On Wednesday, April 26th, 15-time GRAMMY® award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, and global superstar Alicia Keys hosted an intimate listening event in Hollywood, CA, where she played a hand-selected playlist of catalog tracks – newly recorded in spatial audio – and shared stories behind the making of the songs. The event celebrated the upcoming release of eight of Keys’s albums in spatial audio on Apple Music after re-imagining her work using Dolby Atmos technology. The new versions of the albums will be available exclusively on Apple Music on April 28th.
Head of Music Industry Relations at Dolby Laboratories, Christine Thomas, shared the progress and momentum of the Dolby services at the event. “We’re thrilled at the constant momentum. We’re in 15 services in over 160 countries, so I’m proud of this movement. I’m excited about those of you who are in the audience today; so many of you are a key part of this journey that we’re on together. I will also add that I’m proud that this is an Apple Music exclusive opportunity and that the entire catalog will be available in Dolby Atmos on the platform,” she exclaims.
Keys sat with the journalists and influencers during the listening event as she felt it would be ideal for experiencing the music with her guests. “So sitting in the audience is special, as we’re in a Dolby Theater and can feel that surround sound around you, which is beautiful,” she says.
Keys continues, “I can’t believe the whole catalog; it’s incredible. And the most exciting part is that we could reimagine the whole thing from beginning to end. We took every sound file of each song and created it specifically for this spatial experience. So it’s not in any way generic. And as the producer and arranger of my music, you must be able to hear all the parts that we intended you to hear that you’ve never been able to hear before. Definitely in a way that I’ve also never heard them before; this is so unique and a new way to experience it.”
During the playback session, Keys played “Brand New Me,” “Unthinkable,” “Wake Up,” “No One,” and “Sure Looks Good To Me” and debuted a special preview of an incredible, brand new production of “If I Ain’t Got You,” out May 4th on the new Bridgerton series Queen Charlotte soundtrack. “If I Ain’t Got You” is celebrating its 20th anniversary. This version recorded for the Netflix series brought together a first-of-its-kind 70+-piece international orchestra comprised entirely of women of color. A music video for this orchestral reimagination of the hit will be released on May 8th.Keys will return to the road in North America in June with her just announced KEYS TO THE SUMMER Tour, which will feature an all-new, 360 “in the round” concert experience, starting June 28th.