Girl on Fire is the fifth studio album by American singer and songwriter Alicia Keys. It was released on November 22, 2012, being Keys' first release with RCA Records following Sony Music Entertainment's decision to close J Records during a company reshuffle. The album is an R&B album with elements of different musical styles, including rock, electro, reggae and hip hop. It features a largely minimalist production, includes piano-driven songs and balances traditional R&B with atypical chords and melodic changes.
Upon its release, Girl on Fire received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 159,000 copies sold in its first week. It produced five singles–"Girl on Fire" (which peaked at number two on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100), "Brand New Me", "New Day", "Fire We Make" (featuring Maxwell), and "Tears Always Win". To further promote the album, Keys embarked on her fifth worldwide concert tour, titled Set the World on Fire Tour, which commenced in March 2013 and ended in December. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, Girl on Fire won Best R&B Album, making Keys the most awarded artist in this category, with three wins.
Background and development
Girl on Fire is Keys' fifth studio album and the follow-up to The Element of Freedom (2009). It also serves as her first release under RCA Records, after a reorganization at parent company Sony Music Entertainment led to her previous label J Records being absorbed into RCA. Between the two albums, Keys married record producer and rapper Swizz Beatz, became a mother, began co-managing her own career, produced and directed both a Broadway play and short film, in addition to designing a line of trainers for Reebok. Keys had also either appeared on or produced material for several other artists, including work on Kanye West, Emeli Sandé and Miguel's albums. Essence reported that Keys began working on Girl on Fire in February 2011. Speaking on how the events of the previous three years inspired her, during an interview with Billboard, Keys stated: "These last three years have been the most in every way. The most newest, the most difficult, the most loving, the most dream-filled, the most breaking free . . . an entire crazy dynamic of lessons and emotions to grow into and claim. This whirlwind has definitely forced me to be who I am, to be free enough and brave enough to just not accept anything else-nor try to be anything else."
Speaking on how Girl on Fire was different to The Element of Freedom, Keys said: "I've stepped more into my business and really... taken control for how I want that to be. So every way that I've created now is totally in a new space. It's more in a true space of who I am and what story it is that I'm trying to tell, what it is I'm going through, what the world is going through. And it's really important for me to describe that and say that exactly how I see it, period. So, things are just new. The world is new! Everything feels like brand new to me." Keys even explained that the album title is a slight reference to Katniss Everdeen, the central character in the adventure novel series The Hunger Games, of which she is a fan.
Recording and production
Recording sessions for the album took place at Jungle City Studios and Oven Studios in New York, Chalice Studios and The Record Plant in Los Angeles, Geejam Studios in Jamaica, and Metropolis Studios in London. Keys worked with a range of producers for Girl on Fire, including husband Swizz Beatz, Babyface, Kerry Brothers, Jr. and Jeff Bhasker among others. When working on the album, Keys said she was not inspired by the current rhythmic trends in pop music. "I was really focused on writing, on the crafting of a song, more so than anything else. 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." During a Keep a Child Alive concert in New York City, Keys met blues-rock guitarist Gary Clark, Jr. Keys had initially asked Clark, Jr. if he would play the guitar elements from "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by George Harrison. Seeing potential in Clark, Jr.'s skills, Keys would present him with the song "Fire We Make" and asked him if he could play some guitar on the track. Speaking about the collaboration he said, "I went in and I was like, 'What do you want me to do?' and she was like, 'This is the song. You just do what you do, and we'll see what happens.' It was one of the best studio experiences I've ever had."