Here's why Alicia Keys is makeup-free at the VMAs
For those unaware, the singer has been makeup-free since May 2016.
Keys penned an essay in Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter explaining why she chose to go sans makeup, saying that she wasn't staying true to herself, and she also felt that women were judging each other based on appearances.
"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."
The Grammy-award winning artist is also joining as a judge on "The Voice" and is sticking to her makeup free stance.
Keys arrived at the photoshoot straight 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 ended up as the official artwork for Keys' song "In Common."
"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.