When I first started getting into the business, a young woman in a music game that was mostly men, I did feel inadequate.
— Alicia Keys
Mozart would play a counterpart with his left hand while using his right to mock it. It was blue, dark, shadowy - and it made me feel something. That's when I realized music was inside me.
I love my heritage! I have my mother, who is an Irish-Italian, and my father who is African, so I have the taste buds of an Italian and the spice of an African.
I love my heritage!
I was tired and I had overworked myself and burnt myself out. So I went to Egypt by myself. When I saw what was built there, it made me understand how powerful we are, that we can create anything. And I felt like I needed to create things that were timeless too.
I really appreciate Frank Ocean's lyrical style, I appreciate the way that he can kind of draw you into this personal space, but it's still lyrical. It's almost poetic, in a way, but it's very personal at the same time.
I love my legs.
I love Bono. I really respect what he has done for Africa and how he has used his fame to do good in the world. I hope I can do half as much in my life.
Adam Levine and I remade the Rolling Stones' classic Wild Horses, and it is right up my alley, that whole style. It has a style of its own but still stays very true to the classic arrangement, and I love it.
If I want to be alone, some place I can write, I can read, I can pray, I can cry, I can do whatever I want - I go to the bathroom.
Stevie Wonder's records introduced me to '70s soul when I was 12 or 13.
Simplicity makes me happy.
My mom is definitely my rock.
I've always been strong-minded, but I wonder.
I'm a very caring person.
I see what happens when one gets very attached to material things. That's just not what my life is.
I love the written word so much, I know it's gonna flow naturally.
For me, doing a show, the excitement of singing live, and the possibility that you're not gonna be perfect - that's the thrill of it.
I believe in the limitlessness of humans. We're capable of incredible things. At times, that realization is frightening.
I have big everything on the bottom, but I love my legs. You've got to love what's yours.
When you're talented, you're talented.
I've stepped more into my business and really... taken control for how I want that to be.
When I was first learning songs, I'd have a favorite song, and I'd take the chords and twist them around. I'd learn the chords and then play them backward. That was my first experimenting with writing a song.
My mom always said, 'Don't date a guy who thinks he's prettier than you.'
I always want to stay focused on who I am, even as I'm discovering who I am.
Once people see this 'Unplugged,' I just want them to feel the spontaneity, to feel passionate... I want you to see another side of me, that's free, and feel where my head is, where whatever happens, happens. I want you to feel inspired.
When I was younger, studying classical music, I really had to put in the time. Three hours a day is not even nice - you have to put in six.
Soul music is timeless.
Not because I'm trying to be fabulous, but I love those big crazy Jackie O shades.
It's not until I hear songs that I've done, that I realize how much of an inspiration music from the '60s and '70s has been.
I'm very happy with my body.
I'd rather not have anything than be a liar.
I really like to live my life in a low-key fashion.
I love my own music.
I feel the presence of a higher power. I believe that what you give is what you get. It's universal law. I believe in the power of prayer and of words. I've learned that when you predict that negative things will happen, they do.
I'm a very positive person, but this whole concept of having to always be nice, always smiling, always happy, that's not real. It was like I was wearing a mask. I was becoming this perfectly chiselled sculpture, and that was bad. That took a long time to understand.
We are all one. We're not as separate as we oftentimes think.
We're all going to change. Otherwise, it's boring.
I've stepped more into my womanhood, I'm a mother now, I'm having a beautiful relationship as a wife and as a friend.
I fell in love with the piano. I knew it was me. I was dying to play.
I have my mother who is an Irish-Italian, and my father who is African, so I have the taste buds of an Italian and the spice of an African.
A lot of times I watch TV and I watch film and there's so many things I'd love to talk about that I feel don't get the opportunity to be shown. Sometimes things become very stereotypical and one-sided, and I feel like it's such a colorful world.
I believe Aids is the most important issue we face, because how we treat the poor is a reflection of who we are as a people.
The last thing I want is to walk into my house after a long day and see all the Grammys and awards. It would make me feel weird.
Sometimes I've gotten photographs back and people have literally shaven off pieces of me, and I tell them to put it back.
My mother is an actress, and she used to drag me from theater to theater and reading to reading.
If I didn't love it, I would not record it.
I'm not ashamed of what I am and that I have curves and that I'm thick. I like my body.
I would hate to make music and people love me for something that isn't me.
I promised myself that I'd never actually admit to listening to 'New Kids on the Block.'
