Alicia Keys is a bonafide music powerhouse, but one of the songs that helped establish that status almost went to another artist.
The ‘Show Me Love’ singer recently revealed to Stereogum that ‘If I Ain’t Got You’ almost went to Christina Aguilera.
Her words below:
“She reached out and was like, ‘Would you write something for me?’ And then it came through so many emails. What a voice! I know I could write something fire for her. So time passed and I hadn’t written the song yet. And [the label] was like, “Do you have anything for Christina?’ I remember I had just recently written ‘If I Ain’t Got You.'”
However, when she played the song for the ‘Genie In A Bottle’ singer her A&R shut that down. She didn’t believe that it was a big deal and that she would come up with many more songs just like it.
Instead, Keys went on to write ‘Impossible’ with Aguilera in mind, saying:
“So I went off and wrote ‘Impossible.’ I went to cut it with her and I love how she sounded on it. It was such a cool vibe for us to be able to work together during those times. But I will never forget that I would have given away ‘If I Ain’t Got You.'”
‘Impossible’ went on to appear on Aguilera’s 2002 acclaimed album, ‘Stripped.’
We are all the more thankful that it turned out the way it did. But what are…