Tears for Water: Songbook of Poems and Lyrics

From acclaimed musician Alicia Keys, author of the memoir More Myself, comes a revealing songbook of collected poems and lyrics that document her growth as a person, a woman, and an artist.

“All my life, I’ve written these words with no thought or intention of sharing them. Not even with my confidants. These are my most delicate thoughts. The ones that I wrote down just so I could understand what in the world these things I was thinking meant...” 

When she burst onto the music scene with her multi-million bestselling, Grammy® Award-winning first album, Songs in A Minor, Alicia Keys became a superstar. Two decades later, her career has expanded into producing, acting, and passionate activism—winning her worldwide acclaim, numerous awards, and a spot on Time’s list of “The 100 Most Influential People.”

Though Alicia has been very vocal through her career, there were always “delicate thoughts” that she never before imagined she’d share with anyone else—until now. In Tears for Water, Alicia Keys opens the journals and notebooks that she has kept throughout her life and reveals her heart to her fans in return for all the love they have shown to her and her music.

Hello morning
now I see you
cause I am awake
What was once so sweet and secure
has turned out to be fake
Girl, you can’t be scared
gotta stand up tall and let ’em see what shines in you
Push aside the part
lying in your heart
like the ocean is deep, dark and blue

—from Golden Child

About the Author