Take a hot minute, close your eyes, and imagine that you are waking up and going through your morning routine to the sweet smell of coffee. You get all dressed up, hop into your car and instead of driving to work, you find yourself at a drive-in Alicia Keys concert.
One special group of people does not have to close their eyes to imagine this is real.
On the morning of Thursday, September 17, this was the exciting reality for a group of essential workers in Brooklyn, New York.
According to Alicia Keys’s official Twitter account, the pop star gave a special performance this morning for a group of fans that has not stopped working for the greater good—even in pandemic times. The singer retweeted a video clip originally posted by the talk show Good Morning America, which showed the artist preparing to perform for essential workers.
“I’m honored to sing for them today and celebrate them,” Keys stated in the clip.
A New Type Of Concert
Keys’s performance, while touching, provided a solid reminder of the ways in which society has adjusted to the reality of the pandemic. Most pointedly, the show gave viewers an idea of what a concert looks like in the “new normal” of the twenty-first century.
In sharp contrast to Good Morning America’s crowds of visitors from all over the world, this episode featured a socially distanced concert.
Donning masks and—in some cases—hospital t-shirts, the employees selected to attend the concert wore clothing that would protect them from the possibility of contamination. Even more strikingly, the concert-goers were restrained to their cars. Each vehicle was placed at a distance of approximately three meters apart.
In spite of the differences, the audience seemed to be in high spirits, as members raised cheerleading pom-poms in the air and cheered Keys on.
A New Performance Strategy?
While the audience watched the concert under much tighter rules, Keys took the stage and performed as normal. The singer did not wear a mask during the course of the show and was even able to show off an interesting sense of style.
With her hair gelled back and a shiny white coat, Keys looked like she could very well be paying homage to the food workers she was celebrating. Only a large pair of buckle earrings revealed her superstar status.