Nontraditional Families Take Front And Center In New Alicia Keys/A$AP Rocky Video

Are you this real, my true love?

by Lisa Eppich

How about a little love and unity right now, yeah? Alicia Keys and A$AP Rocky have managed to give you both your weekend jam and your weekend cry with their new "Blended Family (What You Do for Love)" video, which highlights the love and connection between families of all shapes, sizes, colors, situations, and orientations. Although the song was released as the first single off of Keys' new album, Here, back in October, the video dropped just yesterday, and is definitely the spark we needed to start the weekend off right.

The visual is shot in simple black and white and shows moms, dad, kids, and grandparents all getting together and spending time with one another. Keys also included shots of her blended family with Swizz Beatz, with whom she has two children and three step-children. For the cold at heart it might come off as a bit schmaltzy, but for those of us who need an overdose of the warm fuzzies right about now, it's incredibly heartwarming. Plus, the song acknowledges that not everything is always as picture-perfect as the video suggests.

Keys repeatedly sings "I know how hard it gets/ But I swear it's worth it, worth it," directly addressing that drama can be painful for kids, especially when you're a public figure and the whole world knows everything about you. Really, it's a song of comfort from parent to child and a reassertion that no matter what happens they'll all stick together. A little something our large blended nation could do with hearing, too.

Check out the full video above.

(Via The Fader)