Alicia Keys – “Back To Life”

Alicia Keys – “Back To Life”

It brings me great, overwhelming sadness to report that “Back To Life,” the new song from Alicia Keys, is not a Soul II Soul cover. Instead, a new song, and it comes from the soundtrack of Queen Of Katwe, a forthcoming Mira Nair film that tells the story of real-life Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi. Back in May, Keys released the great new single “In Common,” which pulled in light dancehall influences and showed a whole new sound for Keys. “Back To Life” starts out like a more traditional movie-soundtrack end-credits showstopper, but then a beat drops in and it turns into a slinky dance jam. So even if it’s not a Soul II Soul cover, it has that group somewhere in its DNA. Listen to it below.

Queen Of Katwe comes to theaters 9/23. Also, Keys is a total badass for doing the no-makeup thing in the most visible places possible, like this past Sunday’s VMAs.

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