Grammys 2020: The best performances that won the night

Now that the final notes of Grammys 2020 have been sounded — after a long ceremony that stretched to almost four hours at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, January 26 — it’s time to rewind and replay the best musical moments that we’ll remember from the 62nd annual edition of music’s biggest night.

Here, we look back at the performers who won the evening.

Lizzo’s show opener

“Tonight is for Kobe!” shouted Lizzo to open the 62nd annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles — the professional home of LA Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, who shockingly died in a helicopter crash just hours before.

Looking respectfully elegant in black, Lizzo sang the title track of her album “Cuz I Love You,” which had already claimed the prize for Best Urban Contemporary Album before the telecast.

“I’m cryin’ ’cause I love you,” she belted, giving new meaning to the lyrics on this grief-stricken night and making you wonder if she had originally planned to sing this song.

After some ballerinas put a classical spin on her saucy image, Lizzo got into some of the unbothered booty-shaking that she has become famous for — performing “Truth Hurts” complete with flute playing to let you know she isn’t a one-trick show pony.

Alicia Keys and Boyz II Men say goodbye to Kobe

“We’re also in crazy sadness right now,” said Alicia Keys, hosting the show for a second year in a row. It was, if anything, an understatement. “The whole wide world lost a hero,” she said to the crowd at the Staples Center, which she rightfully described as “the house that Kobe built.”

She then launched into an a-cappella version of “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” before being joined by Boyz II Men. As a last-minute tribute put together only hours after Bryant died in a helicopter crash, it was simple, and simply poignant.

Tyler, the Creator with Boyz II Men and Charlie Wilson

The Grammys are known for WTF collaborative moments, but they can be hit or miss.

When old-soul soul men Charlie Wilson and Boyz II Men — making their second appearance of the night — joined hip-hop iconoclast Tyler, the Creator on the stage to perform “New Magic Wand” from his “Igor” album (which won Best Rap Album), it was a bizarre mash-up of styles that somehow worked.

Musically and visually, it certainly allowed Tyler, the Creator to shake up any old fogies watching.

Billie Eilish’s spooky cool

The biggest narrative in the Big Four categories — Album, Record and Song of the Year, plus Best New Artist — was the diva showdown between Lizzo and Billie Eilish.

But while Lizzo has been putting herself all the way out there, literally and figuratively, Eilish has remained shrouded in mystery. So when she did a stripped-down version of the haunting “When the Party’s Over,” backed by her producer brother Finneas, it was a chance to really see who this 18-year-old is — slime-green hair and all.

Raw and emotional, her performance made you see exactly what real talent is without any dancers, sets or gimmicks.

Lil Nas X meets Nas

From a prop-heavy living-room set to outlandish outfits to BTS, there was a whole lot going on in Lil Nas X’s set-shifting, guest-heavy performance of his smash “Old Town Road.”

By the time his ace sidekick Billy Ray Cyrus hit the stage, he was almost an afterthought. But the real star of this show was the original Nas, who joined his 20-year-old namesake onstage to show the kid how it’s done.

Looking like the rap boss that he is in all white and gold chain, Nas — who has shockingly never won a Grammy despite 13 nominations — brought real hip-hop all the way from the New York streets.

Little Big Town’s Smokey harmonies

When Motown legend Smokey Robinson joined the “Girl Crush” country-pop quartet to present Song of the Year, they practically stole the show from the winner — a very deserving Billie Eilish for “Bad Guy” — with their a-cappella rendition of Robinson’s ’60s classic “My Girl.” It was the kind of cool, off-the-cuff moment that showed what true Grammy harmony is all about.

Viva Rosalía

Twenty-one years after Ricky Martin had the world going “olé olé olé” with his show-stopping Grammys performance of “The Cup of Life,” another Latin star — Spanish sensation Rosalía — announced her arrival on the stage with a muy caliente medley of “Con Altura” and “Malamente.” She’d already picked up a Grammy (Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album for “El Mal Querer”) earlier in the evening, but this performance was the real win for her.

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