Alicia Keys Reveals the Secret to Her 10-Year Marriage With Swizz Beatz

Alicia Keys chatted with James Corden about her new album ALICIA and shared the inside scoop on how she and Swizz Beatz handle potential arguments. Keep scrolling to watch the interview!

By Mona Thomas Sep 22, 2020 4:30 PMTags
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Alicia Keys is opening up about her personal life.

The Grammy winner stopped by the Late Late Show and chopped it up with James Corden to discuss her new album ALICIA, which released on Sept. 18. During the interview, Alicia discussed the inspiration behind the album and what it felt like to work with other artists and producers—which include SamphaTierra Whack, Miguel and others. 

"For a lot of years I was very shy about collaboration because it's so vulnerable, it's so personal, and to just invite people you don't know into a space that you have to be so raw is very uncomfortable," the "Girl on Fire" singer said. "It's like being naked with someone you don't know like 'nah, I don't feel good with that.' But over the time I've gotten more into it."

Alicia also discussed celebrating her 10-year wedding anniversary with her husband Swizz Beatz. It's pretty well known that the musically-inclined couple "go big" for their celebrations, however the big 1-0 was much more intimate and discreet in comparison to previous get-togethers. 

"First of all, we were looking at each other like 'Huh? I married you and you married me and it's been 10 years?'" she began. "We can't even believe that, it feels like two days, it feels like two years, it feels so quick."

"We actually were in Joshua Tree," Alicia continued, "which is one of my favorite new places that I've never been to before, and I kind of felt like we were on Mars or something because it just felt like nothing...otherworldly."

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So how have the "couple goals" pair made it work all these years? Alicia confessed that the happy couple have a "different" way of communicating.

"We don't raise our voices at each other. We've definitely disagreed, it's not like we haven't disagreed or he hasn't been uncomfortable with something I did or I haven't been uncomfortable with something he did," she explained. "We've definitely had moments where, 'that felt weird.' But we definitely communicate in a way that's...we don't let it build up."

She went on to explain how they have "keep it real" days where they are completely honest and transparent with each other about those "weird" moments. "We'd be like, 'We gotta have a keep it real Monday conversation later," she smiled. "And later we'd sit down and I'd say 'Bae this bothered me.'"

Alicia said she and Swizz like to "catch it before it turns into a big blowout" to which James—who has been married for eight years—jokingly replied that he likes to "let it be" and he'll "deal with it when it bubbles up in 18-months' time." Hey, whatever works.