Alicia Keys’ BMW Mixtape Monday

Posted on 15 April 2013
By Alicia Keys
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Alicia Keys takes her driving mix-tapes seriously.

The Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter said: “Music sets the tone for the whole journey.”

“I find it hard to enjoy my time in the car as much if I don’t have the right kind of music playing. I’m always thinking: I’ve got to get home and put on something decent.

The Empire State of Mind singer said: “A good choice of music just gets you in the right frame of mind for the road.”

On her latest driving mixtape, the mother-of-one said: “I’ve got a really incredible mixtape in the car at the moment, a friend made it for me. It’s a pretty random compilation – I don’t even know half the artists. Soul mainly, but other stuff as well. I also think the album by the young R&B singer Frank Ocean is fantastic – specially for driving. It’s pretty wild in places, but with some gentler tracks too, so it gets me into just the right mood.”

When she wants to step her road trip up a gear she grabs beats by French producer and house DJ Bob Sinclar.

She steers clear of slow, sentimental ballads and folk. “I couldn’t drive to Antony and the Johnsons, I’d probably fall asleep and crash.”

“For music with a bit of atmosphere and dimension you need a decent car audio system, like for Pink Floyd or trance music – otherwise it just sounds like you’ve got something rattling around in your boot.”

On digging out old mix-tapes, the Girl On Fire said: “I love playing old tapes from my high school days. They’re good for a laugh sometimes – but mostly they’re just plain embarrassing.”

This article was first published in BMW Magazine Spring/Summer 2013.