Alicia Keys proved that she was sticking to her word of ditching make-up by showing up on the red carpet of the MTV Video Music Awards and she’s looking better than ever.
We’re not talking “no-makeup makeup” either, by the way. (You know, when people use makeup to rock a more natural look?)
We’re talking actually no makeup.
Whether she’s appearing in promos for her new gig hosting the 11th season of “The Voice” or performing at the DNC, you may have noticed that Keys has been walking out the door without a single dab of lipstick or swipe of mascara.
“Before I started my new album, I wrote a list of all the things that I was sick of,” she penned in the newsletter, which was co-created by Lena Dunham. “And one was how much women are brainwashed into feeling like we have to be skinny, or sexy, or desirable, or perfect.”
“One of the many things I was tired of was the constant judgment of women,” she wrote.
“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.”
Keys’ decision to ditch makeup is laudable — not because makeup or the women who wear it are inherently bad (they’re not) — but because she’s embracing what works for her.
People of all genders should be able to wear as much or as little makeup as they choose without feeling like they need to conform to society’s expectations (expectations that start kicking in younger than many of us may realize).
To wear makeup or not to wear makeup is a personal choice. When it comes to the images presented in the media, however, it can start to seem like wearing makeup is the only choice. Keys’ decision to reject that pressure is setting an amazing example.
No one should feel like they need makeup to hide who they really are, which makes Keys’ VMAs look one for the books.
“I don’t want to cover up anymore,” she wrote in Lenny. “Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing.”
And Swizz Beatz loves Alicia Keys, with or without makeup.
The music producer threw his support behind his wife after she took criticism for not wearing make-up to Sunday night’s MTV Video Music Awards.
The 37-year-old music-maker (real name Kasseem Dean) took to his Instagram account to deflate the opinions of Keys’ detractors.
Alicia Keys Pays Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. at the 2016 VMAs
“Y’all gotta think about that. This is deep,” he says at the opening of his emotional video. “Somebody’s sitting at home mad, because somebody didn’t wear makeup on their face… not your face, but they didn’t put makeup on their face, because they just didn’t feel like wearing makeup.”
He adds, “But you’re mad because that person didn’t put makeup to please you? What sh*t is this?” he continued. “Because you can do whatever you want to do. Think about it… this is deep.”
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