Alicia Keys’ “Blended Family” track has traveled through our sound-waves, and came alive on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show before Ms. Keys blessed us with the visuals Friday (Nov. 11). If the lyrics weren’t enough to take you inside the adoration she holds for her own blended family, “The Gospel” singer, with assistance from A$AP Rocky, allowed fans into their intermixed family experiences. They also highlight all the blended families in existence today.
The music video shows flashes of mixed race families of different sizes engaging in warm embraces with baby pictures resting on tabletops in the distance–painting a picture of belonging, bliss, and the feeling of home.
These are most likely the things that Keys sought in the building block stages of fusing her own family together. She seems to be speaking directly to Swizz Beatz’s son, Kaseem Jr., with ex-wife, Mashonda Tifrere.
The HERE artist reflects on the past and reassures listeners that despite the “little drama… in the paper,” she and Mashonda’s relationship is nothing to fret over. She goes on to proclaim that the adoration everyone in their family has for one another is “beautiful” and “perfect” as the group embraces each other with loving smiles on their faces in a cozy home setting redolent of a Sunday afternoon.
A$AP Rocky contributes by glorifying step-siblings and step-parents. Flacko reinforces the air of belonging by attributing the addition of non-blood siblings and parents to an abundance of love, claiming that he believes “love can bring us closer than blood.”
The visuals tie everything together, and assist in successfully portraying Keys’ vision and message. Whether you’re blood or the union of someone’s love brought you together, if the love resembles the portion of Keys’ hook, which says, “There ain’t nothing I won’t do for us,” your blended family is as valid as any other “normal” family as classified by society’s standards.
Watch the intimate video above.