Alicia Keys and Jay-Z became instant favorites in the music industry when their song “Empire State of Mind” instilled pride in the inhabitants of New York. The song, featured in The Blueprint 3 album, gave Jay-Z his first No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and recently crossed 1 Billion streams.
However, we are yet to see a new collaboration between Alicia Keys and Jay-Z after the 2009 track. While the fans are excited to see something new from them soon, Keys stated in 2022 that she hesitates to re-collaborate as she doubts anything can top the Grammy-winning song.
Empire State of Mind‘s outstanding success stops Alicia Keys and Jay-Z from joining forces again
2009 was a glorious year for Alicia Keys as we got her iconic collaboration with Jay-Z. Empire State of Mind which featured her as a guest star, became one of the standouts of that year. The tribute to New York by Jay-Z and Keys was also blessed with 2 Grammys and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for consecutive 5 weeks.
In 2010, Alicia Keys also released a sequel to the legendary hit titled Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down. The song was a part of her 2009 album The Element of Freedom and was critically praised. But the fans have been madly excited to see a reunion between Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.
When the latter was asked about this in 2022, she revealed that the duo had multiple discussions but the 2009 track’s memorable success stopped them from moving forward. In the chat with E! News, she confessed that many ideas came up but she always hesitated after feeling that the track could never top the Empire State of Mind.
We talk about that a lot. There’s so many songs that come up and it’s like, ‘Oh, Jay would be crazy on this,’ or, ‘Oh, A.K. would be crazy on this.’ And then we’re like, ‘But will it ever be like ‘Empire State of Mind’? I wonder if it kind of hinders us in a way. Like, there’s no topping it.
Nevertheless, despite the hesitation, Alicia Keys established that she would love to reunite with Jay-Z: “There’s so much music for us both to do and there’s so much we both have to say —definitely would not limit it. ” Recently, the song generated headlines once again after the Underdog singer made a cryptic post after the 2009 track hit 1 Billion streams.
Alicia Keys took over the internet with her cryptic post
Many music enthusiasts were disappointed to hear about Alicia Keys’ skepticism on a reunion with Jay-Z. After their extraordinary partnership in the Empire State of Mind, hardly anyone could have not wanted another record-shattering performance.
Recently this year in June when Empire State of Mind hit 1 Billion streams, Alicia Keys made a post on Instagram that hinted at another collaboration with Jay-Z. The cryptic black-and-white video featured the Heartbreaker rapper standing in a lobby-like place where he is soon joined by Keys as her vocals play in the background. The caption read- “1 Dream. 1 Song. 1 Billion streams. Thank you! We love you. What’s next…“
The post made the fans go crazy over it and think about another potential collaboration between the duo. Countless “Let’s Go” messages and lit emojis from the fans conquered the comments section. It will be exciting to see if it can be a record-breaking hit, but it cannot be denied that the comparisons with Empire State of Mind will be all over the internet.
