Camila Cabello opened the Grammy Awards from the inside of a brownstone reimagined as a colorful dollhouse. She shifted through the rooms before taking to the “street,” where she ran into J Balvin reading a paper with the headline “Build Bridges Not Walls.”
Young Thug joined to perform a verse as Cabello nimbly danced throughout the street. Soon, the opening act turned into a medley of Latin pop superstars: Ricky Martin joined to belt alongside Cabello as Arturo Sandoval played on his trumpet before J Balvin did a bit of his smash hit “Mi Gente.”
Cabello is up for two awards: Best Pop Solo Performance (her live version of “Havana”) and Best Pop Vocal Album (her debut 2018 LP, Camila). The former Fifth Harmony singer released “Havana,” a single off her Camila album, in 2017, and it quickly became a Number One hit on the Billboard Hot 100. In a Rolling Stone interview from last year, she called the track “an ode to my heritage, my culture.”
Wow what a hell of a performance by the oh so talented @Camila_Cabello to open the #grammys ! This girl can sing yes Camila kill it! #CamilaCabello #Grammys2019 #GRAMMYsxCAMILA pic.twitter.com/7OtbRLTkXR
— Maria Gamerota (@Ria_Gam03) February 11, 2019
Balvin is nominated for Record of the Year for “I Like It,” his collaborative single with Cardi B and Bad Bunny. While he only received one nod at the 2019 Grammys, he recently earned eight nominations at the 2018 Latin Grammy Awards — including Record of the Year (“Mi Gente” with Willy William; “X” with Nicky Jam), Album of the Year and Best Urban Music Album (for his fifth LP, Vibras).
Kendrick Lamar leads the 2019 Grammy Awards with eight total nominations, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year (“All the Stars” with SZA), Album of the Year (the Black Panther soundtrack) and Best Rap Performance (“King’s Dead” with Jay Rock, Future and James Blake).