Alicia Keys sings (a bit of) Billy Joel's classic 'New York State of Mind' at Knicks' celebration

Before Alicia Keys was in an "Empire State of Mind," she called on a classic.

Keys took the stage Thursday at New York's City Hall during the Knicks' championship ceremony to play a few bars of Billy Joel’s "New York State of Mind."

Though the initial bars to her collaboration with Jay-Z first played, Keys said she wanted to take it in a different direction.

She was joined by her 15-year-old son, Egypt, on piano, as she sang the first few lines of "New York State of Mind," before transitioning to her own anthem about the "concrete jungle where dreams are made of."

The iconic beat started playing and Keys made her way over to the piano.

"This is our time, we are champions," she said. "We’ve been waiting for over 50 years for this moment and we’re never going to stop."

Knicks players danced onstage and sang along as Keys closed out the ceremony, joined by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul. Knicks superfans including Spike Lee watched from the plaza in front of City Hall.

Keys was presented with her own key to the city as she greeted players and posed for pictures.

The Hicksville-raised Piano Man did not attend the ceremony Thursday, but had sent his well wishes to the team in a video message ahead of Game 3 at Madison Square Garden.

"I’ve seen a lot of magic happen in this building for many years," Joel said in the Instagram post. "Now it’s your turn to bring the championship back to the greatest city in the world."