By then, Ms. Keys was already writing songs. She was 14, singing in a three-girl group called EmBishion in a Police Athletic League center in Harlem, when a vocal coach, Conrad Robinson, saw potential. He brought around his brother Jeff, a rhythm-and-blues manager. ''She was the total package,'' Jeff Robinson said. ''She had the looks, she had the talent, she had the personality. She sat down at the piano and played her own songs, and people would say, 'Come on, you didn't write that!' ''

Ms. Keys had already written ''Butterflyz'' and ''The Life,'' two songs that would appear on her album. ''We were 14 and we thought we were 19, you know,'' Ms. Keys said. ''I don't know if it's a New York thing, I don't know if it's a girl thing, I don't know if it's a combination of both, but the things that we experienced were deep and real and true and hard, in different ways. And at that age, your passions are right out there, so there they were in the songs.''

Ms. Keys graduated from high school at 16, an A student, and accepted a scholarship to Columbia University, only to drop out after four weeks because she was too busy with her recording career. Columbia Records had signed Ms. Keys when she was 15, clinching the deal by giving her the white baby grand piano she auditioned on.

''I'm 15 and now I'm supposed to make a record,'' she recalled. ''How do I make a record? I get with these different people that have hits. So I'm working with them, and them being not receptive to the fact that I play. 'Little girl, sit over there in the corner.' Them being attracted to me, whatever, 'Little girl let's go to the movies, let's go to dinner.' It's all over the place. And it's crazy. And it's very difficult to understand and handle. I'm working for like five, six, seven months, and I'm starting to become more and more depressed and frustrated and upset because I'm getting calls like, 'Well, do you have anything?' No, I don't.

''All I had was heartache and headaches and running home to my bed and covering my head with the covers. And it was around that time that I realized that I couldn't do it with other people. I had to do it more with myself, with the people that I felt comfortable with or by myself with my piano.''

Kerry Brothers, still her main studio collaborator, suggested she buy equipment and record on her own. ''That was one of the best pieces of advice anyone ever gave me,'' Ms. Keys said. ''So I'm starting to work and I'm starting to develop a team of people that I'm trusting. And it's vibing and it's rocking and I'm feeling freedom in the studio.''