Lizzo, Alicia Keys open Grammys 2020 with Kobe Bryant tribute

January 26, 2020


“Tonight is for Kobe!” shouted Lizzo, opening the 2020 Grammy Awards Sunday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony happened on the same day as Lakers legend Kobe Bryant shockingly died in a helicopter crash that also took the lives of his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others.

Looking respectfully elegant — wearing a black dress, no less — Lizzo, 31, sang the title track from her album “Cuz I Love You,” which had already claimed the prize for Best Urban Contemporary Album in the pre-telecast. “I’m cryin’ ’cause I love you,” she belted, giving new meaning to the lyrics on this grief-stricken night, making you wonder if she had originally planned to sing this song until Bryant’s death.

Lizzo was, as she sings in “Truth Hurts,” a “sad bitch.” After some ballerinas put a classical spin on her saucy image, Lizzo got into some of the the unbothered booty-shaking that she has become famous for when she performed “Truth Hurts” — topped off with some flute playing to let you know she is 100% not a one-trick bitch.

Host Alicia Keys, 39, then continued the Kobe tribute.

“To be honest with you, we’re all feeling crazy sadness right now because earlier today Los Angeles, America, and the whole wide world lost a hero,” said host Alicia Keys. “We’re literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built.”

“Right now, Kobe and his daughter Gianna and all those that have been tragically lost today are in our spirits, our heart, our prayers… their spirits are in this building,” continued Keys. I just want everyone to take a moment and hold them inside you.”

Keys was then joined by Boyz II Men for a rendition of “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday.”

But the show had to go on.

“We’re gonna sing together, laugh together, dance together,” said Keys.

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