Songfacts®:

• This acoustic guitar-laced love song was co-written and produced by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, who was one of the most successful producers of the 1990s, helming hits for the likes of Boyz II Men ("End Of The Road") and Whitney Houston ("Exhale (Shoop Shoop)").
• The idea for the song came to Edmonds after he'd been flown to Jamaica to collaborate with Keys. He was watching the songstress perform in the studio when something clicked. "I experienced the full essence of who Alicia is, and a song idea clicked with me right then," he told Billboard magazine. "Watching her sing, her emotion... that's when I knew who she was and how special she is. I call her 'Sunny Vibrations.' You're never sure of how a collaboration is going to go. But writing with her was so easy. We were on the same page in terms of words and melody. She writes from the heart."
• This tender ballad has a simple arrangement. When Keys began working on material for Girl On Fire, she decided to ignore the current rhythm-driven trends in Pop music. "I was really focused on writing, on the crafting of a song, more so than anything else," the New York songstress told The New York Times. "I didn't care about a beat. I didn't care about a hot track. I didn't even want to hear those things. I wanted to create a song."
• Speaking with Marie Claire UK, Keys said the song is an ode to her husband, Swizz Beatz. "Honestly I didn't really like him that much," she admitted. "I thought he was too ostentatious." The singer added, "Swizz will have the fastest car, the biggest jewelery, the loudest jacket; everything with him is really over the top. I used to see him and think, 'He is so annoying'." However, the singer eventually fell in love with him.