The singer recalled her son meeting Swift at the ‘Eras Tour’ in 2023, years after they first met at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards

 

Genesis Ali, Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys

 

Some people want it all, but Alicia Keys’ son Genesis just wanted to meet Taylor Swift again!

During a Friday night appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Keys, 43, described what it was like to raise a Swiftie in her and Swizz Beatz’s youngest son.

As she explained, the 9-year-old first met Swift when he was younger at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards, as he was seated next to the musician. In a video shared by host Jimmy Fallon, Genesis could be seen playfully waving at the 34-year-old “Karma” singer while his mom was on stage giving a speech.

“He was flirting. … I was pouring my heart out about all my thank you’s, and he’s [waving at Swift],” Keys joked.

Genesis Ali, Taylor Swift

Keys then mentioned a time when Genesis got to hang out with Swift during an Eras Tour stop in August 2023. At the time, Keys applauded Swift on Instagram for her “big beautiful spirit that makes everyone feel loved.”

“They met up again recently, and he was like, ‘Is she gonna remember me?’ And it was a whole thing,” Keys said on The Tonight Show. “He was like, ‘She knew me since I was three, right, mom?’ ”

The encounter went smoothly, as Keys shared behind-the-scenes footage of Genesis getting both a kiss on the cheek and a touching note from his idol.

Genesis’ fandom extends beyond Swift, too, as he’s also a big fan of Billie Eilish, Keys revealed on The Tonight Show. Keys said Genesis even attempted to convince his mom to let him leave her a voice message at one point.

“He just asked me every single day, ‘Mom can I please leave her a voice message?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ Like, what kind of voice message are you gonna leave her? He was like, ‘I’m just gonna say, like, … I would like to be friends and I really like her music.’ And so he leaves her this whole message after harassing me for days and days on end,” Keys laughed. “And then he continued to harass me [about] if she wrote him a message back.”

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“And so every night I couldn’t go to sleep, he wakes me up in the morning,” she added. “In the nighttime, he won’t go to sleep. ‘Did she write me? Did she write me? Did she write me? Did she leave me a message?’ She left him a message. Can you believe it? It was so sweet. … Big love to Billie and Taylor.”

While Eilish’s message to Genesis wasn’t shared on air, Swift’s message to Genesis during his August Eras Tour visit took him by surprise. In a handwritten note, Swift wrote that she was “so excited” when she found out he was attending the show, and referred to him as her “friend.”

“I hope you have so much fun at the show,” Swift wrote. “And I’ll be waving at you. Love, Taylor.”

In response, Genesis shared a message of his own for Swift via his mom’s social media: “I loved your show and I’m happy that I got to meet you again.”