Alicia Keys is on the cover of InStyle’s July 2020 issue and she talked about her twenties, saying she’d never go back to them!
She says, “I swear, I wouldn’t go back to being 20 if somebody paid me – it was literally the worst time ever. I wanted to fit in so desperately. I was so blind, so dependent on everybody else’s opinions, so uncomfortable, so unclear.”
She said that she didn’t have the confidence to express her feelings and thoughts back then. Even when her music career took off, she was doubting herself.
Growing up, I can totally relate. It took me a long time to be comfortable with who I am and be myself. Not feeling good enough has always been my weakness, and the older I get, the more I realize, half the people don’t even notice you as much as you think, and the other half just really don’t care. There is no greater feeling than finally being true to yourself and embracing who you are, it’s at that moment, when you feel like you can do anything. It took a long time to get to that point, but once you do, your life starts to shift in a positive way, it’s just a matter of getting there.
She talked about where she’s at now saying, “I’m coming to the place now where I’m able to live more fully in my skin, my imperfections, my feelings, which are so hard to access. Because we want to protect our heart, right? That’s what we’re all doing in some way. And I think my ability to access that place has brought a deeper connection to other people.”
Alicia also talked about the current issues in the world, COVID-19 and the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25 year old, unarmed black man who was fatally shot in Georgia while jogging, and was then approached by Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, who followed him in their truck.
She said, “You know, we do a really good job of judging each other and assuming who people are when we don’t even know them. To me, the most important thing we can do right now is take a second to see and appreciate each other as we are. I really believe that we are it – we are what we’re waiting for, what we’re looking for. The way we raise our kids, the way we choose to be with each other, the way we face the world – that is how things will start to shift.”
The issue will be available June 19th.
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