Host Alicia Keys had a few surprises up her sleeve at the 2019 Grammy awards tonight.
At the start of the show, the singer brought out some very special guests to help her talk about the importance of music in our lives. To help her drive her point home, she invited some famous friends from her A-list squad to the stage to make surprise appearances. The crowd went wild when Forever First Lady Michelle Obama, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga all walked out together and joined Keys on stage to speak about the role music has played in shaping their own stories.
“Do you feel that love in the building?” Keys, 38, asked the ladies. “This is love, this is living, this is light. And all because of music. Music is so powerful.”
Obama shared her own testimony and the crowd was on its feet as it gave her a standing ovation.
“From the Motown records I wore out on the south side to the who run the world songs that fueled me through this last decade, music has always helped me tell my story,” Obama said to the crowd. “And I know that’s true for everybody here, whether we like country or rap or rock, music helps us share ourselves, our dignity, our sorrows, our hopes and joys. It allows us to hear one another, to invite one another in. Music shows us that all of it matters, every story, every voice, every note, in every song. Is that right ladies?”
Pinkett-Smith, 47, and Keys stood side-by-side and shared a sweet gesture of true sisterhood on stage as they hugged. The Black girl magic-filled moment, which gave viewers at home all of the feels, was beautifully captured in this photo.
“We express our pain, power and progress through music, whether we’re creating it or just appreciating it,” Pinkett-Smith told the audience. “But here’s what I know. Every voice we hear deserves to be honored and respected.”
And, here’s what we know: the love and respect shared between these sisters is in abundance and it shows.
