LOS ANGELES – Pop superstar Beyonce, proudly caressing her pregnant belly, took the Grammys stage by storm on Sunday on a night marked by political statements, sentimental tributes and a misstep by British singer Adele.
In her first public appearance since her surprise announcement 12 days ago that she is expecting twins, Beyonce donned a sheer, glittering gold dress and halo to sing a medley of emotional ballads Love Drought and Sandcastles from Lemonade, her Grammy-nominated album about feminism, race and betrayal.
Moments later though, it was Adele who literally stopped the show after flubbing the start of a tribute to the late British pop star George Michael.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s live TV,” she said, cursing, stopping her slow ballad version of Michael’s Fast Love and asking to start again. “I can’t mess this up for him (Michael),” she said.
Adele was given a standing ovation after completing the song, one of two separate tributes to Michael and musician Prince, both of whom died unexpectedly in 2016.
Beyonce went into Sunday’s awards show with a leading nine nominations and won two in the early going, saying the intention of the album was to show all women they could be “beautiful, intelligent and capable”.
She is competing head-on with Adele, 28, the only other artist to be nominated for all three top awards – album, song and record of the year – to be handed out at the end of the show.
Adele took two early awards, beating Beyonce in the pop vocal performance category, and her best-selling 25 also won for pop vocal album. (Reuters)
