Even fighting with one’s mom as a teenage girl can be turned into a positive — to hear Alicia Keys tell it:

“When I was younger, my mother and I, we’d have these crazy, crazy fights. Everyone would storm out mad, and the only way that I’d be able to express myself was to write her. We would write letters back and forth for days.

When I’m writing, I feel uninterrupted. I write what I’m going through and how I see it. And I feel like people can really understand.” The multiple Grammy award-winner says that impassioned communication helped lead her to the songwriting skills that have made her a star. She gives her mother much credit for it all in the wide-ranging interview the artist has in the December issue of Reader’s Digest, which hits stands next week.

Keys also says that, growing up in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, “I felt very determined very early, very adamant about what I wanted and what I didn’t want. Maybe it was because of my surroundings. I knew immediately I’m not going to be that girl, standing out on the cold corner, trying to make money selling her body.” An audio version of the interview will be available for hearing on rd.com.