The Definitive Moment That Made Alicia Keys Say Goodbye to Makeup

By Nicole Yi

More and more celebrities have been flaunting their natural beauty and embracing imperfections with makeup-free selfies. The newest member of this #nomakeup crew is 15-time Grammy-winning artist Alicia Keys. And the reason she's no longer hiding is so damn inspiring.

In a recent Lenny Letter post, the 35-year-old talked about the insecurities and pressures she and all women have felt since a young age. We strive to achieve perfection by covering up our imperfections, which Alicia described as "hiding a piece of who you are in order to fit into a picture." She also mentions that moment many of us experienced — when you compared yourself to those "pretty" girls in middle school who seemed to just have the whole makeup thing down. But those comparisons don't stop there.

Alicia says that she was seen as masculine and too tough when she first started out in the industry and has been conforming to the public's standards ever since. But shooting her new album cover was the definitive moment that made her feel empowered enough to accept herself, flaws and all. Keep scrolling for more quotes that explain her breakthrough.

"One of the many things I was tired of was the constant judgment of women. The constant stereotyping through every medium that makes us feel like being a normal size is not normal, and heaven forbid if you're plus-size."

"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??? 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."

"It wasn't until I walked into one of my first shoots for my new album recently that the issue was front and center again. I'd just come from the gym, had a scarf under my baseball cap, and the beautiful photographer Paola (never met a Paola I didn't like) said, 'I have to shoot you right now, like this! The music is raw and real, and these photos have to be too!'"

"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. And I swear it is the strongest, most empowered, most free, and most honestly beautiful that I have ever felt."

"I hope to God it's a revolution. 'Cause I don't want to cover up anymore. Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing."