The Diary of Alicia Keys is the second studio album by American singer Alicia Keys. It was released on December 2, 2003, by J Records. The album was recorded at several recording studios, and production was handled primarily by Keys with contributions from Kanye West and Kerry Brothers Jr., who described it as "an R&B album".
Upon its release, The Diary of Alicia Keys received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 618,000 copies in its first week. It became Keys's second consecutive number-one debut in the United States and spawned three top-ten singles. The Diary of Alicia Keys earned Keys three Grammy Awards at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards. The album has sold over five million units in the United States and over eight million copies worldwide.
Background and development
Keys' debut studio album Songs in A Minor was released on June 5, 2001. Debuting atop the US Billboard 200, it went on to sell over 6.2 million copies and earned Keys five Grammy Awards at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards, tying Keys with Lauryn Hill as the female artist with most Grammy Awards won in a single ceremony (the record has since been broken by Beyoncé and Adele). Keys embarked on the Songs in A Minor Tour (2001–2002) in support of the album; while touring, Keys started writing songs for her second studio album. Due to the extreme popularity of Songs in A Minor, there was a lot of pressure on The Diary of Alicia Keys to match or exceed that success. Keys, however, felt no pressure to deliver another album due to her experience in the making of Songs in A Minor and in touring to support it as well as her confidence in her songwriting and musicianship, nor did she want to have many guests on the album. Speaking on the subject, album contributor Kerry Brothers, Jr. said in 2018:
Recording and production
Following the completion of the Songs in A Minor Tour, Keys started recording The Diary of Alicia Keys in late 2002; while touring, Keys solely wrote several songs for the album, including "Dragon Days" and the interlude "Feeling U, Feeling Me". Initial recording sessions took place at the Kampo Studio in Tribeca and the first song recorded was the album's closing track "Nobody Not Really", which "set the tone for the album" according to engineer Ann Mincieli. The album was mostly recorded at studios in New York City; some of the New York City recording sessions were interrupted by the Northeast blackout of 2003. In order to capture the 1960s–1970s sound she wanted on the album, Keys equipped her studio with "vintage" instruments. Among producers, Keys worked with Kerry Brothers, Jr., Kanye West, Timbaland, Dre & Vidal, Easy Mo Bee, D'wayne Wiggins and Kumasi. Dre & Vidal's Andre Harris stated he and Keys "crossed paths in the studio" while Dre & Vidal were working on Usher's album Confessions (2004) and started working together afterwards.
Timbaland-produced "Heartburn" was recorded at the Hit Factory Criteria in Miami. "If I Was Your Woman", a cover of "If I Were Your Woman" by Gladys Knight & the Pips, was originally recorded for Songs in A Minor (2001) but remained unreleased until it was reworked with the cover of "Walk on By" by Isaac Hayes; the original version was included on the 10th anniversary reissue of Songs in A Minor in 2011. Lellow, Keys' alter ego, was introduced on the album, making an appearance on "So Simple". Brothers stated: "Lellow is her alter ego. That was what we called her when she was in her hip-hop mode so it's dope they recorded her singing in one key and pitched her up to make it sound high-pitched." The final stage of the recording took place internationally–in Paris, London and Amsterdam–with Keys having already embarked on a promotional tour in support of The Diary of Alicia Keys. The final track recorded was the album's intro "Harlem's Nocturne".