Alicia Keys Releases Song 'We Gotta Pray' Amid National Protests

By Christine Thomasos, Christian Post Reporter Monday, December 08, 2014

Singer Alicia Keys meets U.S. President Barack Obama after he delivered remarks at a World AIDS Day event at George Washington University in Washington December 1, 2011. | (Photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

Alicia Keys is asking the nation to pray amid protests and civil unrest stemming from two recent cases of police officers not being charged for killing unarmed civilians.

Keys, the 33-year-old singer, songwriter and producer, took to Twitter to introduce the song that she admitted was not written recently.

"I wrote #WeGottaPray awhile ago, yet the lyrics have never meant more to me than during this time," Keys tweeted.

In the song, Keys sings, "We gotta pray, we gotta pray, we gotta pray ... pray for the world tonight."

She told The New York Times that the single piano-laced ballad was recorded when Keys was all alone in a room a few months ago, affected by the deaths of Ferguson, Missouri teenager Michael Brown and Staten Island man, Eric Garner, both killed by police officers while unarmed in recent months.

"We absolutely feel disregarded as human beings," the singer told The Times. "The most important thing is that we look at each other and see these magnificent beings that can create the changes and movements we dream of."

In the song Keys also sings, "we are extraordinary people living ordinary lives."

The native New Yorker insists that her passion for the matter is about more than where she grew up.

"There is that New York camaraderie, but it's bigger than that. There's injustice going on, and it seems so blatant," she told The Times. "We will continue to be loud. I hope that this is our 21st-century civil rights movement. You shouldn't be surprised if you see me out there."