Alicia Keys just put the music industry on blast for being exactly what she called it: a boys’ club that’s locked women out of the room.
In an interview with The Times of London, the 17-time Grammy winner didn’t hold back about how the system’s rigged against female producers, engineers, and anyone else trying to build a career behind the scenes.
She’s not just complaining either. She’s been actively creating opportunities to change it.
“The music world becomes a good old boy network and all the incredible women working as engineers and producers are not given an open door,” Keys said. “Women make up 2 percent of the entire business. I’m a producer and here we are, doing a bunch of work, killing it, so it’s shocking that the number is so small. Rather than just being p##### off about that, it was time to create opportunities.”
That last part is key because she’s already launched She Is the Music, an initiative designed to lift up the next generation of female creators in the industry.
When according to Variety, Keys talked about the feminist messages woven through her catalog, she made it clear they weren’t some calculated marketing move.
They came from real places.
“I didn’t aim to come up with feminist message songs, and most of them were written because I wasn’t feeling that strong so I had to give myself a pep talk to keep going, but it is a thread through my work,” she explained.
That authenticity is what’s made her resonate with so many people over the years.
For artists just starting out, Keys had some real talk about ownership and survival in this business.
“Think about how to become the owners of their own creations,” she told aspiring musicians. The reality she’s describing is brutal.
“No one tells you these things. You deal with all these executives and lawyers who love to take their percentages and overcharge you, but they never say, ‘How can we ensure you’re here to stay?'” It’s a system designed to extract value from artists while leaving them vulnerable, and Keys is calling it out.
Her work on She Is the Music represents more than just talk.
She’s putting resources behind real change in an industry that’s been slow to evolve.
Keys was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2026 for her efforts to reshape how the music world operates.