Alicia Keys has admitted growing up in the music industry inspired her decision to go makeup-free.
The “Girl On Fire” hitmaker previously went through a period of not wearing makeup as she rebelled against beauty standards. She explained how she started to become aware of how she “wanted to feel.”
“I started out in the music world when I was 17 years old. You are told that you put on this, you wear this, you get yourself together and you get ready to perform,” she told The Cut.
“You get to transform and be in a place where you can really identify how you want to express yourself,” the singer said. “All of that is a beautiful part of growing and a beautiful part of being a woman is that you get to express yourself.”
The realization helped Keys accept that she didn’t need all the makeup and fancy clothes to feel “beautiful.”
“It opened my eyes to how I didn’t feel comfortable or beautiful if I didn’t have my armor on, and if I didn’t have all my face and hair and pretty things and nice clothes on that somehow I was less than beautiful or just less than,” she recalled.
“I realized, like, ‘Whoa, what’s underneath all that?'” Keys continued. “It allowed me to have a conversation with myself about how I wanted to feel and even what I wanted to let go of.”
She clarified that she doesn’t think “makeup was the armor” so much as everything “put together.”
“I’ve been able to just recognize that we are perfect as we are and that doesn’t mean you don’t have days that you want to be different ways,” Keys said.
“Some days I’m totally in my sweats, I don’t care. I’m putting my sneakers on. It’s perfect. I love it, I feel great,” the singer stated. “Some days I’m like, ‘You know what? This is a day I’m ready to just turn up in every way.’ And some days you’re somewhere in the middle — and it’s cool.”
