'Empire' Fall Finale Spoilers: What Will Lucious Do For Song Of The Year Award? Alicia Keys To Guest Star

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The hit hip-hop television drama series "Empire" has gotten bigger and bigger as the conflicts between the shows' main characters, the Lyons family, seem to be getting nastier as the season progresses. The show is already one episode away from its fall finale on December 2, after which it returns on March 30, 2016 for the second half of the season.

The fall finale, according to a report in CarterMatt, will be an episode categorized as "the craziest installment" of the show yet. With an episode titled "Et, Tu, Brute," the report said that if fans go by the implication of the title, it likely signifies that a big betrayal within the Lyon empire is about to happen.

The episode's official synopsis is as follows: "Lucious makes a reckless play for the streaming service that he believes will make him the most powerful man in music, only to learn that the entire business strategy was part of a scheme that might jeopardize everything for which he has worked so hard. Meanwhile, Cookie decides to plan a concert at the prison where she spent 17 years locked away from her family; and you won't want to miss the last few minutes that will leave you speechless." The report predicts that a huge cliffhanger is in store for viewers of the show.

According to another report in International Business Times, the fall finale will show Lucious very much caught up in his obsession to get the prestigious Song of the Year Award of the American Sound Awards. His obsession is based on his belief that getting this award will prove his greatness. "Empire" showrunner Ilene Chaiken revealed in an interview with TV Guide that the reason why Lucious wants it "more than life itself" is because it is "a symbol of greatness for a man who is wont to say things like, 'I am more powerful than God.'" This obsession, however, may likely mean destroying the career of one of his own sons, Hakeem (played by Bryshere Y. Gray), who is on his mother's (Cookie) side. Hakeem has been nominated as Rapper of the Year by ASA, but his success, according to the report, is not doing his emotional health any good.

In the meantime, one of the sons, Jamal (Jussie Smollett), will be performing with Alicia Keys, who is guest starring as an ASA award-winning singer Skye Summers.

The fall finale episode airs on December 2, Wednesday.

Levi's partners with Alicia Keys for new women’s collection

Singer Alicia Keys partners with the Levi's brand to launch all new women's denim collection (Levi's)

Singer Alicia Keys will lend her voice and style to the Levi’s brand for a new women’s denim collection and global campaign.

The Live in Levi’s campaign will showcase the Grammy winner’s powerful voice with “28,000 Days,” an exclusive song as the soundtrack of the campaign.

Levi’s new collection, touted as “transformational” by the company, has been in the making for decades. The brand invented the original blue jean in 1873, the iconic 501, and then created the first-ever blue jean for women in 1934. Levi’s has been fine-tuning its women’s jean styles ever since.

For fall, Levi’s said it pairs all this knowledge with today’s innovation and research to create a new collection rooted in the key fits, styles and details women want.

 

Using the latest fabric innovations and slimming technologies, advanced stretch and recovery, signature details and finishings, Levi’s said it has created the “perfect fitting” jean for each body type.
The latest “Live in Levi's” campaign continues to pay homage to the brand’s 140-plus year history of being constant go-to pieces for many – from rock stars to presidents, farmers to fashion icons, entrepreneurs to the everyman.

Alicia Keys and BlackBerry? Why celebrities answer the call of tech companies

Lady Gaga and Will.i.am have also snaffled 'creative director' jobs for hi-tech corporations. What's the appeal of these gigs – are they anything more than a photo op?

Thorsten Heins, CEO of RIM, introduces Alicia Keys as the global creative director of BlackBerry. Yes. Photograph: Mark Lennihan/AP

Most companies would struggle when faced with a rapidly declining market share, but not BlackBerry. It may be losing customers to Apple and Samsung all over the place, but it knows exactly how to reel them all back in – by unveiling Alicia Keys as its new creative director.

It's a genius move. Nobody understands BlackBerries like Alicia Keys does. In retrospect, it's clear that most of her songs were really about smartphones all along, If I Ain't Got You was about the time she lost her BlackBerry and had to temporarily make do with a substandard Nokia, for example, and Girl On Fire was about the time she made the regrettable decision to buy a Kindle tablet instead of a BlackBerry Playbook. Surely Alicia Keys will lead BlackBerry into a brave new future; a future where all the ringtones sound like generic R&B and Alicia Keyshas to be careful not to let anyone photograph her using an iPhone.

 

Will.i.am in his role as Intel's director of creative innovation. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images

But BlackBerry isn't the first tech company to draft in a celebrity to beef up its credibility. Three years ago, Lady Gaga was named as the creative director of Polaroid. She even designed a printer for the company. Admittedly it couldn't have looked any more generic if it tried, and people only buy Polaroids ironically now, but it's the thought that counts. Two years ago, Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas was named as the director of creative innovation at Intel; a move that suggested a horrible future where one day he'd mumble disinterestedly over a loop of the company's jingle for three minutes and release it as another godawful single.

Jessica Alba introduces another important Windows 8 announcement to a room of spellbound tech journos. Photograph: Stephen Lam/Getty Images

Similarly, Microsoft drafted Jessica Alba in to launch Windows 8 last year. This was a step down from what the norm – she wasn't made a creative director of anything, not even of the box that Windows 8 phones came in – but on the plus side she gave the photographers something other than banks of worried-looking tech journalists to take pictures of.

Now we just have to wait and see whether Alicia Keys can live up to her creative-directing peers. If she can, who knows, that double concept R&B album about the annoying flashing red light in the corner of her BlackBerry might finally become a reality.

It's obvious that this sort of arrangement has a mutual benefit - the companies know that kids will react more strongly to, say, Lady Gaga than a balding divisional conglomerate head, and the celebrities can flatter themselves to think that they're anything other than a last-ditch attempt to save a firm from bankruptcy. It's a win-win for everybody, especially people who enjoy watching Alicia Keys hold a telephone that she doesn't really seem to care about very much.

Alicia Keys laments 'heartless' justice system in reform pitch to Congress

‘We can no longer afford to be this cruel to our young’ singer-songwriter tells congressional staffers at event with Senator Cory Booker and activist Van Jones

Keys said of the US criminal justice system: ‘People are not assumed to be innocent, they’re assumed to be guilty.’ Photograph: Jackie Brown/Splash News/Corbis

From time to time, celebrities visit Washington to join advocates in favor of a cause – often raising the profile of an issue by giving extra weight to an otherwise routine press conference or committee hearing.

On Monday, the singer-songwriter Alicia Keys chose a decidedly low-key way to do this, delivering an impassioned plea to staffers on Capitol Hill, where Congress is weighing landmark legislation to reform the criminal justice system.

Keys spoke not as the recipient of multiple Grammy awards, nor as an international superstar of more than a decade. She addressed the crowd as a mother.

Keys had just arrived from Baltimore, where protests were sparked earlier this year after Freddie Gray, an unarmed 25-year-old black man, died in police custody. Keys had spent hours on Monday meeting the families of those who had been incarcerated, in some cases parents who saw their children tried as adults at ages as young as 15.

“Nowhere in the rest of the western world are juveniles being tried as adults, or even worse, sentenced to life sentences without parole,” she said. “Is this who we are now? Is this who we want to be?

“These are just regular boys and girls, trying to find their way.”

Joining Keys were Senator Cory Booker, one of the leading proponents of criminal justice reform, and civil rights activist Van Jones. Booker, from New Jersey, is a member of a bipartisan Senate group that in September reached a compromise that aims to lower mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenders and reform a justice system that disproportionately impacts minorities, particularly African Americans.

In an interview with the Guardian after the event, Keys underscored the urgency of the moment following a year marked by national demonstrations over race relations and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“We need to take that momentum and utilize it,” she said. “We’re losing lives, stopping lives.”

Reflecting on her meetings in Baltimore, she said she had been struck by the different trajectories among the youth she encountered.

One young man had been given the opportunity to go to a high school that propelled and supported him, turned around his grades and helped him become the first member of his family to go to college. One girl had gone to prison when she was 14.

“It’s the opportunity or the lack of that makes all the difference in the world,” she said. “It really has the potential to change everything.”

Last year, Keys launched the We Are Here movement, to push for social justice on a wide range of national and international issues including racial inequity in the US. She has also supported Cut50, an organization co-founded by Jones that seeks to reduce the prison population by 50% over the next 10 years.

On Capitol Hill, Keys urged attendees to sign an online petition that would be delivered to the White House once it reached 1m signatures.

Criminal justice reform was “extremely urgent”, she told the Guardian, pointing to a limited window of time to mount pressure on lawmakers. Asked how escalating tensions between police officers and minorities factored into her message, she said it was no surprise that communities of color lacked trust in law enforcement.

“One of the most important things that I saw [in Baltimore] was people are guilty before they’re even proven innocent,” Keys said. “They’re not assumed to be innocent, they’re assumed to be guilty.

“Who would have trust when you’re attacked, and when you’re not given the opportunity to express yourself? When you’re just automatically judged that you’re there doing something wrong, whether you are or not.”

She expressed a similar message in her formal remarks, emphasizing the need to show more compassion toward minority youth.

Every teenager makes mistakes, Keys pointed out. She certainly did, she said, as had everyone gathered in the room when they were teenagers. Keys recounted stories she had heard of those who grew up in environments in which one mistake could change an entire life.

“Fourteen years old and tried as an adult. Sixteen years old and tried as an adult,” she said. “We can no longer afford to be this cruel to our young ... It’s heartless.”

The criminal justice bill in the Senate, which cleared a committee vote last month, will not resolve every problem. But it would be the most significant federal action in decades. It also has the backing of the White House, where Barack Obama has made criminal justice reform a pillar of his second-term agenda.

Booker said Keys and others like her could play a “very powerful role” in helping to bolster the message, drawing on the involvement of artists like Harry Belafonte and Dick Gregory in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Booker told the Guardian the proposed criminal justice reforms would save billions in taxpayer dollars, lower crime and, more importantly, elevate potential in communities most deeply impacted by tough-on-crime laws.

“We are conducting our criminal justice system in a way that is incredibly expensive, it’s not making us more safe, and it’s just destroying human potential,” Booker said.

Booker said he was pleased by the rare consensus across both parties in favor of reforming the system, but cautioned against complacency.

“This will be a long road. It’s going to be an every single day effort,” he said. “And we’ve got to keep the pressure on.”

Alicia Keys Pens Open Letter for Justice Reform

"Let’s release people who have made dumb mistakes in their past into a more compassionate America. We should strive to live in a country where your worst deed no longer defines you."

(Grant Lamos IV/Getty Images)

Alicia Keys wrote an open letter to encourage fans to sign a petition to reform the Justice system. In the note, the GRAMMY winner explains a need to “scale back overly harsh sentences for nonviolent drug offenders” adding the broken system is “destroying families.”

She adds, “Rather than treating drug addiction and mental illness with compassion and treatment, we punish and incarcerate mothers, fathers and children. Our prisons have become warehouses for the poor, addicted, and mentally ill. We have to change this.”

The call to arms comes following President Barack Obama‘s State of the Union speech yesterday (Jan. 12), in which he called for Justice reform.

Read her entire letter below:

Every night, nearly three million children go to bed with a parent behind bars.

We sell ourselves as the land of the free, but we have more people in prisons and jails than the whole Western world combined.

Is this our America?

On a recent trip to Baltimore, I saw firsthand how the prison system is destroying families. I spoke with an eight-year-old boy about his father, his hero, who “used to take him everywhere.” But now, his father is incarcerated. Sadly, his story is all too common across our nation: children are left to grow up without their heroes, who are also often their mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers.

As a parent myself, I’m asking you to help us fix this system.

Rather than treating drug addiction and mental illness with compassion and treatment, we punish and incarcerate mothers, fathers and children. Our prisons have become warehouses for the poor, addicted, and mentally ill. We have to change this.

President Obama has asked Congress to pass a bill as soon as possible. Both the Senate and House Judiciary Committees have passed versions of a bipartisan bill that would scale back overly harsh sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. But a version of this bill still needs to pass the full Senate and House, which means it needs your support.

Alicia Keys on self esteem and harassment

Alicia Keys is opening up about a problem many people have: Self-esteem.

In a very candid blog post posted to herwebsite called "A Revelation," the Grammy-winning artist talked about how the way men treated her on the streets of New York affected the way she dressed, acted and even her own self-esteem:

“I started to notice a drastic difference in how men would relate to me if I had on jeans, or if I had on a skirt, or if my hair was done pretty. I could tell the difference, I could feel the animal instinct in them, and it scared me. I didn’t want to be talked to in that way, looked at in that way, whistled after, followed. And so I started hiding. I chose the baggy jeans and timbs, I chose the ponytail and hat, I chose no makeup, no bright color lipstick or pretty dresses. I chose to hide. Pieces at a time. Less trouble that way.”

This problem did not go away as Keys gained fame for her music:

“I became comfortable hiding, my intelligence, my physical appearance, my truths, my thoughts, myself. To this day, every time I get out of the shower to get dressed, I swear the first thought that comes into my head is, what can I wear that won’t cause too much attention when I go pick up Egy, or head to the store, or go shopping, or visit a friend etc."

But recently the singer had the "revelation" she describes in the post's title:

And just the other day it hit me! OMG! Alicia!!! Why are you choosing to be that person?? That is so old and outdated!! STOP!!
‎
You are allowed to be smart
You are allowed to be beautiful
You are allowed to be radical and have strong thoughts that others might not agree with
You are allowed to be tough
You are allowed to be sexy
You are allowed to be bold
You are allowed to be shapely
You are allowed to be kind
You are allowed to be yourself!!

She ended the post with an affirming message referencing her own 28,000 Days:

"I only got 28,000 of those days. So what the (expletive) am I waiting for?? And (expletive) that’s what I’m doing!!!!"

Alicia Keys Takes On Mass Incarceration

The concert on A&E, Shining a Light, starring Alicia Keys, comes equipped with a serious call to action.

On top of being an acclaimed singer, songwriter, mother, and marathon-runner, Alicia Keys has partnered with the #cut50 initiative to create a groundbreaking petitioncalling for an end to racially motivated mass incarceration.

The campaign, #wearehere 4 #JusticeReformNOW, seeks 1,000,000 signatures to empower the singer and activist to present it before Congress and the White House and urge them to pass meaningful criminal justice reforms.

Keys’s campaign is emboldened by a real sense of urgency, with aims to make these bold moves by the end of the year. In a speech delivered to Capitol Hill earlier this month, the singer emphasized the impact of mass incarceration on women and children.

It’s practically common knowledge at this point that the United States’ corporatized prison system overwhelmingly, disproportionately keeps people of color behind bars (freshly-minted National Book Award winner Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote the be-all, end-all on this subject in The Atlantic).

But one statistic the petition mentions strikes us as especially tragic: "2.7 million American children currently have at least 1 incarcerated parent."

“Too many families — and our communities — are being destroyed by mass incarceration,” Keys said in a statement, “mothers stripped of their sons, husbands and fathers, entire neighborhoods torn apart by the war on drugs, and families struggling to stay together. We need policy reforms that can keep people out of prison who don’t need to be there, and ensure that our justice system helps to heal communities, families and individuals.”

The project began with We Are Here, the social justice movement Keys founded that aims to use culture to create meaningful change in some of the most dire issues our country and world faces today. The campaign launched with a video from a briefing held on Capitol Hill, it can be viewed on Alicia’s Facebook page.

8 things you didn't know about Alicia Keys

It's official! Alicia Keys will be a guest star on "Empire" Season 2, Episode 9.

In "Sinned Against," the sultry singer will act as Skye Summers, a pop star who connects with Jamal and produces a unique hit song.

Here are eight things you might not have known about the popular singer.

1. Her "MTV Unplugged" album debuted at No. 1.
The live record topped the Billboard 200 chart in 2005, making her the first female artist to have an "Unplugged" album do so well and making the LP the most successful "Unplugged" release since Nirvana's 1994 record.

2. She once controlled the colored lights of the Empire State Building.
In 2012, Keys performed "Empire State of Mind" at the Empire State Building in New York. While she sang, the building's ESB lights blinked in sync with the songs she performed.

3. She adopted an African village.
Keys, a supporter of HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention and eradiction, adopted a village in Soweta, South Africa. She and her husband pledged to help build schools, train individuals to gain important skills and give other forms of support to the villagers.

4. She designed her own line of Reeboks.
Keys has said she grew up wearing Reebok 5411s, and her husband, Swizz Beats, has worked with the brand in the past. She partnered with the sneaker brand in 2012.

5. Beyonce is her childhood friend.
Alicia Keys and Beyonce were both signed to Sony Music when they were teenagers, so the girls ran into each other often. Keys has said that her son, Egypt, and Beyonce's daughter, Blue Ivy, have gotten together for play dates.

6. She created a mobile app.
Keys' app, The Journals of Mama Mae and LeeLee, is an educational storytelling app that explores the relationship between a young girl and her mother. In it, a young character from New York guides children through stories, games and music Keys created exclusively for the app. Keys has said she was inspired by her own relationship with her grandmother and her relationship with her son.

7. Dr. Deepak Chopra played a part in her wedding.
When Keys married producer Swizz Beats, health guru and family friend Dr. Copra presided over the wedding, acting in place of a minister or judge. The two were married in a private home on the Mediterranean Sea.

8. She was on "The Cosby Show."
She acted as one of Rudy's friends at a sleepover when she was a child.

Alicia Keys Biography

Alicia Keys is a multiple Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter whose debut album, Songs in A Minor, went platinum five times over.

Alicia Keys - Mini Biography (TV-PG; 3:03) Born and raised in New York City, Alicia Keys began piano lessons at age 7. After graduating from the Professional Performance Arts School, she signed a deal with Clive Davis. Her debut album "Songs in A Minor" earned her five Grammys.
Synopsis

Born in 1981, in New York, Alicia Keys began piano lessons at age 7. After graduating from the Professional Performance Arts School, she signed a deal with Clive Davis, the head of Arista Records. Davis left Arista to start J Records and Keys followed. Her debut album Songs in A Minor (2001) went platinum five times over and earned her five Grammys. She followed up with hit albums such as The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), As I Am (2007) and Girl on Fire (2009), all of which won the artist Grammys.

Early Life
Musician and actor Alicia Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook on January 25, 1981, in New York, New York. Growing up, Keys was raised by her mother, Nikki Augello—a part-time actress and paralegal. She began piano lessons at age 7 and Augello's dogged insistence that her daughter stick with the instrument led Keys to attend Manhattan's prestigious Professional Performance Arts School, where she majored in choir. Having excelled academically, Keys was allowed to graduate at the age of 16.

Keys had already attracted the attention of record company executives while in high school years, and after what amounted to a bidding war for her talents, she signed with Arista Records in 1998. While she was accepted to Columbia University on a full scholarship, after a four-week stint at the school Keys departed to devote herself fully to her music.

Early Career
In 1999, Clive Davis—head of Arista Records—left the prominent record company where he worked to start J Records. Keys decided to follow Davis, who had engineered the careers of soul luminaries such as Aretha Franklin, to his new label. Unlike many of her pop-music contemporaries, the precocious Keys not only sings, but writes and produces her own music. At J Records, Keys found the freedom to complete her debut effort, which included material she had started work on years prior.

Davis carefully orchestrated a media blitz before the release of the album, including a series of television and small venue appearances, including an appearance on Oprah the day before the album hit shelves. When it was finally released, Keys' debut album, Songs in A Minor (2001), went platinum five times over.

Critics roundly praised the album not only for its musical polish, but also for its lyric maturity. At the 2002 Grammy Awards, Keys took home awards for Song of the Year, Best R&B Song, Best R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best New Artist.

Continued Success

After a very successful debut, Keys released her second album, The Diary of Alicia Keys, in 2003. She proved that her success as a new artist two years prior wasn't a fluke, with the album debuting at No. 1. Keys also took home several Grammys for her sophomore album, including Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song, Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance by a Group or Duo with Vocals for her duet with Usher on the song "My Boo."

Keys' seemingly unstoppable career continued in 2007 with the release of As I Am. The album also debuted at No. 1, selling more than 740,000 copies in its first week—the best sales that she ever received during the first week of an albums release. The album garnered her two more Grammys. It was during this time that Keys also began to collaborate with more artists. In 2008, she recorded "Another Way to Die" with Jack White, which was featured as the theme song for the James Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008). She also recorded the hit single "Empire State of Mind" with fellow New Yorker Jay-Z the following year.

By the end of 2009, Keys released her fourth studio album, The Element of Freedom. Although the album didn't fare nearly as well as her previous albums—debuting at No. 2 with the lead single, "Doesn't Mean Anything," reaching No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100—the album did become Keys' first to reach No. 1 in the United Kingdom. Her fifth studio album, Girl on Fire(2012), put Keys back at her top spot, debuting at No. 1. She won the Grammy for Best R&B Album in 2014 for her work.

Acting Career
Outside of music, Keys has also ventured into acting on television and film. In 1985, a 4-year-old Keys appeared as one of Keshia Knight Pulliam's friends on The Cosby Show (1984-92). She appeared on several other series years later, including Charmed (1998-06), American Dreams (2002-05) and The Backyardigans (2004-), and made her film debut in 2006, appearing in the action film Smokin' Aces as Georgia Sykes. She went on to appear in The Nanny Diaries (2007) and The Secret Life of Bees (2008), alongside renowned actresses Queen Latifah and Jennifer Hudson.

Personal Life
In July 2010, Keys married hip-hop producer Swizz Beatz and the couple welcomed their first child together in October 2010, a baby boy named Egypt Daoud Dean. In December 2014, they welcomed their second son, Genesis Ali Dean.