Alicia Keys and John Legend to celebrate Juneteenth with 'battle of the pianos' in Verzuz special edition
Verzuz is set to celebrate Juneteenth with a special edition featuring R&B icons Alicia Keys and John Legend. Juneteenth is an American holiday commemorating June 19, 1865, the day the last of the enslaved African Americans in the Confederacy were emancipated. The day, also called Freedom Day, Jubilee Day and Cel-Liberation Day, saw Union soldiers led by General Gordon Granger make their way to Galveston, Texas, to read out federal orders declaring the war was over and all who were enslaved were now free.
The day is celebrated in a variety of ways across the nation, but one of the most prominent ones is where former slaves and their descendants make a pilgrimage back to Galveston on June 19 every year. And this year, Verzuz is taking the celebration digital with its own special edition. Here's everything you need to know about the celebration.
Livestream date
The Alicia Keys vs John Legend Verzuz battle is set for Friday, June 19, starting at 8 pm ET.
What to expect
Verzuz is an Instagram Live series that stages "battles" between musicians. It began with producer Swizz Beats (Keys' husband) battling it out with Timbaland back in March and quickly became one of the most popular shows during the quarantine period. Since its inception, it has featured epic battles between T-Pain and Lil Jon, Ludacris and Nelly, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott, and Kirk Franklin and Fred Hammond, among many others.
The latest special edition is a "battle of the pianos" featuring two of the most celebrated artistes in modern R&B history, both of whom have highly-anticipated albums coming out this year. While Keys' album 'Alicia' has been indefinitely delayed amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Legend is set to drop his seventh studio album 'Bigger Love' on the day of the battle. That might give him the edge in this round, but Keys does have one of the most impressive catalogs in music history, meaning it'll still be quite the battle.
In a May radio interview with Nick Cannon, Legend shared that a piano duel between him and Keys would be "fire". Speaking about the Verzuz series he shared, "What I do love about the way it’s been going so far is we’re seeing producers and writers, more than just artistes. Because the producers and writers, what’s so cool about it, is you didn’t maybe know they produced this song, or know they were behind that. For us, for me and Alicia, you know it’s our song because we are the front person for them, we were on the radio singing them."
Fans are already gearing up for what is sure to be one of the best musical nights of the quarantine thus far. Some have even taken to dropping Keys a note, reminding her to check her internet connection: after all, no one wants a repeat of the infamous Babyface versus Teddy Riley battle that was marred by technical issues. In response to a tweet that read, "YO @aliciakeys & @johnlegend, call your internet providers NOW. Don’t sleep on this. Show em what fiberoptic excellence looks like. #verzuz," Keys, clearly amused, tweeted back, "got you, I swear!"
Where to stream
The Verzuz series is an Instagram Live battle that can be watched on either artiste's Instagram once they go live. If you've already picked your side, you can hop on either Keys or Legend's Instagram when they get their Juneteenth duel going.