Before creating her latest album, singer-songwriter Alicia Keys, 35, wrote a list of the things that bothered her about expectations placed on modern women.
“I realized that during this process, I wrote a lot of songs about masks filled with metaphors about hiding,” Keys explained in a recent piece for Lena Dunham’s Lenny Letter. “I needed these songs because I was really feeling those insecurities.”
In her track “When a Girl Can’t Be Herself,” the artist mentions ‘hiding’ underneath a face full of makeup within her lyrics: “In the morning from the minute that I wake up / What if I don’t want to put on all that makeup / Who says I must conceal what I’m made of / Maybe all this Maybelline is covering my self-esteem.”
Alicia admits that she was once spending too much time stressing about being ‘picture perfect’ all of the time while out in public. When a photographer requested to shoot Alicia with her all-natural look, the singer realized the photo made her feel empowered and free from her inhibitions.
Alicia has redefined her notion of “perfection” and we applaud her! There’s way too much pressure out there to fit an ideal made up by society— so find your own ‘you’ and rock it.