Michelle Obama has the audience in tears at The Grammys (2024)

With show-stopping performances, incredible medleys, and even Alicia Keys playing two pianos at the same time, this year's Grammys is already winning plenty of praise from the audience and Twitter alike.

But no moment won more applause then when Michelle Obama surprised everyone at the start.

The former First Lady stunned the star-studded audience as she walked onto the stage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

Fans were screaming and blowing kisses to Michelle as she smiled before saying 'We've got a show to do!' and began laughing with her co-presenters.

Michelle absolutely sparkled as she stood alongside Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Keys to discuss how music has always helped her tell her story.

'From the Motown records that I wore out on the Southside, to the Who Run The World songs that fueled me through this last decade, music has always helped me tell my story and I know that's true for everyone here,' Michelle said, throwing in a quick tribute to Beyonce as the audience went wild.

'Music helps us share ourselves, our dignity and sorrows, our hopes our joys,' she continued.

'It allows us to hear one another - to invite each other in. Music shows us that all of it matters...every story within every voice, every note within every song.'

Michelle walked onto the stage in a dazzling Sachin & Babi outfit that featured a billowing silver blouse with matching slacks and a sparkling belt wrapped above her hips.

Before surprising the audience with Michelle, Alicia began her monologue by paying tribute to music.

'Music is what we all love, music is what it's all about,' she said. 'Everybody is out here shining and I'm so proud to bring us together to honor this moment because music is what we cry to, it's what we march to, it's what we rock to, it's what we make love to. It's our shared global language.'

'It's our shared global language, and when you really want to say something, you say it with a song, am I right? Or am I right?'

'So, let's just be honest. This is a celebration, and y'all didn't think I was coming out here by myself, did you? Please, can I bring some of my sisters out here tonight?'

After Keys' incredible line-up of co-presenters was revealed, she asked Lady Gaga to 'tell them what it is'.

'They said I was weird. That my look, my choices, my sound that it wouldn't work,' she said.

'But music told me not to listen to them. Music took my ears, took my hands, my voice and my soul and it led me to all of you and to my little monsters who I love so much.'

Lopez revealed that music gave her a 'reason to dance' while growing up in the Bronx.

'From Hip-Hop to freestyle, pop, soul and salsa. And it kept me moving and it kept me moving from the block to the big stages and even bigger screens,' she continued.

'It reminds me where I come from, but it also reminds me of all the places I can go. Music has always been the one place we can all feel truly free.'

Jada Pinkett Smith discussed how music acts as a window to the different lives that are lived around the globe.

'We express our pain, power and progress through our music whether we're creating it or just appreciating it,' she said. But here's what I know: every voice we hear deserves to be honored and respected.'

Michelle later took to Twitter following her appearance to pay tribute to Alicia Keys and share a photo of herself with her co-presenters backstage.

'A big part of friendship is showing up for your girls - that's why I was thrilled to be there for the one and only @aliciakeys at the #GRAMMYs,' she wrote.

'She is one of the most genuine and thoughtful people I know - there's no one better to help us all celebrate the unifying power of music.'

And it was an incredible night of celebrating not only music but women in the music industry as Cardi B, Kacey Musgraves, and Lady Gaga took many of the biggest honors of the night.

Cardi, 26, made history as she became the first ever solo woman to take home Best Rap Album for Invasion Of Privacy at the gala event held in Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Cardi looked absolutely stunned as she won in the male-dominated category beating out Pusha-T, Travis Scott, Nipsey Hussle, and the late Mac Miller.

'Oh, the nerves are so bad,' she said as she took to the podium to accept her award with husband Offset. 'Maybe I need to start smoking weed!' she joked.

Cardi's big win was followed by 30-year-old Musgraves, who shocked many as she took home Album of the Year, considered the biggest award of the night.

'I don't even know what to say,' Musgraves said. 'I am very thankful. Winning doesn't make my album any better than anybody else in that category.'

Musgraves led the field with the most Grammys on the night.She also won three of the four country awards at the ceremony, including Best Country Album for the critically-acclaimed Golden Hour.

She also won Best Country Solo Performance for her song Butterfly and Best Country Song for the track Space Cowboy.

The first award of the night was presented to Lady Gaga, who won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Bradley Cooper for their song Shallow.

Gaga accepted the award on behalf of herself and Cooper for the A Star Is Born soundtrack hit as the 44-year-old actor/director attended the BAFTAson the same day.

Shallow has had an incredible run on the awards circuit, winning Lady Gaga her first Golden Globe and earning her an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. The tune also won a BAFTA on Sunday.

'I'm so proud to be part of a movie that addresses mental health issues,' Gaga said during her acceptance speech on Sunday night. 'If you see someone that's hurting, don't look away.'

'If you're hurting, even though it might be hard, try to find that bravery within yourself to dive deep and tell somebody.'

The New York-native was already a double winner as earlier in the night she earned Best Pop Solo Performance for her album Joanne.

Later on in the evening, Drake beat out pal Travis Scott as they competed in the Best Rap Song category and used his speech to hit out at the Grammys themselves.

'We play an opinion based sport, not a factual based sport,' he said.'You already won if you have people singing your songs word for word, if they're singing in your hometown. You're already winning, you don't need this right here.

One of the most emotional performances of the night came during a tribute to celebrate Dolly Parton's incredible 50-year career.

The legend was joined on stage by Musgraves, Katy Perry, Maren Morris and Little Big Town.

Miley Cyrus joined in on the fun as she sung Jolene - which she has done routinely in recent years - with her godmother.

It was host Alicia Keys herself who would deliver one of the most powerful performances of the night with a medley that included classics from five different decades.

Sat between two pianos, Keys wowed the audienceat the Los Angeles Staples Center and viewers at home as she began to play them both at the same time.

'You know those songs that live inside of you and live inside of me, and you just love it so much, because it was done so well that you wish you wrote it? That's how I feel about these songs. I wish I wrote them,' Keys said.

She first began with the tune that she said she thinks about when she reflects on 'heartache and heartbreak', playing Roberta Flack's 1973 tune Killing Me Softly, later popularized by Lauryn Hill and The Fugees.

'Or when it's time to move on, this is the song,' she said, breaking into Juice World's recent hit Lucid Dreams before switching toNat King Cole's 1952 classic Unforgettable.

'Now, who didn't with they wrote this song? I know I do,' she said as she began singing Kings of Leon's 2008 hit Use Somebody.

That turned into In My Feelings, Drake's song of the summer, and Boo'd Up by Ella Maibefore Keys began playing Doo-Wop (That Thing), saying she wished she had written the entire Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album.

'Then, finally, you write the song you wish you wrote,' Keys said before she broke into her own tune Empire State Of Mind.

Jennifer Lopez also led one of the night's biggest performances as she sang and danced through a Motown tribute.

Lopez had received backlash on social media as many questioned why African American artists hadn't been selected to honor the historic record label.

But Lopez seemed unfazed by the criticism as she showed off her incredible dance moves, joining forces with the likes of Smokey Robinson, Ne-Yo, and Keys for renditions of My Girl, Papa Was A Rollin' Stone, and Another Star.

In addition to a number of female-led tributes, Dua Lipa also praised her fellow female nominees - and got a jab in at Recording Academy president Neil Portnow - while accepting the award for Best New Artist.

Portnow came under fire last year when he declared that female artists 'need to step up' after Lorde was the only woman to be nominated in any of the top categories.

As Dua Lipa took home her first Grammy following a sultry duet with St Vincent, she paid tribute to her fellow nominees and joked 'I guess this year we've really stepped up'.

Noticeably absent from the night as Donald Glover, who won the coveted Record of the Year award for his song This Is America.

Ariana Grande also dropped out of the show last minute due to a disagreement with Grammy producers over which songs she would perform on Sunday night.

The songstress had been featured prominently on billboards promoting the event throughout Los Angeles and was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album.

But Grande felt 'insulted' after producers refused to allow her to perform 7 Rings, the single from her new album Thank U, Next, unless they were allowed to pick her second song -stipulations were not imposed on other performers at the show.

Grande, who took home her first Grammy on Sunday night, was still in high spirits despite missing the show as she shared photos of herself still rocking the custom-made Zac Posen gown she had planned to wear.