Alicia Keys

What if… everything you are going through is preparing you for what you asked for?

I’m taking more time to listen to myself. It’s allowed me to be an aggressive bad ass, calling it as I see it

In the 80s, when I was a little girl, this whole Midtown area was a different world. These are the streets that I walked, and learned my lessons on, and heard the music, and witnessed disenfranchised people, and people who just had dreams and hopes. Every pimp, every prostitute, every drug dealer, every Broadway dreamer wishing they could be a writer, or a musician, or an actor.

In the 1990s, with Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, those really big female artists were very glamorous, it was all about the glamour at that time. And so there was a big switch, the desire to be more who you were, not so beholden to this whole standard of beauty. It was a liberation. You see Mary J Blige – she did the same, wearing the combat boots.

I love learning about different religions, and discovering the different ways to worship, and to love the greatness and the higher being that surrounds us all. I definitely believe in a bigger presence, and I really respect all religions; at their core they all teach the same message – community and kindness and looking out for each other.

We all have our challenges, issues, things that we’re working through and insecurity is there because nobody is perfect no matter who you are. It’s that imperfection that makes you so dope.

Ideologies separate us. Art brings us together.

Jazz demands that you bring to it things that are valuable to you, that are personal to you.

People sometimes say it takes a long time to become a Jazz fan, but for me it took about five seconds.

I kind of hate the fact that people are always trying to put you into a category. I hate walls, and I hate boundaries. I don’t like that. I listen to everything.

The true beauty of music is that it connects people.

When it comes to music, don’t lie to yourself; just tell yourself the truth.

An artist should write for himself and not for an audience. If the audience likes it, great. If not, they can keep away.

There’s millions and millions of people who think Les Paul is a guitar!

Inspiration grows into full-scale creation through persistence and imagination.

The fact that an artist is experiencing the joy of creation makes me feel like we’re in it together.

There is no such thing as a wrong note.

Have you ever wondered why young people take to music like fish to water? Maybe it’s because music is fun, plain and simple.

Women have not been socialized to play drums. It’s not natural for us to hit thing.

If you feel like tapping your feet, tap your feet. If you feel like clapping your hands, clap your hands. And if you feel like taking off your shoes, take off your shoes. We are here to have a ball. So we want you to leave your worldly troubles outside and come in here and swing.

If you want to be a good blues singer, people are going to be down on you, so dress like you’re going to the bank to borrow money.