Watch Alicia Keys and John Legend’s dueling piano battle to celebrate Juneteenth
Two famous singer-songwriter-pianists are going head-to-head in a dueling piano event, and we’re all the winners. Alicia Keys and John Legend will battle it out on their pianos on Instagram Live to celebrate Juneteenth this Friday. The live-stream performance is part of the series Verzuz, which kicked off in March as a way to entertain people at home during the coronavirus (COVID-19) quarantine. We know this is a battle, but honestly, how are we supposed to play favorites in this one?
Verzuz announced the Keys vs. Legend event on Instagram yesterday, June 14th, and commentators are already putting their bets on who will win.
“Let’s celebrate Juneteenth with a special edition,” it captioned the post, tagging Legend and Keys.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBYuy-Rj-Qb
The show goes live on June 19th at 8 p.m. EST. Both participating singers have already dubbed it the “battle of the pianos” on their social media feeds.
Celebrating Juneteenth with a special edition of #Verzuz! It's a battle of the pianos with me vs. @AliciaKeys this Friday, June 19th at 8ET/5PT @verzuzonline pic.twitter.com/uttjPbMKDd
— John Legend (@johnlegend) June 13, 2020
Battle of the 🎹 Juneteenth! 🖤🖤🖤
With my brother @johnlegend
6/19 8PM EST/5pm PST
👀👀👀💥💥💥@verzuzonline #Verzuz pic.twitter.com/9CDSr46aw0— Alicia Keys (@aliciakeys) June 13, 2020
In each episode, Verzuz stages beat battles between musicians and producers playing their hits, live-streamed from their respective homes. Past match-ups have included Ludacris vs. Nelly, and T-Pain vs. Lil Jon, and Jill Scott vs. Erykah Badu. No official winner is declared on the Instagram Live series, however, fans debate it out in the comments section during the event. The Keys vs. Legend debate has already begun.
“Fam, John legend is getting smoked. Alicia is different. She got hit hits,” one commenter wrote on the Verzuz Instagram post. “JOHN, hands down! NO DEBATE!!!!!” wrote another. A third noted that this matchup is pitch-perfect: “This is the 1! I been sayin ALICIA KEYS need to be in this but I couldn’t think of someone to put her up with. Alas, John Legend. This goin to be Epic. Will swizzie and chrissy make appearances?!?!?!”
“Swizzie” in that comment refers to Swizz Beatz, the hip-hop artist and producer, Keys’ husband, and one of the creators of Verzuz, along with Timbaland. “Chrissy,” aka Chrissy Teigen, has already made a cameo on at least one of her husband’s at-home concerts this year, so there’s a good chance she could appear for the Juneteeth show as well.
Tune into the Verzuz Instagram Live on Friday at 8 p.m. EST to watch Legend and Keys battle it out and cheer on your fave.
