The annual culmination of music and art, the 62nd GRAMMYs, took place January 26th, 2020 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. With many new strong music voices popping up this year, this year’s awards were a sight to behold, with fantastic performances and the 18-year-old Billie Eilish sweeping the show floor with six awards.

The show’s opener was Lizzo, this year’s most nominated artist, receiving a total of eight nominations and winning three of the awards. She performed the songs “Truth Hurts,” and “Cuz I Love You,” off her new album, named after the latter. Taking place only hours after the passing of Kobe Bryant, Lizzo dedicated her performance to Bryant, singing, “Tonight is for Kobe. I’m crying, because I love you.” With an outstanding orchestra addition, and a powerful flute solo, Lizzo kicked off the show with much needed energy considering the recent tragedy.

The show’s host, Alicia Keys, honored the passing of Bryant by saying, “Right now, Kobe and his daughter Gianna and all of those that have been tragically lost today are in our spirit. They’re in our hearts. They’re in our prayers. They’re in this building and I would like to ask everybody to take a moment and just hold them inside of you,” before welcoming the hip-hop trio Boyz II Men to stage to perform “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,” in his honor. During the entire show, the Recording Academy kept Bryant’s two jerseys placed in the Staples Center lit to honor him.

Promptly after, the award for Best Pop Solo Performance was given to Lizzo, for her song “Truth Hurts.” After this Usher and FKA Twigs, a nominee for Best Music Video, performed as a tribute to Prince who passed away almost 4 years ago, singing “Kiss.” Camila Cabello, another nominee, performed her touching, “First Man,” in an emotional performance dedicated to her father who was in the audience.

Tyler, The Creator came on stage with a spine-chilling performance of “New Magic Wand,” off his new album, Igor, which received album of the year that night as well. His performance was back-dropped by a burning cartoon-like city, and many backup dancers dressed exactly as Tyler. The performance ended with Tyler falling backwards off the stage as he sung his last verse.

Lil Nas X, made arguable the biggest song of the year, and the longest single ever on top of the Billboard Hot 100. “Old Town Road,” was brought together with a rotating stage and a total of 11 artists performing the song in all it’s different remixes and renditions. The song itself was nominated for three GRAMMYs, and won two. The Kobe Bryant memorial continued with a Kobe Bryant Lakers jersey on a chair on the set.

The real star of the GRAMMYs, was the 18- year-old Billie Eilish. She sang a stripped down performance of her song, “when the party’s over” with her brother and producer Finneas playing  backup piano, with the only other instrumentation being Eilish showing off her lovely vocal range. Besides her fantastic performance, her brother Finneas won Best Producer, Non-Classical as well as Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for Eilish’s debut album, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” Eilish herself took home five gramophones. She won the coveted Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year with her brother Finneas, and herself won Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, and arguably the highest honor at the show, Album Of The Year.