It is a shame that Marie Claire is no longer available in print for many reasons, not the least of which is that surely this issue would have prompted a lot of grocery store check-out impulse buys! The cover is so pretty and also so striking; it’s truly an eye-catching portrait. If I were Alicia, I would have this one framed. Her three-quarter profile is gorgeous, which is not something I’ve truly ever thought about another person.
The profile features similarly striking photos, and is an interesting read. Did you know that Alicia and Swizz Beatz’s garage was used as a set in Iron Man? Because I did not and that is a prime piece of trivia. Alicia is promoting her new beauty line (does anyone NOT have a new beauty line? In fairness, her skin is gorgeous), but I thought this was an interesting piece and, although she is obviously operating with tons of money and help in her life, emotionally relatable:
Of course, during the pandemic, things were different. “Everybody was like, ‘Are you just so creative because you have all this time in the house?’” she remembers. “I was like, ‘No, actually. I do not feel like that at all.’ I didn’t even know how to work. What was I supposed to work on? Where was I supposed to work? And when? It was so much of making sure everything was organized and the kids were good.” Keys says that she tried to show up for herself, but fell short. “It was totally like, ‘I’m going to practice piano at 5 p.m. every day.’ I never practiced. This came up and that came up and you can’t hear and everybody’s loud and you can’t even.” Fortunately, though, she began to pick up an old habit. “I started to go back to stream-of-consciousness writing,” she says. “I was holding so much. You feel claustrophobic. The world is falling apart, and the government is shit and you’re like, What does anything mean? When I would be able to express those anxious feelings and say I’m falling apart, there would be room for things to come in.”
[Cover photo by: Yu Tsai]
