Alicia Keys is marking the upcoming 25th anniversary of her breakout single Fallin’.
The 17-time Grammy winner was speaking at the She Is the Music Women Sharing the Spotlight event in West Hollywood on February 18, when she shared that looking back at her younger self feels “crazy and wonderful.”
“I’m not sure how I wrap my head around this whole existence called life,” Keys told People. “It’s very crazy and wonderful and exciting and amazing.”
She recalled how she navigated early fame by learning as she went. “And just thinking back to that girl in me at that time and how she had no idea, none. That she was completely what you call ‘fake it till you make it’… that’s what she was doing, and she did a damn good job.”
Released in March 2001 when she was just 20, Fallin’ became an instant success, spending six weeks at No. 1 and helping launch her debut album, Songs in A Minor. The project went on to earn her five Grammy wins in 2002, cementing her place as one of R&B’s defining voices of the era.
Keys said she now appreciates the determination and authenticity she carried at the start of her career.
“The more I grew, the more I learned,” Keys explained. “And so I think about her, and I’m so appreciative of her because she was strong, she was clear. Even though she didn’t know everything, she knew what she didn’t want, and she knew what she had to hold onto, and that was authenticity and truth and honesty and music.”
She continued, “So I’m very proud because I recognize her in me today. So that’s a beautiful thing. So to be able to come all this way and have all these years to be creating and to have not even hit the tiny bit of where I’m going is a really, really exciting thing. So I’m grateful.”
“And [Gerson] said, ‘I know this girl is up to stuff,’ even before I knew I was up to things. And so that’s the pure example of how you really create an avenue for somebody, and so she did that for me. And now us doing this together is just the icing on the cake,” Keys added.
Reflecting on her journey, she said she still feels excited about what lies ahead, adding that she has only begun to reach her full creative potential.
