The Most Major On-Stage Moments from This Year's Grammy Nominees

From Harry Styles to Taylor Swift, these 2023 Grammy nominees have had quite the year of epic performances

harry styles
Harry Styles. Photo: Rich Fury/MSG Entertainment

Music's biggest night is just around the corner, and these stars have come fully prepared.

On Feb. 5, some of the world's best-selling artists will come together to celebrate music at the 2023 Grammy Awards but for many of them, Sunday is the cherry on top of an already exciting year.

From Harry Styles selling out 15 nights at Madison Square Garden to Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar joining forces for the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show, here's a look back at some of this year's nominees' biggest performances of 2022.

Harry Styles at Madison Square Garden

Harry Styles had a banner year — literally — and at the 2023 Grammys, the 29-year-old star is up for six awards.

Over the summer, Styles sold out a 15-night residency at New York City's Madison Square Garden, transforming the arena each night into "Harry's House" — a nod to his most recent album.

The residency began on Aug. 20 — with a few nights off to fulfill promotional obligations for Don't Worry Darling and My Policeman — and closed out on Sept. 21 with a banner marking the milestone that now hangs in the rafters alongside similar ones for Billy Joel and Phish.

Styles was surprised by the gesture just before the show's encore on his final night. CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King hit the stage to do the honors and present the large blue-and-white banner to the Grammy winner.

In response, a clearly stunned and emotional Styles addressed the crowd.

"I just want to say from the bottom of my heart to each and every single one of you who came tonight… That's insane," he said, interrupting his own train of thought to comment on the banner. "To all of you who bought a ticket, thank you so, so much for your support. Things like this don't happen to people like me very often ... and I just want to thank you all. You've changed my life each and every single one of you thank you so, so much."

Styles then stopped and said a stunned, "S—," before telling the crowd that he would "come back here when everyone's gone and just sit and look at that for a while."

Ahead of Sunday's award ceremony, where Styles will also be performing, the singer rounded out his 15-night residency at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles after postponing three dates in November due to the flu.

On Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 — which was also Styles' 29th birthday — he brought his Harry's House show to the Acrisure Arena in Palms Springs.

Beyoncé in Dubai

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - JANUARY 18: In this image released on January 21, Beyoncé performs on stage at Dubai's newest luxury hotel, Atlantis The Royal on January 18, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Atlantis The Royal)
Kevin Mazur/Getty for Atlantis The Royal

After nearly four years, Beyoncé made her return to the stage in a big way.

On Jan. 21, Beyoncé performed an hour-long set at the new Atlantis The Royal Resort in Dubai. The last time she had taken the stage for a full performance was back in 2018 when she and husband JAY-Z appeared at the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 event.

The 28-time Grammy award winner, who is up for nine more awards at this year's ceremony, took the audience through her extensive catalog, performing songs like "Crazy in Love," "Beautiful Liar" and "Naughty Girl," as well as more recent tunes including "Freedom," "Spirit" and "Be Alive."

At one point during the show, Beyoncé was joined onstage by her daughter Blue Ivy Carter, 11, to perform their duet, "Brown Skin Girl."

She opened the show singing a cover of Etta James' "At Last" wearing a yellow custom-made Atelier Zuhra corseted dress, topped with a featured skirt and matching backpiece — just one of her many head-turning looks from the night.

Lizzo on President James Madison's Flute

While performing at the Capitol One arena in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 7, Lizzo made an un-president-ed addition to her setlist.

During her concert in the nation's capital, Lizzo played a few notes on a 220-year-old crystal flute once owned by former President James Madison.

The Library of Congress loaned the instrument to Lizzo, who said in a tweet that she was "the first and only person to play this presidential crystal flute."

The singer, who is nominated for five awards at Sunday's ceremony and is also set to perform, shared two videos from the moment on Instagram.

"It's crystal, it's like playing out of a wine glass, bitch, so be patient," she said in the video as she was presented with the flute and prepared to play.

"Bitch, I just twerked and played James Madison's crystal flute from the 1800s. We just made history tonight!" she continued, after handing the instrument back. "Thank you to the Library of Congress for preserving our history and making history f---ing cool! History is f---ing cool, you guys!"

Adele in Hyde Park

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 01: Adele performs on stage as American Express present BST Hyde Park in Hyde Park on July 01, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Adele)
Adele. Gareth Cattermole/Getty for Adele

Adele's first big performance of 2022 came as she took the stage in front of 65,000 fans at the British Summer Time Hyde Park festival on July 2.

The show marked her first time performing for a public audience in five years, though she had graced fans with her televised concert special, An Audience with Adele and Adele One Night Only in November 2021 after releasing her album, 30.

During her triumphant return, the 15-time Grammy winner — who is up for seven more awards this year — stopped the show multiple times to check on fans in distress. In a clip shared on Twitter, Adele was seen telling her band to stop playing and walked toward the front of the stage to point out concertgoers to security.

The next night, Adele returned to the venue for another performance and in a post to Instagram about the festival, the singer shared how special the event was for her.

"My heart is absolutely full!! I'll never forget these shows with you, slap bang in the middle of London, outdoors, during Pride weekend!" she wrote in a post featuring photos from the second night of the festival. "You brought everything and more!"

Later in 2022, the singer kicked off her Weekends with Adele Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace after previously postponing the series of shows due to challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bad Bunny at a Gas Station in Puerto Rico

Just as 2022 was about to come to an end, Bad Bunny left his fans with a surprise performance they wouldn't soon forget.

After handing out more than 25,000 presents to fans of all ages at his Good Bunny Foundation's Bonita Tradición gift drive at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente Walker in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Dec. 22, the musician held an impromptu free concert — on top of a local gas station.

The 28-year-old Grammy winner, who is up for three awards this year and is set to perform at Sunday's ceremony, was filming part of a music video for his single "La Jumpa" with rapper Arcángel in Puerto Rico's Calle Loíza neighborhood when a large crowd began to form.

Bad Bunny (born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) then surprised the fans with several songs, including "Gato de Noche," "Efecto," "Me Porto Bonito" and "El Apagón," according to videos shared via social media.

The party kept going into the night as he later delivered another performance at the nightclub Fifty Eight while shooting more of the "La Jumpa" music video.

Taylor Swift at Tribeca Film Festival

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Elise Ryan/AP/Shutterstock (12982638b) Singer Taylor Swift performs her song "All Too Well" after discussing her short film "All Too Well: The Short Film," at the Tribeca Festival, in New York Film Taylor Swift, New York, United States - 11 Jun 2022
Elise Ryan/AP/Shutterstock

Taylor Swift has had a record 18 months, from releasing a brand-new album in October, to making a guest appearance in a feature film, to directing a short film for the highly anticipated 10-minute version of a song released nearly a decade prior.

"All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film)" is nominated for song of the year at this year's ceremony and its visual counterpart, ​​All Too Well: The Short Film, is up for music video of the year.

While Swift, who is nominated for an additional two awards this year for other work, won't kick off her record-breaking tour until March, she has shared some special performances with her fans in recent months.

In June, during New York City's Tribeca Film Festival, Swift held a screening of her short film at the Beacon Theater. In addition to showing the clip, and participating in a Q&A with director Mike Mills in which she talked about gaining more experience as a director, she also surprised the audience with a live performance of the song itself.

After Mills and her film's stars, Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien, left the stage, the singer picked up a guitar and sang the 10-minute song, Vogue reported.

Jack Harlow at the 2022 VMAs

Jack Harlow kicked off the 2022 VMAs in a way that can only be described as "fergalicious."

To start the show, the rapper hit the stage to perform his song "First Class" from an airplane set. Harlow, who was dressed as a flight attendant, was surrounded by seated celebrity "passengers" including Lil Nas X, Avril Lavigne, Chloe Bailey, Jimmy Fallon, Saucy Santana and Becky G.

The song, which was released in April 2022 ahead of Harlow's sophomore album Come Home the Kids Miss You, heavily samples the instrumental, chorus and "If you ain't got no money, take yo' broke ass home" ad-lib from Fergie's 2006 hit "Glamorous."

After Harlow, who is nominated for three Grammy awards this year, moved to the show's main stage, he was joined on stage by Fergie herself.

Wearing a metallic silver skirt and top printed with "FIRST CLASS" in red stamp font, the former Black Eyed Peas vocalist entered the stage to perform "Glamorous," with Harlow, who shouted out some of the song's lyrics.

Brandi Carlile at the Newport Folk Festival

Brandi Carlile introduces Joni Mitchell for a special Joni Jam at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival at Fort Adams State Park on July 24, 2022.
Joni Mitchell and Brandi Carlile. Carlin Stiehl for The Boston Globe via Getty

After more than two decades, it was Brandi Carlile who got legendary singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell to return to the stage.

During the 2022 Newport Folk Festival, Mitchell joined Carlile, who is nominated for seven Grammy awards this year, Wynonna Judd, Allison Russell and Marcus Mumford on stage for a surprise appearance — her first full set performance in more than 20 years.

She sang 13 songs including "A Case of You," "Both Sides Now" and "Big Yellow Taxi."

In an essay for U.K. outlet The Times, Carlile explained how the historic performance came to be, writing that Mitchell agreed to perform at the festival after they attended the 2022 Grammys and the Recording Academy's charity MusiCares' concert thrown in Mitchell's honor.

"But the agreement was very much that we'll just sit around in a circle and play the songs, like we always do at the Joni Jams. Sometimes Joni sings, and sometimes she doesn't want to," she wrote.

She wrote that Mitchell developed some apprehension ahead of the performance but that the two were able to talk it through. "We had one of the best conversations we've ever had," she wrote.

She continued, "[Mitchell] said, 'I get the spirit of it now. We will just sit there and look at the water and sing.' And after that if she was apprehensive in any way, we didn't know it. I don't know if it will ever happen again. I just know that I will follow her everywhere she goes."

Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl Halftime Show

Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, and Snoop Dogg
Gregory Shamus/Getty

In 2022, nine-time Grammy winner Mary J. Blige and 14-time winner Kendrick Lamar performed in one of the most talked-about moments of the year: the Super Bowl Halftime Show.

Blige, who is performing at Sunday's ceremony and is nominated for six awards, belted out her 2001 hits "Family Affair" and "No More Drama" dressed in a glittering cheetah-print ensemble featuring booty shorts and thigh-high, high-heeled boots — made custom by Dundas.

Later it was Lamar's turn. Surrounded by men in black suits with bleached hair and wearing sashes reading "Dre Day," the Pulitzer Prize winner, who is nominated for eight awards this year, performed his hit "Alright."

The performance was an epic collection of songs from Lamar, Blige, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Dr. Dre, who was headlining the show.

Måneskin at the 2022 VMAs

Måneskin's 2022 VMA performance left audiences with quite the impression of the 2023 Grammy nominees.

While the Italian band was performing their song "Supermodel," bassist Victoria De Angelis' glittering black top fell off her shoulder, exposing her breast. MTV censored the performance for viewers at home, though lead singer Damiano David's backless chaps kept the audience at Newark, New Jersey's Prudential Center distracted.

Despite the wardrobe malfunction, De Angelis kept playing with her top around her waist.

The band — which includes De Angelis, David, Ethan Torchio and Thomas Raggi — won Eurovision in 2021, and is nominated for best new artist at Sunday's ceremony,

Coldplay at Metlife Stadium

While performing in New Jersey as part of their Music of the Spheres world tour this summer, Coldplay was joined onstage by the Garden State's pride and joy.

The British rockers, who are up for three awards this year, surprised the crowd at MetLife Stadium with an appearance by Bruce Springsteen, who joined frontman Chris Martin for "Working on a Dream" and "Dancing in the Dark."

"I have a tattoo on my arm, which is cause this person is my hero," Martin said. "And please welcome — I can't believe we get to say it — but please welcome Mr. Bruce Springsteen."

"Thank you! Hello New Jersey!" Springsteen said over the cheers. "Like Chris said, he's had this song tattooed on his arm for a while, so I guess I gotta sing it.

The two then began "Working on a Dream."

"Go ahead, kid! C'mon Chris!" Springsteen said as Martin hit falsetto notes in the iconic tune.

The 2023 Grammy Awards will broadcast live on Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS from the Crypto.com Arena.

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