns you commit to something. [female narrator #1] roadtrip nation would like to thank the college board