Songful Style | “Girl On Fire” by Alicia Keys

I am so very late writing this post but it is time to get this outfit created and photographed and this musical challenge completed. I need to find my sartorial inspiration today and finish this thing. So this post is definitely much more for me than for anyone else!

About Songful Style

Songful Style is an ageless style challenge series hosted by Suzy of The Grey Brunette, Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, and Marsha of Marsha in the Middle. 

Each month we will share a song with the lyrics and video and we invite you to use whatever aspect of the song that inspires you to create an outfit. 

It is similar to Style Imitating Art where we use artwork to inspire our outfit creations. Except Songful Style gives you lyrics, music, video, and album artwork to inspire your fashion creativity. You may even find inspiration in a memory triggered by the selected song. It is all open to your own personal interpretation and just a fun way to discover new music and get a little bit more creative with your wardrobe.

Anyone is welcome to join us on a permanent basis or you can just play along without any obligation to do anything other than feel inspired. We are flexible and fun and just want to find more ways to play dress up because it’s what we enjoy doing! 

We will be posting on the last Monday of each month and will announce our song choice for the following month at the end of each post. Then about a week or two later, I will share a detailed post like this one about the chosen song.

It was Marsha’s turn to choose our inspiration song and she has chosen “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys.

Video Inspiration

The Lyrics

“Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys

She's just a girl, and she's on fire
Hotter than a fantasy, lonely like a highway
She's living in a world, and it's on fire
Feeling the catastrophe, but she knows she can fly away
Oh, she got both feet on the ground
And she's burning it down
Oh, she got her head in the clouds
And she's not backing down

This girl is on fire
This girl is on fire
She's walking on fire
This girl is on fire

Looks like a girl, but she's a flame
So bright, she can burn your eyes
Better look the other way
You can try but you'll never forget her name
She's on top of the world
Hottest of the hottest girls say
Oh, we got our feet on the ground
And we're burning it down
Oh, got our head in the clouds
And we're not coming down

This girl is on fire
This girl is on fire
She's walking on fire
This girl is on fire

Everybody stands, as she goes by
Cause they can see the flame that's in her eyes
Watch her when she's lighting up the night
Nobody knows that she's a lonely girl
And it's a lonely world
But she gon' let it burn, baby, burn, baby

This girl is on fire
This girl is on fire
She's walking on fire
This girl is on fire
Oh, oh, oh,
She's just a girl, and she's on fire

About the Artist and the Song

Born on January 25, 1981, in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, Alicia Augello Cook (known professionally as Alicia Keys) is the only child of paralegal and part time actress, Teresa Augello, and one of three children fathered by flight attendant Craig Cook. Keys attributes her ability to relate to different cultures to her multiracial background. Her father is African American, her mother is of Italian and “Irish or Scottish” heritage, and she was named after her Puerto Rican godmother.

When Keys was just 2 years old, her father left the family and she was raised by her single mother in Manhattan Plaza, a federally subsidized residential complex opened in 1977 with 70% of its tenants being from the performing arts fields. She and her mother lived in a one bedroom apartment with her mother often working three jobs to support them. Alicia has stated that her parents never really had a relationship and he is not a part of her life. While she struggled with this when she was younger, she now recognizes it was probably better for her this way because she learned how to be strong and successful from her mother’s tenacity.

Growing up in Hell’s Kitchen, Keys was often exposed to all sorts of street violence including drugs and prostitution and propositions to join the sex trade. She credits her mother with keeping on the right path despite all the chaos around her.

Keys expressed an early interest and talent in music and was enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts School at the age of 12 where she majored in choir, taking classes in music, dance, and theater. By the time she was 14, she was a classically trained pianist, began studying jazz, and continued to hone her songwriting skills as she tried to define her style of music and her personal sound.

Before embarking on her successful musical career, Alicia appeared with no lines in a 1985 episode of The Cosby Show where she portrayed one of Rudy’s friends at a sleepover party. Nine years later in 1994, manager Jeff Robinson met 13 year old Keys and took her under his wing. By this time, she had already written two of the songs that would appear on her 2001 debut album, Songs in A Minor.

In late 1998, at the age of 17, Keys was signed by Clive Davis to Arista Records. However, when Davis was ousted from Arista in 2000, the release of Keys’s debut album was put on hold. Later that year, Davis formed J Records and immediately signed Keys to his new label, releasing Songs in A Minor on June 5, 2001. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 236,000 units in its first week and eventually going on to sell over 12 million records internationally. Keys has been wildly successful ever since.

“Girl on Fire” appeared on Keys’s fifth studio album of the same name released on November 22, 2012, by RCA Records. The song is classified as an R&B ballad and was co-written by Keys with Jeff Bhasker and Salaam Remi. American rock guitarist Billy Squier also received writing credit because the song contains an interpolation of the drums from Squier’s 1980 song “The Big Beat“.

Released on September 4, 2012, “Girl on Fire” was the lead single from the album and received universal acclaim, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and selling over 2 million copies in the United States within the first 5 months of its release. The song has since been certified platinum. “Girl on Fire” was inspired by Keys’s marriage on July 31, 2010, to her husband Swizz Beatz and the birth of their son Egypt on October 4, 2010. The couple’s second son, Genesis Ali, was born on December 27, 2014.

The 43 year old songwriter’s most recent musical project, Hell’s Kitchen, a jukebox musical based loosely on Keys’s childhood and growing up in Manhattan Plaza, premiered on November 9, 2023, at The Public Theater, an off-Broadway venue in New York City. The show has since transferred to the Shubert Theatre on Broadway with opening night scheduled for April 20, 2024.

Album Covers and Other Photo Inspiration

Video Stills

You are welcome to do your own research if you need more inspiration or if you are interested in learning more. If you want to join us, we will be hosting a link party on Monday, March 25, 2024, where you can share your outfits. We would love to see your Songful Styles inspired by the beautiful Ms. Alicia Keys! 

Happy styling! 

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Joining these Fabulous Link Parties.