The 66th Grammy Awards were filled with drama, emotion, and plenty of surprises—and that was just during the star-studded performances that made up the bulk of the 3.5-hour telecast. Music’s biggest night delivered its share of hits—including a long-overdue debut appearance by the legendary Joni Mitchell, and a strong opening number by Dua Lipa—along with a handful of misses.
Cyrus also claims that she’s doing the performance so she can lay back in bed and watch it on Monday, so it’s no surprise that she plays to the rafters: every move is exaggerated, her eyes bugging out, the lyrics punctuated by quips culminating with Miley’s celebratory exultation “I just won my first Grammy!” It’s a performance where Cyrus is a rockstar by way of Vegas, delivering larger-than-life gestures that work because they’re so grand and stylized—and because they’re accompanied by a song...