Grammys viewers are still outraged that Lorde wasn"t invited to perform solo and basking in the afterglow of Kesha"s powerful "Praying" performance.
But the Grammys are a celebration of music, and singers don"t have to be winners or even especially relevant to have their time in the spotlight.
Which is why we were all treated to absolute legend Elton John singing "Tiny Dancer" … in a stunning duet with none other than Miley Cyrus. Take a look in the video below!
Before the performance even began, they were introduced by Anna Kendrick.
Anna even acknowledges that she"s introducing them because she is famously tiny.
If you"re tall, pretty much everyone under 6 feet looks the same height — a height called "short." But Anna Kendrick is 5-foot-2. She"s conspicuously small. And therefore the perfect celeb to introduce this duet.
You might think that you don"t know one Elton John song from another, but we have a feeling that most people will recognize "Tiny Dancer" from somewhere or another.
As we said, Elton John is an absolute legend, and he"s been in this game for a long time.
Elton John begins to play the piano and sing, as he is want to do.
It"s good to remember that the world was nearly robbed of his talent, as it was less than a year ago that Elton John was still recovering from a potentially deadly infection. Money can buy you first-rate health care, but it doesn"t make you immune to illness.
Even so, Sir Elton is going to retire from music and spend more time with his family. But first, he"ll do a farewell tour.
You"ll notice the white rose sitting on Elton John"s piano. That"s not just artistic whimsy — it"s his nod to the #TimesUp movement.
Other artists wore white flowers on the red carpet.
It isn"t long into Elton John"s performance when Miley steps in.
Miley is wearing a gorgeous dress.
Her voice is as lovely as ever, and while we"d never want to overshadow an artist"s talent by talking about their outfit, this is one of those situations when we need to talk about how Miley is choosing to portray herself.
Just as Sir Elton"s colorful, glittery suit is part of his brand, the way that Miley presents herself is relevant to her performance.
For years, Miley talked nonstop about how much she loves marijuana. "Coincidentally," that was also the period in her life when Miley decided to appropriate black culture.
Labeling herself a "hippie," Miley was almost a mascot for white privilege, using black people as props in her wild and outlandish performances and singing constantly about how much she loves a controlled substance that has been used as an excuse to ruin the lives of countless black people.
Recently, however, Miley decided to reinvent herself into the New Old Miley. Just look at her.
That"s right. Miley quit weed because she dreamed that she would die, even though it might be literally impossible for her to actually overdose on marijuana.
(We"re pretty sure that more people die each year from drinking water than from smoking pot)
Miley also doesn"t show her breasts anymore. While this is all her choice to make, it seems to some people that she sampled what she perceived to be black culture, tried to use it for her brand for a few years, and then got bored and decided to just be a "southern gal" for a while.
We know that Miley didn"t do any of this maliciously, but a lot of people don"t love the way that she spent years being obnoxious in multiple ways, only to seemingly revert to how she was almost immediately post-Disney.
(There"s a middle ground!)
That said, though, this performance is absolutely lovely and powerful.
You might not think that Sir Elton"s voice would work so well with Miley"s. They have, well, some very different accents.
But their duet is beautiful and tasteful and really does justice to the song.
And since Elton John is retiring from music, he absolutely deserved this spot at the Grammy awards.
