For our Fall Music Preview, on stands tomorrow, we spoke to Alicia Keys about her upcoming album, Girl on Fire, due Nov. 27  — and she had plenty to say about the recording process, getting the tiniest member of her family in the studio, and why that title is not a reference to a certain bow-and-arrow-wielding girl warrior. Read on:

EW: Let’s start with your album title, Girl on Fire. I know that you wrote that you wanted to make a change in your life and represent a new journey and a fresh start, but is the title also influenced by The Hunger Games?

Alicia Keys: You know, the funny thing is that it’s actually not. It was such a shock when I heard about The Hunger Games — I wasn’t aware of the book at that point. And I didn’t realize that, I guess, that’s what they call the one girl. So we tried very hard to make it all work and put the song in — and to put parts of what I was developing in with the movie. Anyway, obviously it came out way too early, so the timing wasn’t right. But, no, it has nothing to do with The Hunger Games. That powerful feeling is what it’s all about.

You found success at a relatively young age, and you’re only 31 now. Why did you feel the need for a fresh start?

It came more from a personal place. And when I talk about changing, I think I mean maybe more evolution. There was just a moment in my life where I was just realizing all of these things, and they just became really clear. All of a sudden, I realized that things that I had dealt with before, or things that I thought that I wanted in my life before, or things that I thought were acceptable to me before just started to be different. I didn’t feel that same way anymore. READ FULL STORY »