--- title: Alicia Keys Just Gave Us The Body-Positive Anthem We Need description: In her new album, "Here," Keys addresses the state of body positivity in today's society with the song "Girl Can't Be Herself." canonical: https://time.com/4558369/alicia-keys-album-body-positive/ author: Megan Lasher article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-04T16:22:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:46.625Z og:title: Alicia Keys Just Gave Us the Body-Positive Anthem We Need og:description: 'No disrespect to Maybelline' og:url: https://time.com/4558369/alicia-keys-album-body-positive/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6087f0defd2007c/6988ad07196cf47bc003dd72/alicia-keys-here-album-body-positive.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Alicia Keys Celebrates Upcoming New Album "HERE" With Special Show in Times Square og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Alicia Keys Just Gave Us the Body-Positive Anthem We Need twitter:description: 'No disrespect to Maybelline' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6087f0defd2007c/6988ad07196cf47bc003dd72/alicia-keys-here-album-body-positive.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Alicia Keys Just Gave Us the Body-Positive Anthem We Need > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=f968bbbc-747d-4408-b0c4-e796c2fa57ed&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher Nov 4, 2016 4:22 PM UTC  Alicia Keys performs in Times Square on October 9, 2016 in New York City. Alicia Keys performs in Times Square on October 9, 2016 in New York City. Gary Gershoff—Getty Images for Alicia Keys by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher Nov 4, 2016 4:22 PM UTC Singer and _The_ _Voice_ coach Alicia Keys has [made all of her recent public appearances makeup-free](http://motto.time.com/4470732/alicia-keys-vmas-2016-no-makeup/), embracing her natural beauty in the hopes of inspiring others to do the same. In [her new album, _Here_,](https://t.co/GifFMfuxHQ) Keys addresses this new look and reflects on the state of body positivity in today’s society with the song “Girl Can’t Be Herself.” “When a girl can’t be herself no more, I just wanna cry, I just wanna cry for the world,” Key sings in the chorus of the song. The first verse directly discusses her decision to stop wearing makeup: “In the morning from the minute that I wake up, what if I don’t want to put on all that make up? Who says I must conceal what I’m made of? Maybe all this Maybelline is covering my self-esteem.” Keys elaborated on this verse when [she teased the tune in ](http://www.lennyletter.com/style/a410/alicia-keys-time-to-uncover/)[Lenny](http://www.lennyletter.com/style/a410/alicia-keys-time-to-uncover/) this May. “No disrespect to Maybelline, the word just worked after the maybe. But the truth is … I was really starting to feel like that — that, as I am, I was not good enough for the world to see,” she wrote. “This started manifesting on many levels, and it was not healthy.” Earlier this year, Keys clarified that her makeup-free stance isn’t about getting rid of all makeup, it’s just about letting women be themselves. “I love makeup too, and it’s all good,” [Keys said during a TODAY show segment](http://motto.time.com/4519486/gabrielle-union-makeup-free-movement/). “It’s about how you feel, it’s about who you are, it’s about just being who you are and not letting anybody tell you who you should be.” As she wrote in Lenny, for her, no makeup means more freedom: “‘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.” Listen to the song below: ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4558369/alicia-keys-album-body-positive/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4558369/alicia-keys-album-body-positive/"},"headline":"Alicia Keys Just Gave Us the Body-Positive Anthem We Need","datePublished":"2016-11-04T16:22:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:46.625Z","description":"'No disrespect to Maybelline'","url":"https://time.com/4558369/alicia-keys-album-body-positive/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6087f0defd2007c/6988ad07196cf47bc003dd72/alicia-keys-here-album-body-positive.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Lasher","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6087f0defd2007c/6988ad07196cf47bc003dd72/alicia-keys-here-album-body-positive.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Alicia Keys Celebrates Upcoming New Album \"HERE\" With Special Show in Times Square","caption":"Alicia Keys performs in Times Square on October 9, 2016 in New York City.","creditText":"Gary Gershoff—Getty Images for Alicia Keys","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4558369/alicia-keys-album-body-positive/","name":"Alicia Keys Just Gave Us the Body-Positive Anthem We Need"}}]}] ```