The 'If Ain't Got You' hitmaker looks gorgeous while sporting no make-up in a photo posted along with an essay penned for Tuesday's issue of feminist newsletter Lenny.
- June 1, 2016
AceShowbiz -
Alicia Keys is embracing her "totally raw" self. She shares on Facebook a makeup-free photo of herself along with caption, "Been working on listening to myself and stop fulfilling other people's idea of 'perfect.' I'm not covering up anymore and I'm feeling my best yet!"
Alicia pens a powerful essay for Tuesday's issue of feminist newsletter Lenny about overcoming her insecurities. She opens up about those moments "where some piece of you realizes that to fit in or be thought of as beautiful, you have to cover up to be a bit closer to perfect." The 35-year-old singer-songwriter discusses the difficult transition she underwent as she moved from the "tough" streets of New York to the "harsh, judgmental world of entertainment."
"Before I started my new album, I wrote a list of all the things that I was sick of. And one was how much women are brainwashed into feeling like we have to be skinny, or sexy, or desirable, or perfect," the "If Ain't Got You" hitmaker writes, "One of the many things I was tired of was the constant judgment of women."
"The constant stereotyping through every medium that makes us feel like being a normal size is not normal, and heaven forbid if you're plus-size. Or the constant message that being sexy means being naked. All of it is so frustrating and so freakin' impossible," she continues.
Alicia reflects on writing "a lot of songs about masks filled with metaphors about hiding." She explains, "I needed these songs because I was really feeling those insecurities. I was finally uncovering just how much I censored myself, and it scared me. Who was I anyway? Did I even know HOW to be brutally honest anymore? Who I wanted to be? I didn't know the answers exactly, but I desperately wanted to."
"Every time I left the house, I would be worried if I didn't put on makeup: What if someone wanted a picture?? What if they POSTED it??? These were the insecure, superficial, but honest thoughts I was thinking. And all of it, one way or another, was based too much on what other people thought of me," she adds.
Alicia explains how she took up meditation in order to overcome her insecurities. "I found my way to meditation, and I started focusing on clarity and a deeper knowing of myself," she shares, "I focused on cultivating strength and conviction and put a practice in place to learn more about the real me. And I promised I would approach things differently this time regarding my image and allow my real self, as is, to come through."
Photographer Paola Kudacki asked to shoot Alicia makeup free for her album artwork. "I was shocked," she recalls, "Instantly, I became a bit nervous and slightly uncomfortable. My face was totally raw. I had on a sweatshirt! As far as I was concerned, this was my quick run-to-the-shoot-so-I-can-get-ready look, not the actual photo-shoot look. So I asked her, 'Now?! Like right now? I want to be real, but this might be too real!!' "
"It was just a plain white background, me and the photographer intimately relating, me and that baseball hat and scarf and a bunch of invisible magic circulating," she continues, "And I swear it is the strongest, most empowered, most free, and most honestly beautiful that I have ever felt."
Alicia says it's a revolution for herself. "I felt powerful because my initial intentions realized themselves. My desire to listen to myself, to tear down the walls I built over all those years, to be full of purpose, and to be myself!" she says, "I hope to God it's a revolution. 'Cause I don't want to cover up anymore. Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing."
