Alicia Keys and Maxwell. Together. When I first saw that they had a track together on Key‰’s latest album, Girl on Fire, I was elated. I knew that I was not going to be able to handle the sensual experience that was, without fail, going to occur. In my head I was thinking, could this rival her 2004 duet with Usher? When I first heard “Fire We Make,‰” I was lying down with headphones on, completely overtaken by the music. Once I heard about the music video, I was ready for a rush of sexual tension and mystique. The video did not disappoint, but it did take a different path from what I initially had envisioned. This video told a story, giving more background to the song.

It first lays out the scene with a bit of a monologue by Keys: “It was an amazing time, an amazing time to be in new Orleans, the heat, the French Quarter, and him and we fell in love.‰” She is working in, what I assume is, a family-owned hotel in the French Quarter. After she sees that Maxwell is entering the hotel, she runs down to see him. The sexual tension between the two is unbelievably powerful. She shows him to his hotel room, and they go their separate ways. Both take double takes of the other before they part.

The song then starts moving into the forefront of the music video, veering away from the actual plot. Alicia Keys starts off the song with “Hey baby/ how you doing tonight/ I wanna let you know/I wanna tell you just how I feel/I wanna love you baby.‰” During her entire section, she is sitting on the floor in front of an air conditioning unit sweating, rubbing herself with ice cubes, thinking about Maxwell in the other room. She is twisting her body around while in a tight white dress. She is in the middle of an internal struggle. Should she go over and see Maxwell or stay away from him? By the end of her section, the bowl of ice cube is just a bowl of water.

During this time, both seem to be getting ready to go to sleep. Maxwell is unpacking while Alicia is stripping her clothes off. The following scene shows Maxwell singing on stage in front of a room full of dancing people, presumably guests at the hotel. Everyone has a dance partner besides Maxwell up front and Keys in the back of the room dancing by herself up against a wall. This is my favorite part of the song and video. The two start to harmonize together and react to each other‰’s vocal lines. They exclaim how they cannot stay away from each other: “No no no, No no no, Can’t stay away.‰” The desperation that their body language shows, which also mirrors their vocal lines, is phenomenal.

After Alicia Keys leaves the dance floor, Maxwell tries to follow her. He ends up wandering the streets of New Orleans, wearing a bright red suit with a black dress shirt, the top button undone. He waits for her in front of the hotel until she arrives. They do not exchange any words. The two simply hold each other‰’s faces. Then, they walk through the front door together, about to rekindle their love.

The video is shot artistically. Flashbacks were thrown in throughout and images of Alicia Keys rubbing herself with ice in front of the A/C Unit added to the sexual longing and picture of a hot Louisiana day. The constant cuts between how Alicia and Maxwell were feeling individually brought a lot to the parallelisms between the two. They both wanted to see each other, but each lacked the guts to make the first move.

Finally, the outfits. I loved Alicia‰’s white dress and Maxwell‰’s textured, collared shirt at the beginning of the video. However, when they put their dancing shoes on, I was overjoyed with the outfits. Maxwell‰’s crisp, red suit complimented Keys‰’ colorful patterned top with her red skirt. The reds also symbolized the passion that they feel for one another.

The first time that I watched this video, my thought was that Keys and Maxwell were just two people, both full of angst who happened to be at the same hotel, experiencing similar emotions. This music video, though, has such a deep and interesting plot. Nothing is truly straightforward. Throughout, there are photos of the two together. There is an aspect of history present between the two that keeps the story interesting throughout.