After one of the greatest nights of the year for the entertainment industry, people are talking about more than awards. There’s talk about the 60th Annual Grammy Awards’ fashion, romance, and performances; and rightfully so. Musical performances at the latest Grammys on January 28th, 2018 were unique, powerful, and packed with some of the most influential stars of the past and present.
One of these spectacular performances stood out above the rest, and not just for the music that blasted through to millions of people. When Kesha and Cyndi Lauper took the stage, it was hard not to notice the passion and impact behind their words. Kesha performed her first new music released in nearly 4 years, after a very hard and public battle with Dr. Luke over sexual assault allegations.
Alongside Kesha and Cyndi Lauper stood Andra Day, Julia Michaels, Bebe Rexha, Camila Cabello, and the Resistance Revival Chorus. Performing Kesha’s best-pop-solo-performance-nominated-song “Praying,” every single person in the audience could tell it was a show of emotions. Each member of the performance sang with extreme passion, dressed in a beautiful maze of white.
And when asked, Cyndi Lauper wasn’t ashamed to admit that this performance was “an act of sisterhood.” The women on the stage wanted to publicly show their opinion on the power-struggle between men and women from all over the world. Kesha and Lauper showed unity with their fellow woman, but also stresses that equality isn’t necessary simply for women. In Lauper’s words, “equality is good for men too.”
The performance of “Praying” showed a growing solidarity between women. These brave women wanted to put faces to the ever-sensitive issue of women’s rights and equality. And the audience received the message: “time’s up.” Showing that these issues don’t just happen in the entertainment industry, these women dressed in white to show that they are behind all women, everywhere.
Each viewer, whether in the audience or not, could feel the raw emotion and power behind this performance. Such passion and talent may be expected at a prestigious event such as The Grammys, but no one was expecting the impression that the “Praying” performance left behind. It is both refreshing and empowering to see such stars stand together in unity; in solidarity with millions of mistreated women all over the globe. It may be safe to say that Cyndi Lauper and Kesha ‘stole the show.’
