Alicia Keys was on The Today Show on Friday to perform and to promote her upcoming album, which is coming out later this year on Tidal and RCA records. She’s also on NBC show The Voice as a judge/coach along with Miley Cyrus, Adam Levin and Blake Shelton. On The Today Show, Alicia said a lot of things about feeling good about where she is in life, and about the fact that she hasn’t been wearing makeup lately. This has been her cause celebre, particularly after she was seen at the VMAs without makeup. Alicia has made it clear that she’s not anti-makeup and that she personally just feels like going without it. It sounds like she’s really thought about this and like she wants to spread awareness that it’s ok to do your own thing, whatever that is.
You have been doing so much. What’s your process?
This album is really so much about life… it’s me being my most truthful, my most call it as it is, my most like honest. It is such powerful music. Your are going to go crazy.When you look at the person you are today vs. 15 years ago what’s the biggest difference?
Probably just my knowing of myself and the ability to really be comfortable exactly as I am. It’s hard to get to that place. That’s something we kind of battle with through our whole lives. I’m loving it. I’m feeling centered and I’m feeling powerful. I’m feeling clear.You look gorgeous [without makeup]. How does it feel inside?
Really empowering. Really freeing. The thing is, it really came from because we put so many limitations on ourselves, on each other. Society puts limitations on it. In a lot of ways I’m sick of it. I’m over it to be honest. That’s a lot of what the music is about. It’s about being our own unique selves. We each have something that no one else has. It would be so amazing to just embrace each other how we are.
[From Video on The Today Show]
After that Matt Lauer said that he could relate because when he cut his hair off he didn’t have to worry about covering the bald spot. Alicia said she knew what he meant. She added “you do what feels good for you as opposed to what you think people.” She also said “I love makeup. I love my lipgloss, I love my blush, I love my eyeliner… At the same time, I don’t want to feel beholden to have to do it. All of us should just be honest to ourselves.”
She’s not wrong and I appreciate that she’s saying these things but I am having a hard time getting over everything I know about her. Also, this is coming from a woman with the most gorgeous skin and naturally dark eyelashes. At least she’s not challenging others to do the same, she’s being very clear that this is her choice.
Later on, Alicia took off Today Show anchor Tamran Hall’s makeup with a cloth but it was Tamran’s idea. Alicia emphasized this wasn’t about makeup, it was about being yourself. She also said that she took the extra time in the morning to sleep, which I can get behind.
Here’s the video of Alicia’s interview and you can see her performance and more on The Today Show’s site:
Gorgeous ladies! #AliciaKeysTODAY pic.twitter.com/3EBUAwyfUM
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 2, 2016
Photos credit: WENN.com
🙄😒🙄😒🙄😒🙄😒🙄😒🙄
My sentiments exactly.
But good for her for finding a new way to get attention since people are less and less interested in her music.
Really! Why is this a thing????
Also, Alicia struggled for years with really bad acne. Maybe she’s feeling her newfound “clear” skin and wants to show it off.
That’s really the long and the short of it Santia, she is so Insufferable, the twitter memes are KILLING me still
https://twitter.com/stereowilliams/status/772646356141871104
https://twitter.com/HellaKev/status/771379942793838593
Exactly – she had terrible skin. I’d love to know what cleared it up. Wasn’t she a spokesperson for ProActiv at one point? Lol
was going to ask what her past and what the ‘author knows about her’ has to do with not wearing makeup, but changing my post b/c it just seems like it doesn’t matter what else shes talking about, the writer still doesn’t see past the sketchiness that is/was her relationship.
i get it, i can’t look past the cardashians and all the trash they spew even if one of them says one sentence i kind of agree with. doesn’t matter, they’re still gross people to me.
Yeah, the test on whether cheating impacts likeability is a very subjective one around here. I mean, we managed to look past atleast two Angelina Jolies indiscretions so it is possible to let the past be the past. Moreso in this case where the three parties have actually gone on holiday together a few times. If Mashonda has moved on, I dont see why everyone else cant.
You are so right. I’ve often wondered how Laura Dern managed to skate by with nary a finger pointed at her . Both Billy Bob Thornton and Ben Harper were married with children when she got involved with them! Man, talk about double standards.
@naya
the same women that diss women like alicia for having affair/cheating are the same women that elevate tom hanks/rita wilson…..but guess what? tom hanks cheated with his wife on rita wilson.
so which is it ladies? do you hate all cheaters by default, or just the ones you pick and choose?
*shakes head*
isabel, we’re not a mob that thinks as one. And not every cheater is the same. I don’t love how Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson started but Hanks has spoken about it and acknowledged that it wasn’t their finest moment. People make mistakes. You don’t just judge them by their mistakes but also by how they deal with them. I don’t get a very remorseful vibe from Alicia Keys and as far as I know, she maintains that they didn’t do anything wrong.
I also don’t have to decide that I love or hate everyone who cheats, no exceptions. I pick and choose (we all do, don’t pretend you don’t) based on more than that but you seem to have us all figured out so good for you.
She’s gorgeous.
I was going to say, I rarely ever wear makeup unless I’m going out to an event. It’s just not something I do on a day to day basis. But then again, I have dark lashes and dark eyes and a pleasant enough skin tone on my face that while I’m sure I don’t look spruced up, I also don’t look washed out. When I asked my friend one time if she ever left the house without makeup, she was like if I don’t put something on my lashes and cheeks I look like a walking corpse without eyebrows. So, I kind of understood that perspective, wheras before I think I thought because she was southern it was a vanity thing due to where she was raised.
Whenever I do wear makeup and put my hair down, the attention is hilarious. Like, wooooah, wow, what’s going on with you, where are you going?? Makeup really makes my looks pop, and can seem much too *extra* if that makes sense?
BUT I wouldn’t go to a function without makeup. I would at least tinted moisturize, mascara, blush and gloss.
You’re fortunate. I have blue eyes and I look sick if I don’t slap some mascara on, and a bit of definition on my eyebrows.
Mascara is my desert island cosmetic..I could do without anything but that.
My god, we’re twins! 😉
LOL me too! I started having allergies to mascara no matter which “allergen free” one I tried so I would go without it because of the discomfort. People would say “Awww are you feeling ok?” I wish I looked as gorgeous as Alicia Keys without makeup. I think makeup and high heels are the next two issues that need to be tackled in the women’s movement.
I’m the same way, I have dark eyes and lashes and don’t really need to wear eye makeup unless I want them to stand out more. They are my best feature. Makeup on a regular basis isn’t for me. I can’t stand foundation on my face because it feels like a weight.
Same here. I dont even use gloss in my day to day, lip moisturizer is just fine. Its really hard to understand women who say they cant leave the house without it but maybe I am speaking from a certain privillege in that I dont have skin tone issues and I have dark lashes. I do have two toned lips, as in my upper lip is brown and lower lip is pink. I briefly dated a girl who kept trying to get me to use lipcolor regularly. I dont know, I just 1) dont give a damn, 2) have better things to do with my time and money and 3) actually really like that I have my mums lips. So I dumped her like a hot potato. Strangely enough, the guys I have dated loved that I use so little makeup. I actually overheard one guy telling his mother in a braggy tone that I dont wear make up (which was weird on a few levels given how made up she was).
In the end, I think Alicia is right. People really need to work on self acceptance. If Self love is in place and you still want to wear makeup, then go for it. The problem is when it comes from a place of insecurity or needing to conform to expectations.
When I don’t wear makeup, I look like an alien because it looks I I don’t have eyelashes or eyebrows because I’m blonde with blue eyes. Yet I don’t care and still don’t wear makeup because I don’t like it.
I always have to wonder if the judgements people (women in particular) make about their skin is based on what they think it “should” look like, a “should” that has largely been sold to them. If your skin isn’t xyz, you need to fix it, and of course very few people’s skin is xyz naturally. But why does that make everything not xyz “wrong” and “ugly”?
I don’t know too many people who have skin *that* bad. Every single person who claims they need makeup to look normal or correct their skin looks perfectly fine and normal to me without it. I don’t see the problems, it’s just what you look like and that’s not a bad thing. No, you don’t look like the lady in the magazine, but nobody does, not even her. Nobody should look like the lady in the magazine. Your skin is yours, it makes you look like you, and the fact that you hate it has been ingrained in you by an industry that (to use Alicia’s words) wants you beholden to them forever. Would you hate it if you hadn’t been told by someone else that you should?
I agree.
Agreed.
It’s an excuse to cover up caring what people think – bottomline. ‘she’s so lucky she can do that but I can’t!’ is…BS. You can do it like her, but you choose not to – cause you care what others think, therefore those women wear makeup.
I agree to some extent. However with a properly done make up you can change the shape of your face, you can “develop” cheekbones, correct the shape and size of your mouth and nose and so on. People with regular features and “normal” skin can go without make-up(see Alicia Keys), but I think about all the zits and Herpes sorts one can have and would venture that many feel free and empowered exactly because they can hide their flaws.
Agree Wren. It’s alllll about money as well. Advertising dictates to us how we’re supposed to look. Frankly, I’m sick of it. Stick it to the man!!!
“I don’t want to feel beholden to have to do it”
How I feel. I don’t want to have to do makeup to be considered ‘put together’. I resent having to spend a certain amount of money on products so that I can be considered ‘pretty’.
My partner does none of that. He definitely doesn’t wax, he didn’t even trim his body hair until I told him I’d stop grooming mine if he didn’t shape up.
I really just hate the double standard, and the cost, and the time.
On the other hand, I do like that I could cover my acne face when things got really bad. Guys tend to get a lot of flack if they want to experiment with makeup.
I don’t really like Alicia, and her skin is so beautiful it doesn’t matter if she’s wearing makeup, but I like that someone is talking about this.
Yes yes yes! The double standard kills me. Why isn’t it acceptable for all of us to look like ourselves? Why are men allowed to wander around with the face God gave them while women are expected to change theirs? Why don’t they all have to have black full eyelashes, unblemished monotone skin, and perfect hair?
Why are my husband’s razors cheaper than mine when he’s only expected to shave his face while I’m apparently supposed to be hairless from the nose down? Why is a swipe of deodorant all he needs to be “decent” while I’m expected to put on an entirely new face? Those dark under eye circles, so natural on him that nobody even notices, but on me generate so many “helpful suggestions” about how to cover them up.
Yes, I realize we have appearance standards for men, but they are a far cry from what is expected out of women. I hate being told, implicitly and explicitly, that I am not good enough, not pretty enough, not a complete person, without the enhancements deemed necessary by society.
@Wren: I agree with everything you wrote. Great post.
@Wren
+1000000 Everything Everything You Said!!!
No, my husband doesn’t have to wear makeup… but I’m also better looking than he is. And realistically, I want to look nice and pulled together for my job. 5 minutes to put on a little makeup in the morning goes a long way.
Granted, he actually shaves more often than I do. I can’t muster up the effort to care about it much.
Go, Wren, go! And all these expected extras while most of us, on the average, earn less than our male equals! And what about the fact that everthing costs more for women? Dry cleanings, haircuts, etc
Preach it sisters! These are my main issues with makeup and heels. Men are not expected to wear crippling (quite literally) footwear or “paint” their faces to even out skin tone or darken/thicken their eyelashes/eyebrows, etc. I think it’s changed a lot, because there was a time when women were expected to wear heels and even pantyhose in many professional work environments, BUT remember when women were kept out of events at The Cannes Film Festival if they weren’t wearing heels? After years of wearing heels, I now have problems with my achilles tendons that required physical therapy, and bunions that can only be fixed with surgery.
omg. do not even get me started on heels.
What utter nonsense that ACTUALLY SCREWS UP YOUR LEGS AND FEET FOREVER. As you noted your tendons can actually shorten in a way that makes you incapable of wearing flats. 100 years from now people will look at heels like they look at foot binding now.
I am also currently annoyed that all of the shorts they sell in my town are ‘too short’ for work.
Are you kidding me, that 98% of the shorts out there made for women are TOO SHORT for work. If you see my legs you will not die. I am just as capable of writing rejection letters in hot pants as I am long pants and I am 12 times more comfortable and therefore significantly less likely to be mean/truthful.
And my makeup literally melted off my face today, because it’s gross and humid and there is a heat warning and I’m sick of being a lady today.
For comparison, my director is currently wearing cargo shorts and a button down with velcro Tevas.
Detritus – I agree with everything you wrote, (except I like AK).
I would be more confident about going without makeup if I could afford the laser treatments that celebrities get to remove freckles and sunspots!
Isn’t she a former spokesperson for Proactiv? I’m glad to see she is feeling confident since I know how hard it is to grow up with acne.
Yes she was. Early in her career she had acne. Good point.
Also, are we going to be talking about this forever?
I don’t wear a lot of make-up (mainly because I don’t get how you put on eyeliner without it bleeding over your eyes), but if someone was willing to do the make-up for me I don’t think I’d necessarily mind wearing more of it either. When I see the Kardashians putting on their make-up themselves, I’m like “Whoa, I’m not willing to sit there and do that for an hour.” But when I see another celebrity getting their make-up done by a make-up artist, I’m like “Sure I can get behind that.”
I think my stance on make-up has more to do with me putting in the effort and spend so much time analyzing how I put it on rather than whether it makes me feel like myself or not. I wouldn’t mind looking “more glamorous” but I’m also afraid of looking like a clown if I attempt to do the make-up myself.
I get that, haha. It’s A LOT if you’re not really sure what you’re doing.
It’s rare that I don’t leave the house with at least a little makeup. I’ve watched a lot of youtube tutorials… and I’ve also googled makeup hacks to make things easier. I’m still not fantastic, but I can do a few things pretty well. But I don’t really stray out of those things either.
But I also look kind of deathly if I do NOTHING. Like… I’m super pale, and blue eyed with light-medium brown hair. I lucked out with dark lashes, but I look sickly when I don’t add a least a hint of blush or bronzer. I use a really light hand though, because I too am afraid of looking like a clown.
I started using brow gel/powder and holy, it makes a difference. My brows aren’t very full, and it just makes me look ‘done’ without any real effort. Other than that, I mostly will just use a foundation or concealer to even out some splotchyness, and I’ll put on a little shadow just to brighten up my eyes and mascara. I don’t spend more than 10 minutes most mornings.
I do use lipstick because that’s basically the easiest thing for me to apply. It’s kind of hard to go wrong with lipstick unless I pick a color that’s totally unsuitable. Nonetheless, I figure I could experiment with other lipstick colours if I actually knew how to properly do my eyes (the nude lipstick seems to go better with done-up movie star eyes).
My lashes are dark so that makes things easier for me, but I suppose if I didn’t have dark lashes I would have made sure how to learn to properly line my eyes. I do admire when other people do their eyes well though — it looks ind of “artistic” to me when done well.
I’m not actually anti-make-up but when you don’t wear much of it people assume that you are;: i’m just deathly afraid of getting things wrong and would rather have people think I look a bit plain or under the weather than have them think that I went out of my way to look like I plastered my face with Crayola. I do wish those Youtube tutorials had been around when I was a teenager though. I probably would have experimented with make-up more if I knew there was a “teacher” of sorts to guide me. I watch them from time to time and marvel at the precision. And I think I do like make-up for the “done” effect that it gives.
I love that she’s feeling confident in her own skin, on her own terms, but I can’t stand that going makeup free is this newsworthy?! Who the F cares?! I go makeup free everyday all day and have far from perfect skin. I have an infant at home and the older I get (30) the more I realize I don’t have to put on makeup for anyone but myself. There were days in high school I wore it because I was insecure with a zit or five, lol, but the same makeup I put on the zits actually made it worse. It took me YEARS and many dermatologists visits to realize I have crazy sensitive skin and that less is more. I guess the only way this is positive is that it shows youth females and males who feel like they need makeup, that they don’t. Shrugs.
Yeah, I think it’s a little weird that it’s news or that she has to proclaim she’s going make-up free.
If I go make-up free I just do it and go about my business rather than announce my intent to do so (though I’m not important enough for anyone to care even if I did).
It’s news because it’s against the norm, especially for a public figure. I wish it wasn’t news. It’s incredibly stupid. But it’s also unusual and contrary to societal expectations for a woman to be like “this is what I look like, deal with it”.
I don’t wear makeup either, for me it’s a worthless pain in the butt. But think about it, do you ever see a woman in the public sphere without makeup? Not regular women, though many won’t appear outside the front door without makeup, but public women, woman who stand up in front of crowds, who give speaches, who go on TV. Makeup, and a full face at that is the norm. So for such a woman to say “no, I don’t want to wear it” is extremely unusual, to the point of controversy. Again, stupid, but there it is.
When you are that naturally beautitiful,it is humblbragiing to go without makeup. It is. I know she means well. And she probably even THINKS she would go makeup free if she were a plain looking woman, but she’s not and never has been. Bless her heart. She means no harm. I, on the other hand need some concealer and mascara to not look like I eat a Walmart diet ( I don’t, i eat organically). I would love to go make up free. I……just can’t. She’s got great genes and youth,that it all.
Love your comment. So true, about the humble-bragging. Glad you called it–and nicely, too. It needed to be pointed out.
Great comment, perceptive
Well, as someone who used to suffer from Cystic Acne and the ice-pick scars it causes (just like Alicia did) I can see why she would be happy to go out makeup free because she could afford to have all of those laser skin-resurfacing treatments that cost over $1000/per session and require multiple sessions. Her skin looks NOTHING like it did when she first shot to stardom.
My skin is much better now, after only 4 treatments spaced out over several years (Derm says I should still go back for more) but I still have some minor scarring and I won’t go out without at least dusting on some Bareminerals powder foundation for that “airbrush” effect. Right now since it’s summer and my skin has a nice tan and glow I can forego the blush, but since I am a product of the 90’s pencil thin eyebrow era, my brows are decimated and I absolutely need to darken and thicken them out before I go out.
Also, during winter I am so pale I need to add the blush to my routine and some tinted Bareminerals, or else I look Jaundiced.
But good for Alicia. If i had access to the best derms, I would go out completely makeup free myself! And I personally am tired of all of the over -contouring, over-highlighting and layers of makeup I see many women over doing on a regular basis. (I call it the Kardashian effect since it seems to have really taken off with them)
I think makeup is great and some people take it to an artistic level which is glorious. Its just lately it’s become overkill.
I mean do you I guess. I personally love makeup and wear it all the time. If I’m just bumming around the house I at least do mascara, as I really do resemble a corpse without it. But really I wear makeup because I love it. I get two different beauty bags every month, I have drawers full of makeup. It’s my fun way of expressing myself I guess. I’m a pretty boring all black and neutrals wardrobe kind of gal, and makeup is how I experiment with color. But that’s just me. I don’t really care what other people are doing with their face
Makeup is a tool of oppression by the patriarchy. It was never designed to make a womun feel good about herself. She was always meant to decorate herself for a man. In Alicia’s case, the “man” would be the industry she’s in, which puts all kinds of limitations on a womun’s appearance – but never a male artist’s appearance. Good for her for sticking it to “the man”.
Meh, if you like using it, go for it.
I don’t wear makeup except lipstick basically because I am too lazy to wake up any earlier than I do, to apply makeup.The same applies to my hair.I am low maintenance
She should do whatever feels best for her.
But if she’s getting expensive skin treatments to get rid of acne (or to just make her skin look nicer in general) like most celebrities do, then it still seems she’s using something to enhance her appearance the way somebody who uses make-up does — we just call it something else, not necessarily make-up.
I saw old photos of her where she had marks on her face. Now she doesn’t. I wonder if she’d go without make-up now if her skin didn’t look as nice as it does now. This is just more of a philosophical question rather than judgment. Celebrities may go make-up free, but I’m uncertain as to whether any of them ever go completely enhancement-free.
My mood changes at times when it comes to fashion so I’m wondering if she’ll get bored with the no-make-up thing, and what the reaction will be like if and when she decides she wants to do something fun with make-up again. I feel like this is one of those pronouncements a person can easily go back on, not because of societal pressure, but simply because she’s still not old and she could possibly feel like changing things up once in a while in the future (she is a performer after all, and they seem to prefer change). So that’s where I think making a public pronouncement about not wearing make-up is, if not odd, could backfire a bit when she changes her mind and decides she feels like using some lipstick that day to deal with being bored of her current look.
Oh, she’ll get bored… LOL. It’s like when you go through a vampy/goth phase and then you go back to wearing your makeup in the Korean/Parisian style.
She still moisturises and wears sunscreen/SPF, though, right?
Because if she isn’t… Girrrl… SMH.
Every time I see her cover pic, I think it’s a flashback to the early 90’s. She looks that much younger. But also her styling is terribly dated.