Alicia Keys Celebrates 'As I Am' 10th Anniversary with Unreleased Song

In honor of the 10th anniversary of her third album As I Am, Alicia Keys opens the vault. The R&B songstress celebrates the milestone with the release of the previously-unheard “When You Were Gone.”

“You was always on my mind,” she sings on the emotional track. “When you were gone, did you think of me? / Now you’re back putting on this act / That I was always in your heart.”

Taking to her personal website, Keys reflected on the recording session. “This is one of the very first songs I came back from Egypt and wrote,” said wrote. “Maybe it was the second song, the first one had a whole Egyptian vibe, I’ll play that for you one day too. But this one really started to create the sound that ‘As I Am’ has. We were experimenting with a lot of keyboards and sounds and styles of recording, and we were all about breaking boundaries and writing things in new ways.”

“When You Were Gone” is available for a limited time on Alicia’s website. However, fans who sign up for “The Vault” will get unlimited access to a variety of items, including photos, videos, diaries, and other archives.

As I Am debuted at No. 1 and was certified 3x platinum, spawning hit singles including “No One,” “Superwoman,” and “Like You’ll Never See Me Again.”

Listen to the previously-unheard “When You Were Gone” below.