The Grammys is considered to be the biggest event in music every year with performances from everyone’s favorite artists. This year, artists like Steve Lacy, Kim Petras, Sam Smith, Lizzo, Bad Bunny, and Harry Styles all had the chance to take the stage. However, some of the performances really stuck out to me and were my favorites of the night.

Starting off with Lizzo’s performance: I thought she really delivered the stage presence and vocals on this one. Wearing a stunning black dress, she and her dancers gave one of the most interesting and entertaining performances of the night. She sounded amazing while also giving a good show, and it was overall in my top three performances of the 2023 Grammys.

Next — and I think we all saw this one coming — was Harry Styles’ performance of “As It Was.” He performed on a spinning stage, while wearing a silver outfit with tinsel-like frills. Although being thrown off by the stage turning the wrong way, he definitely delivered a lot of energy and tried his best to not make it obvious. A lot may disagree with me on this, but he didn’t sound too bad (yes, I’m aware his starting note was off, but that was all). Overall, I thought he and his dancers conveyed a compelling story through the choreography, similar to the music video for “As It Was.” 

After Harry’s outstanding performance came Kim Petras and Sam Smith performing “Unholy.” While Sam and Kim were both dressed in red ensembles, the dancers were dressed in old white clothes and long black-haired wigs. Although an unsettling performance, they all did an amazing job with the choreography and vocals. The overall creepiness of it made me not be able to look away, partially because I was scared a demon would be next to me, but partially because it was so well executed. Even though I’m not a huge fan of the song, it was definitely a performance worth watching.

My final favorite performance of the night would have to be Steve Lacy performing his song “Bad Habit.” Wearing a leather suit with small gold accents, it also happened to be one of my favorite outfits of the 2023 Grammys. Despite being biased because “Bad Habit” is one of my favorite Steve Lacy songs, I thought the energy he gave during the performance was contagious, even through the screen of my TV. 

Overall, I thought this year’s Grammys was amazing. The performances were definitely well executed and looked so cool. Despite people thinking some of the awards were not fair, at least nobody slapped anybody at this award show! 

By Annie Maalouf ’26, Contributing Writer

26amaalouf@montroseschool.org