Opening up for the Grammys, Lizzo, performed her song “Cuz I Love You” with the full ensemble. She slightly struggled to hit every note, but the performance had a great amount of energy. As the song progressed, the lights turned off, and the focus was made toward a girl performing a ballet piece. Her grace was evident as the soft music played in the background. As the beat dropped, Lizzo reappeared on stage with a change of dress, and began performing her song “Truth Hurts.” Her voice started off flat, but picked up later on as the intensity of the song built up. The highlight of the entire opening performance was the flute solo played by Lizzo towards the end. As the opening act finished, the audience cheered, clearly enjoying the performance.
Alicia Keys returned to host the Grammy once again. Clearly being the right choice as host, she started off her speech with giving tribute to the late basketball superstar, Kobe Bryant, and his daughter, Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, on their passing earlier today. The audience filled with tears and the sorrow on Key’s face was clearly noticeable.
“We’re literally heartbroken here in the house Kobe Bryant built.” Keys said.
She asks the audience for a moment of silence, and she perfectly sings “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday,” by Boyz II Men. Boyz II Men joined her on stage and sang the rest of the song. She mentions music is the one thing in the world that unites and heals people. She later introduced Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani to take the stage.
Their soft, yet powerful duet was accompanied by a full band. Shelton stole the spotlight of their duet with his intense voice. Stefani was not able to match the power of Shelton’s voice, but overall, the performance was very moving and emotive from the crowd as the audience was just given a speech on the late Kobe Bryant.
After the performance, Keys was sitting by the piano, where she described it to be her happy place. She spoke as she softly serenaded with melodies the crowd while delivering her speech on diversity, inclusiveness and celebrating the joys of music. She followed the speech with a little song, mentioning all of the upcoming performances and artists that attended the Grammys.
“Music is that one language that we all speak, it doesn’t matter where it’s from,” Keys said. “We all understand it.”
After the performance, Keys invited Billy Porter on the stage, who then invited the Jonas Brothers on stage. Their performance started with the trio, but was soon after joined by a jazz ensemble, to perform their song “What A Man Gotta Do.”
Commencing the performance, Keith Urban and Cynthia Erivo were brought on stage to present the first Grammy of the night, the best Pop Solo Performance, with the award going to Lizzo for her song “Truth Hurts.” She was noticeable happy and emotional as she delivered her speech.
Following Lizzo’s speech, Tyler, The Creator was welcomed on stage by television host, Trevor Noah. He kicked off his performance with his song “NEW MAGIC WAND.” With bright pink lights flashing for his performance, and his bleached mushroom cut Igor wig bobbing to his music, the energy for his performance set the stage on fire, literally!
Keys introduced Bebe Rexha and Shania Twain to present the Grammy for the Best Country Duo Group Performance, which was presented to Dan + Shay for their amazing song “Speechless.” The two were thrilled as they realized the award is now in their hands, as it was very well deserved.
Usher took the stage afterwards to perform “Little Red Corvette,” “When Doves Cry” and “Kiss” orginally sung by the late musician, Prince. Usher did a great job dancing and having energy on stage, but his voice was definitely not on par with what Prince sounded like, but overall, the performance was some-what enjoyable.
The next song, “My Oh My,” was performed by Camila Cabello in honor of father and daughter relationships. The emotional and beautiful piece left the audience in awe. Tanya Tucker took the stage following Cabello, performing her song “Bring My Flowers Now.” The pain in her voice and dedication to her song was clear, sending the crowed in awe, once again. Tucker then presented the following Grammy for Best Comedy Album, to Dave Chapelle. He was not present at the Grammys to receive his award.
Ben Platt then introduced Ariana Grande to the stage, to perform her songs “Imagine.” “7 rings,” and “thank u, next.” As always, her voice was perfectly on point, and the orchestra set the scene perfectly for her performance. The choreography was very music video-like, but lacked that wow-factor.
Following Grande, Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell, took the stage to performace the song “When The Party’s Over.” The soft performance sent chills through the crowd.
Common then took the stage to welcome Aerosmith on stage to perform “Livin’ On The Edge” followed by “Walk This Way,” Steven Tyler’s voice definitely does not sound the same as the album version, but nonetheless, the performance was amazing. Halfway through “Walk This Way,” Run-DMC joined the band on stage to perform the rest of “Walk This Way,” making it one of the best performances of the night.
Issa Rae took the stage to present the Grammy for the Best Rap Album to Tyler, The Creator, for his album Igor. His mother joined him up on stage as he received the award. Her pride in her son was evident through her tears of joy as Tyler, The Creator gave his speech.
Ellen DeGeneres brought Lil Nas X to perform “Old Town Road.” The rapper was joined on stage by BTS, Mason Ramsey, Nas and Billy Ray Cyrus to perform the song. The intensity of the song was amazing, and it was very unexpected to see Lil Nas X play the trumpet. It was refreshing to see several different musical acts perform the one song.
Greta Gerwig introduced Demi Lovato to sing “Anyone,” to the crowd. Lovato was clearly very emotional, as she had to restart the song without even finishing the first verse. The performance was not the best of the night, but it was very personal to Lovato as she has been struggling with inner demons throughout her musical career. The song was a cry for help, as it was written four days before she overdosed.
Ava Duvernay took the stage to introduce DJ Khaled, John Legend, YG, Roddy Rich, Kirk Franklin and Meek Mill to perform in honor of Nipsey Hussle. The entire crowd was dancing as the performance was beyond great. The choreography, the outfits and the energy from the performers was very pleasant to watch. This performance was more about honoring a legendary rapper and musician than entertaining the crowd, which made it one of the most memorable of the night. The performance ended with a picture of Nipsey Hussle and Kobe Bryant, side-by-side.
Alicia Keys took the stage once again to introduce Rosalia, who was the first act of the night to sing in another language besides English. Her outfit and the background music were very nice, but her voice was not on point tonight. The autotune used was over the top and it felt as if it were a mask to hide her vocals. The choreography felt as if it were not as powerful as it should have been.
Smokey Robinson and Little Big Town took the stage to present the Grammy for the Song Of The Year to Billie Eilish for her song “Bad Guy,” which was definitely well deserved for the young artist. Eilish brought her older brother on stage, to receive the award with her.
Alicia Keys performed her song “Underdog,” with refreshing choreography. Following her performance, Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osborne took the stage to present the Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Performance to DJ Khaled, John Legend, and late Nipsey Hussle, for the powerful song “Higher.” DJ Khaled dedicated the award to Nipsey Hussle and his family.
H.E.R left the audience in silence with her live performance of her song “Sometimes.” The highlight of her entire performance was her guitar solo nearing the end of her song. Bonnie Raitt performed after H.E.R, with her acoustic guitar. The very talented musician thanked John Prine and passed the stage to Gary Clark Jr. to perform his song “This Land.” The performance he gave was just as strong as the lyrics behind the music. All of the musicians who accompanied him on stage were just as talented. The stage was in flames from the heat and intensity of his performance and guitar solo.
Dua Lipa joined Alicia Keys to speak about the great women music producers, before announcing the Grammy award winner for the Best New Artist. As expected, the award was presented to Billie Eilish. Her hard work and talent has definitely payed off, as she consistently stayed in the spotlight the entire night.
John Legend stood in front of the mic to speak about Ken Ehrlich and his dedication to the Grammys for the past 40 years. With a powerful orchestra and in honor of music education, Camila Cabello was brought out to start “The Body Electric,”. Unfortunately, her voice was a little flat, but the performance was revived by The War and Treaty, Gary Clark Jr. and dancer, Misty Copeland.
LL Cool J brought his energy to the stage following the performance to announce the winner for the winner for the Album of the Year Grammy, which once again went to Billie Eilish, making this her third Grammy of the night! She was joined on stage by her older brother, Finneas O’Connell. He stated they didn’t write the album thinking they would win a Grammy, but in order to defeat the bad guy.
Alicia Keys once again took the stage to finish the night by announcing the Grammy winner for The Record of The Year, which went to Billie Eilish, making it the fourth Grammy in the night, the first artist to sweep the four major categories since Chris Cross did so in 1981! This is completely unbelievable as those two are the only two musicians to achieve such recognition, but at the same time, not too surprising. Her dedication to the craft and art of music is evident through her music and lyrics. As Eilish and O’Connell returned to the stage, with tears in their eyes, O’Connell thanked the crowd, ending the 62nd Grammy Awards.
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