Alicia Keys Recalls Her First Grammys: I Was Sick, Singing 'Fallin' and Hoping Not to Fall

The year was 2002 and for breakout R&B starAlicia Keys, Grammys night felt like a perfect storm. “Oh my gosh, that particular experience is so seared into my brain and in my DNA and memory,” Keys, 38, tells PEOPLE, opening up about her upcominghosting dutiesfor music’s biggest night. “I was coming off that first tour where we’d recreated the whole brownstone stoop thing, the payphone on the corner like where I grew up in New York,” she says.

Alicia Keys Rocks a Purple Bikini While on Tropical Birthday Getaway: 'Aquarius Energy'

Photo: alicia keys/instagram Alicia Keysis kicking off the year with a special occasion — her birthday! The “Girl on Fire” singer rang in her 42nd birthday with a sexy bikini moment while on a beachside vacation with her husband,Swizz Beatz, 44. In an Instagram carousel shared Thursday, the 15-time Grammy winner lounges in a chair while wearing a strapless purple bikini set with a pink pattern. The gold accent featured on her high-waisted bottoms matches her gold statement earrings.

Alicia Keys Says She 'Became a Better Mother' After Starting a Meditation Practice

Alicia Keys.Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Alicia Keysis opening up about how meditation has helped her as a mom. For Keys, her “consistent spiritual practice began about six years ago” following the birth of her youngest sonGenesis Ali, with whom she shares with husbandSwizz Beatz. “Like so many new moms I was exhausted, but the depletion was more than physiological; my spirit was shot,” she recalled. “I needed to do something so I could continue to be a good mother to my children, partner to my husband, and friend to myself.

Alicia Keys Says She and Swizz Beatz Learned to 'Give Each Other Space' During the Pandemic

Photo: Ramon Rivas/Mercedes-Benz “Love Looks Better” when these two are together. Chatting with PEOPLE ahead of her performance at the world premiere ofMercedes-Benz’s EQS,Alicia Keys, 40, revealed the lessons she learned from spending time in quarantine alongside her husband Swizz Beatz and their two kids: Egypt, 10, and Genesis, 6. “So much of our life is spent traveling. Obviously, with [the pandemic], we’re literally seeing each other every day,” she says.

Alicia Keys Says Watching Son Egypt Perform Made Her Emotional: 'Hit Me Like a Ton of Bricks'

Alicia Keys' 11-year-old sonEgyptis a star in the making — and sometimes, realizing just how fast he’s growing up is enough to bring the singer to tears. In a sweet moment that aired on herYouTube Originals docuseriesNoted: Alicia Keys The Untold Story, she and Egypt, whom she shares with husbandSwizz Beatz, watch a clip from the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards, during which Egypt accompanied Keys on piano as she sang “Raise a Man.