Alicia Keys discusses her new superhero graphic novel 'Girl on Fire'

"The whole book is really a metaphor to the superpowers we all have and trying to find our way to harness it."
 By 
Sam Haysom
 on 
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When you hear "Girl on Fire", your mind probably goes straight to the 2012 Alicia Keys song — but now, 10 years on, it's a graphic novel too.

Appearing on The Tonight Show on Tuesday, Keys spoke to Fallon about her new book – her first graphic novel – and what the story, which follows a girl name Lola, involves.

"She is from Brooklyn, she's raised by a single father who's also raising her brother," Keys explains in the clip above. "Her mother is actually not around — as you read the story you'll find out why. And her brother was racially profiled and attacked by a police officer and she got so upset, she wanted to protect him and she just didn't know what to do."

In that moment, Keys explains, Lola realises she has special powers.

"She's trying to figure out what do I do with this energy?" Keys says. "How do I harness it? How do I use it? Am I crazy? And the whole book is really a metaphor to the superpowers we all have and trying to find our way to harness it."

Girl on Fire is available now online and in bookstores.

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Sam Haysom

Sam Haysom is the Deputy UK Editor for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time.


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