Keys was also one of the Washington march’s key celebrity speakers, declaring: “We will not allow our bodies to be owned and controlled by men in government — or men anywhere, for that matter. We will not allow our compassionate souls to get stepped on. We want the best for all Americans — no hate, no bigotry, no Muslim registry. We value education, healthcare, and equality. We will continue to rise until our voices are heard, until our planet’s safety is not deferred, until our bombs stop dropping in other lands, until our dollar is the same dollar as a man’s.”
So as Keys returns to The Voice for her second season on Feb. 27, one has to wonder how she feels about Voice executive producer Mark Burnett’s longstanding friendship with President Trump — an allegiance that goes back more than a decade via another hit reality show, The Apprentice, on which Trump still has an executive producer credit. While Burnett released a statement last October that he has “never been a supporter of Donald Trump’s candidacy,” he did introduce Trump at this month’s National Prayer Breakfast, at which the president called Burnett a “special, special friend” and an “outstanding man.” (It was at that event that Trump jokingly — and controversially — suggested that everyone pray for the flagging ratings for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Celebrity Apprentice reboot.) Burnett also reportedly advised Trump regarding last month’s inauguration festivities.
Related: Mark Burnett’s Ties to Trump Put Him in Tricky Situation
Keys diplomatically declined to directly comment on Burnett and Trump’s relationship during a recent press event attended by Yahoo Music, but true to the junket’s “Feel the Love” Valentine’s theme, she eloquently made it clear that she plans to still use her art — and, no pun intended, her voice — to express her own truth and share her message of hope, healing, and inclusivity.
.@realDonaldTrump Americans are all colors, faiths, cultures & genders. We have voices. We refuse fear. We believe in the Dream. #WeAreHere
— Alicia Keys (@aliciakeys) January 20, 2017
“I think with artists it’s an obligation to paint the picture of the world,” Keys asserted. “We have to do that every opportunity that we get. We have to make people feel comfort. We have an obligation to give people other perspectives. And we echo what’s current — what’s happening around us. That’s the most important thing that we can do. So that’s my mission as an artist, and I will always do that.”
It should be noted that Keys did just that during her first stint on The Voice, on the live results show that aired the week after last November’s election, when the country’s emotions were running high. In one of the most memorable and moving moments of the entire season, she began singing her single a cappella, but then dramatically stopped and explained, “That’s my new song, ‘Blended Family,’ that I was supposed to sing tonight. But due to the current climate, there’s only one song I can sing, called ‘Holy War.’”
Keys then plaintively sang: “If war is holy and sex is obscene/We’ve got it twisted in this lucid dream/Baptized in boundaries, schooled in sin/Divided by difference, sexuality, and skin/Oh, so we can hate each other and fear each other… Oh, maybe we should love somebody/Oh, maybe we could care a little more/So maybe we should love somebody/Instead of polishing the bombs of holy war… We can heal each other and fill each other/We can break these walls between each other… ‘Cause peace and love ain’t so far/If we nurse our wounds before they scar.”
Keys’s “Holy War” guitar accompanist, Adam Levine — who performed the classic Buffalo Springfield protest anthem “For What It’s Worth” that same night — also refrained from commenting on the Burnett/Trump association, saying, “That’s a different interview. We’ll have that interview at some point, I promise. I have to collect my thoughts.”
Season 12 of The Voice, with Keys, Levine, Blake Shelton, and returning coach Gwen Stefani, along with guest advisors Celine Dion, John Legend, DJ Khaled, and Luke Bryan, premieres Feb. 27 on NBC.
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This article originally ran on Yahoo Music.