Alicia Keys made her long-awaited return to music last week with the release of her new single, “In Common,” and she promptly performed it on Saturday Night Live this past weekend. Details on her new album, and forthcoming music are still being kept under wraps, but considering her mini-press run and the heavy promotion of “In Common,” it’s safe to say we’ll be seeing a lot more of Alicia Keys in the coming weeks. (And we’ll be better off for it.)
Part of that press run found Keys sitting down with Elliott Wilson and Brian Miller of the Rap Radar podcast last week, during which she discussed a myriad of naturally intriguing topics, including her hiatus, her family, Swizz Beatz, Tidal and more. Keys also, however, touched on something her fans have been wondering for the better part of the last decade: What ever happened to the music video with Beyonce?
On her 2009 release, Element of Freedom, Keys was joined by just one guest vocalist, Queen Bey, and they hooked up for an up-tempo song called “Put it In a Love Song,” for which a video was shot in Brazil. As soon as Keys and Bey popped up in South America prancing around in carnival attire for the cameras, behind-the-scenes photos were spread like wildfire across the internet, causing the release of the video to be one of the most highly-anticipated video releases of the year.
However, the video was never released, and to this day, neither Keys nor Beyoncé has officially commented on why the project was shelved. On Rap Radar, Keys finally admits that while shooting the video was everything she could’ve hoped for, the end result didn’t “capture the energy we intended it to.”
Watch the brief interview clip above.