Grammys 2020: Lizzo Opens up Awards With Tribute to Kobe Bryant

Following the news of former NBA player, Kobe Byrant’s tragic and untimely passing on Sunday morning, Lizzo took the stage at the 2020 Grammy Awards Sunday night with a jaw-dropping performance and paid tribute to the late Lakers star prefacing her performance of “Cuz I Love You” for the 41-year-old, saying, “Tonight’s for Kobe!”

Bryant passed away on Sunday morning in a helicopter crash, per TMZ. The incident took place in Calabasas. Bryant was traveling with at least three other people in his private helicopter. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

The tribute, including her hits “Cuz I Love You” and “Truth Hurts,” lit up social media with fans loving the honor bestowed upon him in such a last minute decision, and her kismet-like choice for the legendary and beloved basketball player.

Along with her performance, Lizzo also kicked off the night as the most-nominated artist with a total of eight nominations, including nods in each of the four major categories.

“What an amazing performance, I am crying and thank you [Lizzo] for dedicating that to the NBA legend!” wrote one fan.

Born Melissa Viviane Jefferson, Lizzo’s launch to fame has been impressive. In 2013, she released her first album, Lizzobangers, and was named as an artist to watch by Time just a year later. The 31-year-old rapper found her fame propelled following the release of her hit single “Truth Hurts” in 2017, the song debuting on the Billboard charts. In 2019, she found mainstream success when her third album, Cuz I Love You, was released through Atlantic Records. The album generated multiple hit singles and also earned two Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year.

Capping off an already successful year, Lizzo was named as both Time and Entertainment Weekly‘s 2019 Entertainer of the Year, opening up about her success and her body positive anthems in an interview with the former outlet.

“I’ve been doing positive music for a long a— time,” she reflected. “Then the culture changed. There were a lot of things that weren’t popular but existed, like body positivity, which at first was a form of protest for fat bodies and black women and has now become a trendy, commercialized thing. Now I’ve seen it reach the mainstream. Suddenly I’m mainstream! How could we have guessed something like this would happen when we’ve never seen anything like this before?”

Along with Lizzo, other performers at the 2020 Grammys included Billie Eilish, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, and Aerosmith, who returned to the Grammys stage nearly 30 years after making their Grammy stage debut in 1991.

The Grammys air Sunday, Jan. 26 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.