Friday, July 19, 2013 5:39pm ET by  
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Alicia Keys on career beginnings: 'People had never seen a girl like me before'

Songstress Alicia Keys has revealed that her team were initially unsure of how to market her because she stood out from the other female artists in the music industry.

During an interview with VH1 Storytellers, the 'Girl On Fire' hitmaker explained that she was a challenge to her management at first because she was different to her contemporaries: "People definitely tried to push me in different directions for sure, but I think it was mostly, now that I'm looking back on it, I think it was just mostly that most people never really saw a girl like me before. They didn't really know a girl like me."

Keys added that her 'rough around the edges' appeal confused the industry and she was pushed in directions that weren't necessarily unique:

"I was very familiar with the street, had a lot of street knowledge, very clear, very like rough around the edges. But at the same time I studied classical music so that didn't make sense to begin with. So I think all they knew to do was to kind of push me as close to maybe something they saw that worked before. And so that's why they did kind of [say], 'Why don't you get with this producer?' or 'Why don't you have this writer write for you?', all these kinds of things as opposed to really encouraging me to be an individual.'"

 

 

 

 

Watch Keys' music video for 'Tears Always Win' below: