Alexa Ray Joel Debuts Sexy New Look

April 3, 2014— -- Alexa Ray Joel, the daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, is all grown up.

The 28-year-old singer-songwriter was nearly unrecognizable earlier this week during her first sold-out performance at Cafe Carlyle in New York. Joel flaunted a sophisticated and sultry look that immediately triggered rumors that she had some surgical enhancements.

The singer, who previously admitted to having a nose job in 2010, quickly quashed the rumors.

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"The continuously-circulating rumors that I have had extensive 'face-work' and undergone breast-augmentation surgery is simply and entirely 100% false," she wrote alongside a photo she posted Wednesday night on Instagram. "The only thing I have ever had done is my nose, which I have always been completely candid, honest, and open about."

Instead, Joel gave credit to her "brilliant makeup-artist and stylist," Caitlin Monahan, whom she called a "true beauty-wizard and visionary."

"That, combined with the fact that I actually have a hearty dose of self-confidence now," Joel added, "which took me a little extra minute or so to find.) ; )"

Growing up in the public eye, the daughter of a supermodel and a rock legend, has not always been easy for Joel.

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"I was so insecure about it when I was a teenager," Joel told ABC News' "20/20" in 2010. "I was like, 'I'm just the weird brunette girl, don't look at me, you'll look at Mom anyways.' I was a really late bloomer. And so I didn't feel pretty or anything until, maybe like 20. Until my first love and all that. It took me a long time to kind of come to terms with that. And to realize, 'OK, I can have my own look and I can be hot in my own right.'"

That first love led to Joel's first breakup, which she also experienced publicly. In 2010, dreading the holidays without her boyfriend, Joel said she took Traumeel, a homeopathic medication, to try to calm her nerves and get some sleep but ended up being rushed to the hospital for an overdose scare.

"Did I actually want to die? Absolutely not. I was not suicidal," she told "20/20."

Since then, Joel has poured her heartbreak into her songwriting and performance. After her opening-night show, The New York Times suggested that the "rough timbre and piercing high notes" of her singing brought to mind a "soprano answer to Stevie Nicks."

No longer comparing herself to her famous dad either, Joel has found her own voice and sound, and now she wants to be judged by that, instead of her appearance.

"Hey, wouldn't it be nice if the press could just focus on my music and stage-presence?" she wrote on Instagram. "Because, honestly, I would rather be judged, critiqued, and picked apart for my actual work."

She then invited fans to "join me for an intimate evening of music, martinis, [and more!] at the Cafe Carlyle," adding that the shows were all nearly sold out.