Adam Levine and Alicia Keys just drip with mutual admiration and respect as coaches on The Voice. Keys is forever telling contestants that Levine will do a terrific job as their mentor and Levine communicates a profound reverence for Keys whenever he utters her name. He’ll lose a contestant to Keys and explain the reason succinctly: “She’s Alicia Keys,” Levine says, as if that explains everything. So on Howard Stern‘s show, when Levine revealed that he “caught” Alicia Keys putting on makeup before the show, he wasn’t taunting Keys — a feminist icon. But since Keys had just written an editorial about how free and beautiful she felt without makeup, Levine’s reveal seemed to expose some hypocrisy — at least to those who look for it everywhere. (Keys wrote on being without makeup: “I swear it is the strongest, most empowered, most free, and most honestly beautiful that I have ever felt…I don’t want to cover up anymore.”)
When jokingly chastised by Levine, Keys reportedly replied,”I do what the f%#* I want.” Amen. But some people just won’t let it go. Alicia Keys does what she wants and she’s earned it. So should everybody. Makeup one day, none the next. Up to you. The problem some people have is that if she’s going to wear it, Keys shouldn’t tell people she doesn’t. That confuses all the young folks following her — at least that’s what’s alleged. Over at Jezebel it comes down to “you can’t argue with the truth” for the excellent writer Kara Brown (who is obviously ignoring Donald Trump!). Brown says of Keys that she’s “the one who made it a whole f%#*ing thing.” You can just hear Howard Stern the instigator chuckling in the background, having done his job, as Brown continues:
“If you don’t want people pointing out your hypocrisy, maybe don’t run around acting like you’re not wearing makeup and then allow your makeup artist to give interviews detailing the makeup you put on your face.”
