101

Album: Girl On Fire (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • This stripped-down song is one of three collaborations between Keys and Scottish singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé on Girl On Fire, the other two being "Brand New Me" and "Not Even The King." The pair also wrote together "Hope," a track that can be found on Sandé's debut album, Our Version Of Events.
  • Keys and Sandé first met when the Scot opened the New York songstress' 10th-anniversary Piano & I concert in London on June 13, 2011. "It's rare in this business to find someone you connect with so naturally in such an electric, creative capacity," Sandé told Billboard magazine. "The first song we wrote together was '101.' It reminds me of the Alicia I fell in love with when I was 15 years old."
  • Regarding writing with Sandé, Keys told Mojo magazine: "I heard her song, 'Breaking the Law,' and I went crazy for that, and we got together and we had a great connection, she plays piano, I play piano, and the writing just flowed."

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