Here's why Alicia Keys is going makeup-free on 'The Voice'
Keys - who joins Miley Cyrus as the first two female coaches simultaneously appearing on the show - has famously been makeup-free since May 2016.
The Grammy-award winning artist penned an essay in Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter explaining why she chose to go sans makeup.
She wrote that she had begun to conceal herself behind the makeup and felt that women were judging each other based on physical appearances. She began to write songs that reflected these ideas.
"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???" she wrote. "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."
Keys had arrived at the photoshoot fresh from the gym when Kudacki told her she needed to take the photos right away, because Keys appeared "raw," just like her songs.
"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," Keys wrote. "And I swear it is the strongest, most empowered, most free, and most honestly beautiful that I have ever felt."
The photo was used as the official artwork for Keys' song "In Common," and after that, she fully embraced the #nomakeup lifestyle.
"I hope to God it's a revolution. 'Cause I don't want to cover up anymore," Keys wrote. "Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing."
Other celebrities such as Adele and Mila Kunis have also publicly embraced the makeup-free look.
Catch Keys on "The Voice" when season 11 premieres September 19 on NBC.