Strong feelings erupted when a photo showing the musician Spice with heavily bleached skin appeared on social media.

According to Capital Xtra, the musician posted the image on Instagram with the caption, "Nothing wrong with a fresh start."

View this post on Instagram

Nothing wrong with a fresh start. CLICK THE LINK IN MY BIO and pre order my mix tape it's ready for pre order today on all platforms. Pre order yours and tag me #Captured so i can post your support????

A post shared by Grace Hamilton (@spiceofficial) on Oct 22, 2018 at 10:56am PDT

Folks freaked out because Spice deleted all of her previous pictures, making a clean break with the past.

The overall mood was:

GIPHY

Yooo!! Lol wtf going on here? So spice wanted a fresh start so she bleached her skin?? Tf… #lhhh
#LHHATL ???????????? y'all tell me I'm not the only one seen the new Spice???? pic.twitter.com/Y88JfbgVsC

— Original Hellraiser (@HellSviLL) October 23, 2018

Spice really bleached her skin, I don’t wanna believe it pic.twitter.com/yyvLX1kNI6

— Aniya (@Aniya_Mich) October 23, 2018

I can’t believe what I’m seeing. Jamaican/ Dancehall rapper Spice really bleached her skin. Smh im so fucking disappointed pic.twitter.com/rUa5XwKvYJ

— Lynnie (@ElleSneaks) October 22, 2018

However, the artist, best known for her turn on Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, had an agenda all along. According to TMZ, Spice's rep confirmed the look was for a song on her upcoming mixtape, Captured. The song, called "Black Hypocrisy," discusses colorism.

So, yeah, everyone can put your mind at ease. Spice did not bleach her skin.

Me finding out Spice fake bleached her skin to talk about colorism. pic.twitter.com/MYGccBBGfr

— Erica B. ✨????????‍♀️ (@thEBlueIvy24) October 23, 2018

Spice’s fake skin bleaching to promote a single about colourism in the black/Jamaican community and music industry, is the best marketing strategy I’ve even. Her new single is already at number 1

— g² (@gikueno) October 23, 2018

The stunt seemed to have paid off for Spice, who celebrated her song hitting No. 1 on the U.S. and U.K. reggae charts on Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

Thank you @cvm_television and thanks to every single one who has pre ordered my Mix tape #Captured. My first single #Blackhypocrisy is #1 in the USA Reggae itunes chart and also #1 in the U.K Reggae itunes charts . THANK YOU ALL ????????????CLICK THE LINK IN MY BIO and watch the official video on my VEVO.

A post shared by Grace Hamilton (@spiceofficial) on Oct 23, 2018 at 10:30am PDT

The full video premiered Tuesday. In it, Spice addresses a group of black women, rallying them before taking to the streets to march proudly in support of dark skin. The video cuts between Spice in her natural skin and Spice with her skin lightened with make-up and sees the musician artfully lambasting those who have tried to impose Eurocentric beauty standards on people with black skin.

Check out the video below:

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Black Hypocrisy

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