Ranking Grammys Best New Artist Performances
Ebun Lawore's thoughts on every BNA nominee performance.
By Ebun Lawore
On Sunday February 3rd, when the 65th Grammy awards finally ended, and you went ahead and cancelled your Paramount Plus one week free trial, you may have thought to yourself, “wow, there were an awful lot of performances this year.” And you’re right, there were. This year the Recording Academy decided to give every Best New Artist nominee a chance to perform at the ceremony. So all eight nominees bravely took to the stage that night, and of course, some were better than others. Here is my ranking—from worst to best—for the Grammy performances of the nominees for best new artist.
8. Benson Boone
There is no doubt that Benson Boone has an incredible voice, but that’s pretty much all he had going for him in this performance. His act started with a very messy tear-away tux moment which revealed a sparkly unitard underneath. It seems like this look was meant to shock the audience, but all it accomplished was establishing Boone as a B-tier Harry Styles variant. After the outfit change he then proceeded to get on the Grammy stage in order to do backflips in between belting his hit song “Beautiful Things”. The performance was technically impressive, but not actually entertaining. And to add the cherry on top to the mediocrity cake, after the song ended he unfortunately couldn’t wait for the cameras to stop rolling before he adjusted his backflip-induced unitard wedgie. This performance was definitely an interesting way for Boone to introduce himself to the Recording Academy.
7. Shaboozey
Shaboozey’s performance of his song “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was definitely exciting, but Shaboozey himself wasn’t really doing the heavy lifting on the Grammys stage. His backup dancers brought lots of energy to the song while he kind of just stood there and sang. He had a solid stage presence, but his vocal performance wasn’t anything spectacular, especially in comparison with the other Best New Artist performers of the night.
6. Khruangbin
The alternative trio Khruangbin certainly had the simplest performance of the night. They didn’t have any eye-catching outfits or wedgie-undoing while on stage, and the song they performed was the shortest out of the eight performers. They played their very chill and laid back song “May Ninth,” but they played it very well. It was the kind of performance that could leave the audience thinking, “Who is this mysterious indie band?” and leave them wanting more.
5. Teddy Swims
Teddy Swims appeared on the Grammy stage with an incredible outfit, voice, and band, and that was enough to make a great performance. He sang his hit song “Lose Control,” and his unique voice and captivating stage presence had the power to lock the audience in on him. It wasn’t the most unique and interesting performance, but there’s no doubt that he did an excellent job.
4. Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter opened the night at the Grammys with her songs “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” and her performance was nothing short of spectacular. She opened with a jazzy and comedic intro for “Espresso,” and then transitioned into the standard pop version of the song. Her blue, vintage, and sparkly set design was so captivating, and it paired beautifully with her stunning blue one piece that was decked out with gemstones. A highlight of the performance was the complex jazzy choreography. My personal favorite moments were the tap dance break and when her backup dancer spun her around at the end of “Please Please Please.” The only thing that the performance was lacking was Sabrina’s voice. I don’t know if it was the fault of the really loud backing track, or the intense dancing, but it was really hard for me to hear and appreciate Sabrina’s voice in the midst of the beautiful chaos of that performance.
3. Raye
Raye’s performance is proof that if you have an incomprehensible amount of talent, you don’t need theatrics to pull off an excellent performance. Raye sang her song “Oscar Winning Tears” without any elaborate choreography, lighting, or costuming. All she needed to do to prove herself was to show off her powerhouse of a voice. Raye no doubt had the best vocals out of these eight performers. She was doing insane vocal runs throughout the song, and she ended the performance by holding out a powerful 13 second belt that no average person could ever recreate. Her emotions and raw talent poured out of her on the Grammy stage, and were nothing short of inspiring.
2. Chappell Roan
Chappell Roan manages to outdo herself every time she performs, and her Grammy performance was further proof of that. Chappell sang her song “Pink Pony Club”, and appeared on the Grammy stage riding a giant pony with an army of dancing clowns around her. It was truly like no Grammy performance that I have ever seen before. The pinnacle of this performance for me was Chappell crawling on the ground towards her guitarist as she shredded the iconic Pink Pony Club guitar solo. Between Chappell’s incredible voice, the freakishly excellent clown choreography, and the beautiful country-themed set design, Chappell really brought to the Grammys a unique and inspiring energy that was so desperately needed in the room.
1. Doechii
Doechii’s Grammy performance was the kind that left your jaw on the floor for the entire time that she was on stage. Doechii has said in interviews that she wanted her Grammy performance to emulate Broadway, and that is exactly what she delivered. Her costuming was spectacular: All of her backup dancers were wearing the same school uniform style outfit as her, all with the same hairstyle. The choreography was incredible with the dancers contorting their bodies to make so many interesting silhouettes on stage. Doechii herself was doing insane stunts while continuing to spit her powerful raps with no background vocals supporting her. She performed split suspended in the air, while being carried upside down, and never faltered. Her intense stage presence never wavered for a second. It was obvious that Doechii gave everything she had to that performance, and she really showed the world that she has what it takes to be one of the greatest performers of this generation.