Singer Alicia Keys took to her personal blog on Tuesday and revealed why she dressed like a tomboy at the beginning of her career and addressed those gay rumors and her struggles with femininity.
"For as long as I can remember, I've hidden myself," Keys wrote in her blog post, "A Revelation." "It might have started in school when I realized that I caught on to things a little quicker, and teachers started to show slight favor to me, or use me as an example. I remember feeling like my friends would make fun of me or look at me as if I was different from them and so... I started hiding."
Growing up in New York City, Keys got cat-called a lot as she walked down the street. This is why she initially started dressing like a "tomboy." "I definitely started hiding when I got old enough to walk down my NY streets alone. I started to notice a drastic difference in how men would relate to me if I had on jeans, or if I had on a skirt, or if my hair was done pretty," Keys wrote. "I didn't want to be talked to in that way, looked at in that way, whistled after, followed. And so I started hiding."
Keys also talked about how critics questioned her sexuality because of her look. "Because of the way I spoke or carried myself, people started calling me gay and hard and I wasn't gay, but I was hard and although I felt comfortable there, it made me uncomfortable that people were judging me and so slowly I hid that side of myself," Keys said.
In the blog post Keys explained how she overcame these struggles and revealed that she is done hiding. "Just the other day it hit me! OMG! Alicia!!! Why are you choosing to be that person?? That is so old and outdated!! STOP," the singer wrote.
"I don't have to try to go unnoticed. I don't have to fit in. I don't have to close up my thoughts and only speak my truth through songs," Keys concluded.
