Everyone Needs To Watch Kesha’s Emotional #MeToo Grammys Performance
Incredible.
The #TimesUp movement might not have swept the music industry the way it did Hollywood, but this year’s #Grammys was always going to be politically charged.
The annual music awards are happening right now in New York City, and there’s been a few small acts of resistance from the stars in attendance: some musicians, like Lady Gaga and Cardi B, wore or carried white roses in solidarity with the #TimesUp movement. For her own version of the rose, Lorde stuck a politically-charged poem from Jenny Holzer to the back of her dress.
And then this happened:
Kesha used her live spot at the Grammys to perform ‘Praying’ — the song she released after a years-long legal battle with her former producer and alleged abuser Dr. Luke — while joined on stage by Camila Cabello, Cyndi Lauper, Julia Michaels, Bebe Rexha and Andra Day. At the end of the performance, Kesha cries and the camera cuts to audience members wiping away tears.
The consensus is that it’s a confronting, powerful, bloody emotional watch.
.@KeshaRose to me, you won. I broke down in tears tonight as you sang. Your song rips me apart every single time. You sing all the words I’m too afraid to speak & Provides insight for those who have not been through what victims like us have. Thank you thank you thank you.
— ROZES (@ROZESsounds) January 29, 2018
Just cried real tears watching @KeshaRose there ARE second acts in American lives. Glad i saw that. Thank you K.
— Rob Thomas (@ThisIsRobThomas) January 29, 2018
All the women backing up my girl @KeshaRose makes me SO EMOTIONAL.
— Emmy Rossum (@emmyrossum) January 29, 2018
…And then, of course, there’s this:
tuned into the grammys to see kesha performing a song about her abuse to a room full of people who didn’t believe her while her abuser still seems to have a career. normal culture
— Alex Press (@alexnpress) January 29, 2018
A New York judge dismissed Kesha’s lawsuit against Dr. Luke in 2016, in part because her alleged instances of abuse happened in 2008, which falls outside of the US statute of limitations.