Prince honoured at BET awards
Jesse Williams delivers impassioned speech and artists pay tribute to Prince at the BET awards.
PT0M42S 620 349Alicia Keys one upped the "#nomakeupselfie" by arriving to the BET Awards looking like she'd just enjoyed a deluxe, deep cleansing facial.
The singer - minus cosmetic help - attended the annual awards show, which celebrates African Americans and other minorities in music, acting, sports, and other fields of entertainment, and was applauded for her "bare-faced look" by red carpet commentators.
Keys is an advocate for the make-up free movement, an initiative she explained in an essay for Lena Dunham's Lenny publication.
Alicia Keys at the 2016 BET Awards. Photo: C Flanigan
"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," she said.
The 35-year-old, who also performed her new single In Common at the BET Awards, made the choice to stop wearing a full face of make-up when she posed fresh faced for her upcoming album's artwork after being encouraged by the photographer.
"I was shocked. Instantly, I became a bit nervous and slightly uncomfortable. My face was totally raw. I had on a sweatshirt! As far as I was concerned, this was my quick run-to-the-shoot-so-I-can-get-ready look, not the actual photo-shoot look. So I asked her, "Now?! Like right now? I want to be real, but this might be too real!!," she said.
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BET Awards 2016 red carpet
Before Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar lit up the BET Awards with their performance of 'Freedom', the red carpet was just as hot. Photo: David Livingston
"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."
Keys hopes her new look, which she credits to meditation for allowing her to focus on "clarity and a deeper knowing of myself" spurs 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."
