ALICIA KEYS TALKS TO ESSENCE ABOUT BEING A MOM!

When Alicia Keys got her big break in 2001, she was taking on the music world and shattering Billboard records with the energy of a 20-year-old. Now as wife of music producer Swizz Beatz and a mother to Egypt Dean, she's celebrating her personal growth - and career success - with a 10th anniversary edition of her first album, "Songs in A Minor."

On her changing work ethic: "I think I'm more playful in my attitude now. I'm still a perfectionist, but just not so serious. It used to be I would never take a weekend trip or hang out. I think it's a New York mentality, there's a certain grind. An empire state of grind!" (Telegraph)

On motherhood's effect on lifestyle: "I'm definitely in a place where I have a different sensibility about things. I remember how I used to be: 'I'm going on the road and I'm back when I'm back and I'm probably gone a long time.' I felt that that's what I needed to do and nothing could stop me. There was no amount of love - no amount of anything - that could drag me down. That was then. And now there is a desire in me to have more stability." (Telegraph)

On being a mother: It's so amazing. It's the best thing in the whole wide world. I know that everyone says that, and I know there's like all these clichés that people say but they're all true and they're all accurate. So it's really a pleasure. It's my honor to be able to be a mother." (Essence)


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