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Earlier this week Alicia Keys posted a message to YouTube in which she promised her fans that they would be hearing material from her forthcoming new album very soon. “We have a little bit of time to wait, but it’s really approaching,” the R&B singer said. She didn’t make the public wait long: on Thursday Keys leaked “New Day,” the first track from the still-untitled follow up to 2009’s The Element of Freedom. Listen to the new Alicia Keys cut “New Day” below.

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As for the song itself, it’s jittery, fast-paced and has a reggae-ish feel to it. It’s also quite inspirational, which could be due in large part to the major positive life events the singer has experienced in the past couple years — namely her marriage to producer Swizz Beatz in 2010 and the birth of their son the same year. “There’s no limitation, no / Fill up your life/ Let me see your hands up,” Keys sings.
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In the YouTube video from this week Keys went into detail about the profound effect the eight-month recording process for her forthcoming album has had upon her. “Everything is new, from being married and having a baby, and what that’s done for me in just giving me a sense of real stability, real connection, grounding, reason, and purpose,” she explained. “So much of the music that you’re going to hear is talking about what that feels like, what we’re all going through, all of us … That empowerment, that freedom is definitely something that’s reflected in this album.”
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Listen to Alicia Keys’ new track “New Day” below and watch her YouTube message at bottom.
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