Adam Levine arrived at the Breakthrough Prize Awards and Ceremony in Santa Monica, Calif., on April 18 with a clean-shaven face that made him look different at a glance and unmistakable to anyone who has followed his style over the years.
The 47-year-old singer attended the event with his wife, Behati Prinsloo, 37, and the pair posed together as he wore a suit with a light blue button-down shirt underneath and she chose a cool-toned brown silken dress. Levine and Prinsloo share three children: Dusty Rose, 9, Gio Grace, 8, and a 3-year-old son whose name has not been revealed.
The clean shave stood out because Levine is usually known for his signature stubble, a look that has long been part of the image he brings into public view. That fits a broader pattern. Stylist Matt Goldman said back in 2016 that Levine often texted him late at night with style ideas and liked experimenting with his appearance, adding that the singer could pull off more because he lives so much of his life on camera.
Levine has also spoken about feeling as if he was moving backward with age. When he turned 40, he said, “I feel like I’m Benjamin Button-ing,” and added that he felt “younger and less mature, better-looking and just overall more youthful.” He later joked, “Maybe I was born old!”
That lighter, more playful approach to image and identity matters now because Levine recently said he is returning to The Voice for its 30th season. The timing gives his fresh-faced appearance a little extra weight: the clean shave is not just a change for one night, but part of a public return that puts him back in front of a large television audience.
Goldman said Levine’s style changes usually come with a clear instinct for how far to push them. “When you’re in the public eye and on camera as much as Adam is, you actually can do more things,” he said. “Most people would be afraid of that, but he loves it.” He also recalled Levine sending a one-word text around midnight or calling with a new idea, then bringing back references from trips, including “these two Japanese Hawaiian shirts,” before deciding, “Cool, let’s do it the right way.”
For now, the clean-shaven look is the detail that lingers. It is a small shift, but in Levine’s case, small shifts have always been part of the story.
