Last year, Alicia Keys made waves by going make-up free.

She performed at sold-out shows, appeared in magazine photoshoots and on live TV wearing minimal to no make-up, something which is undisputedly a bold stance for a woman on a very public platform where women are intensely scrutinised over their appearance.

Explaining her decision, Keys said she was tired of the “constant judgement of women” and stressed how her decision was a personal one and unique to her own experiences and development. She did not condemn make-up as a whole or absolutely state that she would never so much as pick up a tube of mascara ever again.

So when her The Voice colleague Maroon 5’s Adam Levine decided to inspect her face and call her out when he noticed her applying some make-up, he felt the wrath of Keys.

“I joked around with her… she was putting on a little bit of make-up and I go, ‘Oh I thought Alicia doesn’t wear make-up,” he told The Howard Stern Show.

“And she’s like: ‘I do what the f*** I want.’ And I’m like, ‘I love you so much.’”

Inspiring body positivity quotes Show all 12 1 /12 Inspiring body positivity quotes Inspiring body positivity quotes Ashley Graham "And cellulite, I have not forgotten about you. I'm going to choose to love you even though you want to take over my whole bottom half. You're a part of me and I love you." Inspiring body positivity quotes Danielle Brooks "Sometimes I don't like what I see, but I have the power to change the way in which I relate to my body both physically and mentally." Inspiring body positivity quotes Iskra Lawrence "Stop comparing yourself to anybody else. The [pictures of] movie stars, even the Disney characters, that’s not real. That’s not attainable. You can’t be anybody else. You are you. You can’t be them. So you really just have to start embracing yourself and accepting so-called flaws that society has given the name ‘flaws’. It’s just our body, our patchwork quilt.” Inspiring body positivity quotes Beyoncé "The most alluring thing a woman can have is confidence." Getty Images Inspiring body positivity quotes Kate Winslet "Nobody is perfect. I just don't believe in perfection. But I do believe in saying, 'This is who I am and look at me not being perfect.' I'm proud of that." Getty Images Inspiring body positivity quotes Rihanna "You just want something that someone else has, but that doesn't mean what you have isn't beautiful, because people always want what you have and you always want what they have - no one is ever 100 per cent like, 'Yes, I'm the bomb-dot-com - from head-to-toe!" REUTERS Inspiring body positivity quotes Tess Holliday "Never compare yourself with others and celebrate what makes you, you." Inspiring body positivity quotes Demi Lovato "Instead of looking in the mirror and focusing on your flaws, look in the mirror and appreciate your best features... everyone has them." Inspiring body positivity quotes Kim Kardashian-West "See this little dimple of cellulite here? It was so worth it for that cookies 'n' cream ice cream!" Inspiring body positivity quotes Jennifer Lawrence "It should be illegal to call someone fat." Inspiring body positivity quotes Mindy Kaling "Insults about the way I look can’t be the thing that harms me and my heart the most. It has to harm me the least. If I have a daughter, I’m going to tell her that. Far too many women are much more hurt by being called fat or ugly than they are by being called not smart, or not a leader." Rex Features Inspiring body positivity quotes Selena Gomez "I’m learning that you can be comfortable and still look beautiful.” AFP/Getty Images

Keys previously clarified her stance after receiving criticism when she walked the red carpet of the MTV VMAs make-up free. Some just sent misogynistic comments her way while others decided to pit her against other women who do chose to wear make-up, missing Keys’ entire point that it is a woman’s choice what she does with her appearance.

“Y’all, me choosing to be make-up free doesn’t mean I’m anti-makeup. Do you!,” she wrote on Twitter. Her husband the producer Swizz Beatz also defended his wife on Instagram asking why people were “mad” at Keys given that her decision only affects her face and no one elses.

In June, Keys wrote an essay for Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner’s feminist newsletter Lenny explaining her decision to ditch the cosmetics. Describing the pressures she always felt to wear make-up and her fears that someone would see her on a day she decided not to, she finally went barefaced for a photo shoot where she felt “the strongest, most empowered, most free and most honestly beautiful I have ever felt”.

Loading....