On Jan. 26, 2020, music had its biggest and most anticipated night of the year. Unfortunately, basketball also unexpectedly had one of its biggest and most detrimental nights of the year too.
The Grammy winners are decided by The Recording Academy’s voting membership and are awarded by and to artists and technical professionals for their achievements, not sales or chart positions. Artists from Ariana Grande to Tyler, the Creator to Aerosmith were set to take the stage to perform, present, and rejoice in the honoring of monumental music. However, the unexpected and tragic death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant shook up everything in the pop culture world and impacted the course of the night.

This year, the 62nd annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the STAPLES Center of Los Angeles, CA. Coincidentally, the STAPLES Center is also the home of the LA Lakers that Bryant played shooting guard for for the entirety of his 20 year long career until his retirement in 2016.

Because of the impact he had, many attendees felt the need to address the tragedy throughout the night. Numerous artists such as Lizzo and The Jonas Brothers all withheld from any interviews on the Grammy red carpet in respect for Bryant and the eight other passengers death. Lizzo also opened the show with a dedication on behalf of everyone saying “Tonight is for Kobe” preceding her performance of “Cuz I Love You” followed by “Truth Hurts.”

Immediately following that, the host of the night for the second year in a row, Alecia Keys took the stage accompanied by Boyz ll Men with whom she tearfully gave her opening monologue where she said “we are all literally standing here heartbroken in the house the Kobe Bryant built.” The tributes to him did not cease after that, so with both of Bryant’s jerseys, #8 and #24, illuminated for the whole duration of the night, the long awaited award ceremony commenced.

The biggest rivalry of the night was undeniably between Lizzo and first time Grammy nominee Billie Eilish. Both women were up for some of the biggest awards of the night: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Best New Artist. However, the competition was not as close as some expected it to be. Eilish reigned supreme winning all four awards she was nominated against Lizzo for in addition to winning Best Pop Vocal Album, making her the youngest artist and first woman ever in Grammy history to win said awards at just 18 years old.
Another huge Grammy moment was Demi Lovato’s very emotional first performance back after two years of not performing. On Dec. 4 2019 Lovato posted to Instagram a black screen with the caption “The next time you hear from me, I’ll be singing…”

The announcement of Lovato as a performer left fans curious what she would sing since no music had been released from her in nearly two years. What she did sing came as a surprise to everyone.
She returned to the stage singing a brand new song titled “Anyone” that she released directly after debuting it onstage. It’s a song she recorded just four days prior to her near fatal overdose in 2018 and choked up by emotions, Lovato even had to restart her performance after being overtaken by emotions.

But not every performance was as somber as Lovato’s. Lil Nas X took the stage to perform his chart topping song “Old Town Road” with a culmination of major names in the game right now. He was joined on stage by BTS, Billy Ray Cyrus, Mason Ramsey, and Diplo in a high energy performance that followed his double win for Best Music Video and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for the song.

The Grammy stage also witnessed performances by Camila Cabello, Rosalia, The Jonas Brothers, Ariana Grande, Tyler, the Creator, and a collection of artists that sang a tribute to the late Nipsey Hussle. Presenters weren’t few or far between either. Ellen Degenerous, Ben Platt, and Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne were also featured onstage during the ceremony.
All in all, the night was nothing if not an emotional rollercoaster. Just as Keys said earlier in the night, “music is the most healing thing in the world. So let’s get some healing going on right now.”