Alicia Keys delivers spell-binding rendition of Black Lives Matter-inspired track during virtual BET Awards

The moving song pays tribute to black people who have lost their lives in police custody in the States
Rachel McGrath29 June 2020
The Weekender

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Alicia Keys performed her latest song, Perfect Way To Die, for the first time during Sunday night’s virtual BET Awards.

The annual event celebrates celebrate black artists and sportspeople with winners this year including Lizzo, Michael B Jordan and Olympian Simone Biles.

The Grammy-winning 39-year-old previously explained that the track is inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and the black people who have lost their lives while in police custody in the United States.

Keys’ performance opened with shots of a tower block as police sirens could be heard in the distance.

BET Awards 2020 - In pictures

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It then cut to the star at a piano, as she delivered the powerful opening lines: “Simple walk to the corner store / Mama never thought she would be gettin' a call from the coroner / Said her son's been gunned down, been gunned down.”

Murals behind Keys featured George Floyd, whose death sparked the recent resurgence in the Black Lives Matter movement, and Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by police in her own home in early March.

At the end of the moving rendition, the camera panned around to reveal the names of black people who have lost their lives in chalk on the floor.

Explaining the track’s title, Keys previously said: “Of course there is no perfect way to die. This phrase doesn’t even make sense but that’s what makes the title so powerful and heartbreaking because so many have died unjustly.

“It’s written from the point of view of the mother whose child has been murdered because of the system of racism that looks at black life as unworthy.

“We all know none of these innocent lives should have been taken due to the culture of police violence.”

The politically-charged song was written and produced with Sebastian Cole.

It will feature on Keys’ upcoming album, Alicia, which will be released later this year.

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