Alicia Keys quickly got her toehold in the music world, when her debut, Songs in A Minor, was released in 2001. The album established the then-20-year-old as one of the most influential artists of her generation. She was a gritty, cornrow-wearing R&B singer who was a brilliant, classically trained pianist with a stunning voice and beauty.

The album was just rereleased with special editions that include new tracks and video footage. Keys, who married music producer Swizz Beatz and gave birth to a son last year, also was performing songs from the album Saturday night at Zo’s Summer Groove’s benefit dinner and gala at the Hard Rock.

She talked to the Associated Press:

How have you changed over the last 10 years?

I was straight off the streets of Harlem and Hell’s Kitchen. So I think that was kind of a bit of a shock for people, especially back then, to see a real New York girl, and here I was doing all of these interviews. When I look back at them, I’m like, ‘Damn, Alicia, you could have been a little gentler.’ I just had a certain kind of roughness to me. There were a lot of judgments that definitely made me conscious about how to start to maybe be a little bit more aware of how I was coming off . . . . but I’m still the same me.

How has your music evolved?

(What) I really learned about music is that you don’t understand it. That’s the part about it. There really is no formula, it’s all about a gift, it’s like a moment, and you don’t know when that moment is going to come. Also I’ve been able to be more experimental and just more open and more driven to do things that are new and different from me, because as an artist, you just always want to do things that are like unique and new and fresh.

How have marriage and motherhood affected you?

It’s made me so much stronger. I’m happier than I’ve ever been. And I also realize more the importance of time, and I realize the importance of really, really making sure that you dedicate certain times to the people that you love.