Grammys 2019: Michelle Obama makes surprise appearance top stories direct to your inbox SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up to receive our rundown of the day'sdirect to your inbox When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Former First Lady Michelle Obama joined host Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Jennifer Lopez at the start of the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. They all spoke about why music is so powerful and important to each of them. Michelle said: “From the Motown records I wore on the South Side to the ‘who run the world’ songs that fuelled me through this last decade, music has always helped me tell my story.” The crowd erupted in a standing ovation at this point and everyone was on their feet. She added: “And I know that’s true for everybody here, whether we like country or rap or rock, music helps us share ourselves, our dignity, our sorrows, our hopes and joys. “It allows us to hear one another, to invite one another in. Music show us that all of it matters, every story, every voice, every note, in every song. Is this right ladies.” The response online was hugely positive, with everyone backing Michelle for her appearance. US President 2020: US President 2020: Michelle joined other major singers on stage at the Grammys Michelle Obama recalls awkward moment with Melania Trump Many have alluded to the fact she could be testing the waters for running as President in 2020. However both she and former President Obama have ruled this out and said she is not interested in running. She explained her reasons at the 39th Annual Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston in April. The former First Lady said: “The reason why I don’t want to run for president - and I can’t speak for Oprah - but my sense is that, first of all, you have to want the job. US President 2020: The crowd erupted in applause at Michelle Obama's speech “And you just can’t say, ‘Well you’re a woman, run’. “We just can’t find the women we like an ask them to do it, because there are millions of women who are inclined and do have the passion for politics. “I’ve never had the passion for politics. I just happened to be married to somebody who has the passion for politics, and he drug me kicking and screaming into this arena.” Lady Gaga spoke how her music gave her a voice and a soul. US President 2020: Michelle said Beyonce's Run the World helped her through the last decade<doc-sep>“Whether we like country or rap or rock, music helps us share ourselves, our dignity and sorrows, our hopes and joys. It allows us to hear one another, to invite each other in. Music shows us that all of it matters — every story within every voice, every note within every song. Is that right ladies?” she said as many in the crowd remained standing. The moment could not have come at a better time for the show. Last year, the event, which has struggled to stay relevant, came under fire for a statement made by Neil Portnow, the chief executive of the Recording Academy. Women in music should “step up” to advance their careers, he had said. The academy has since changed its membership and nominations process in efforts to address underlying problems of inequality. On Sunday night, the women onstage with Obama spoke about how music gave them a space to explore who they are. “They said I was weird, that my look, my choices, my sound, that it wouldn’t work,” Lady Gaga said. “But music told me not to listen to them. Music took my ears, took my hands, my voice and my soul, and it led me to all of you and to my Little Monsters who I love so much.” Next, Pinkett Smith spoke. “We express our pain, power, progress through music — whether we’re creating it, or just appreciating it,” she said. “But here’s what I know: Every voice we hear deserves to be honored and respected.”<doc-sep>NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 07: Aretha Franklin performs on stage at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Commemorates Its 25th Year And Honors Founder Sir Elton John During New York Fall Gala - Show at Cathedral of St. John the Divine on November 7, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/WireImage) LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 10: Drake accepts the Best Rap Song award for 'God's Plan' onstage during the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 10, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy) Editor’s Note: Rebecca Bodenheimer is a freelance writer who writes about Cuba, American popular culture, identity and higher education. The views expressed in this commentary are solely hers. View more opinion articles on CNN. (CNN) — There’s no doubt that women had a banner year at the Grammys. It’s hard to say if this is an anomaly or the new normal, and it’s too soon to herald a changing of the guard within the Recording Academy. However, the diversity of the female performers/honorees and winners – not only in terms of race, but also musical genre and generation (from legends like Dolly Parton and Diana Ross to newcomers like Camila Cabello, Dua Lipa, and H.E.R.) – is worth noting and applauding. Let’s hope it’s a sign of a more equitable future in the music industry. photo courtesy of the author Rebecca Bodenheimer The hashtag #GrammysSoMale went viral after the awards show last year. Recording Academy president Neil Portnow chimed in with a tone-deaf response, saying women “needed to step up” – the music industry equivalent of Sheryl Sandberg’s corporate feminism mantra “lean in,” a comment that totally disregarded the presence of any sexism or bias on the part of the Grammys or the music industry writ large. The show had some missteps, but overall it was a marked improvement from last year in one major way: Women dominated the night. From the choice to have Alicia Keys – who famously vowed to stop wearing makeup to challenge normative notions of beauty – host the show, to bringing out Michelle Obama (surrounded by Keys, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lady Gaga, and Jennifer Lopez) as a surprise guest, there was a clear decision to put forth an empowering message about gender equality that was purposely diverse. As Obama said, looking at the women sharing the stage with her, “Music shows us that all of it matters, every story within every voice, every note within every song – is that right, ladies?” Camila Cabello opened the show with a Havana-inspired performance of her hit by the same name that featured Latin music stars Ricky Martin, Arturo Sandoval, and J Balvin. Following up on Cabello’s pro-immigration speech from last year’s Grammys, this performance saw Balvin sitting on a bench reading a newspaper whose anti-Trump headline read “Build Bridges, Not Walls.” It’s not insignificant that this was the first time a Latina artist opened the Grammys show. These performances were a pleasant surprise, since I didn’t have high hopes for the Grammys going into Sunday night’s show. It was dogged by controversy in advance, particularly since the artist with the #1 song in the country, Ariana Grande, decided not to perform because she felt the show’s producer, Ken Ehrlich, was stifling her creative autonomy. In addition, multiple rap nominees declined the Grammys’ invitation to perform. Drake, who initially said no, did attend, and accepted his Best Rap Song award for “God’s Plan” with a surprising speech that took a swipe at the Grammys; he declared that as long as fans are buying records and concert tickets, these awards don’t matter all that much. Childish Gambino didn’t attend, although he was the night’s biggest winner, taking home Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Music Video, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “This Is America,” a song that I doubt would have even been considered for these awards if not for its audacious, endlessly analyzable video. His absence suggests that the Grammys still have a hip-hop problem. The fact that “This Is America” was the first rap song to win “Song of the Year” is downright embarrassing, given the fact that hip-hop is now in its mid-40s. Then there was the announcement last week that Jennifer Lopez would be headlining the Grammys’ tribute to Motown’s 60th anniversary, which raised a lot of eyebrows (including my own). Not only is JLo not an R&B singer – she’s widely known to be a much better overall performer/dancer than vocalist per se; to put it bluntly, she doesn’t have the vocal chops or the musical lineage for a Motown tribute. But there she was, headlining a performance that was backed up by Ne-Yo and a Motown legend himself, Smokey Robinson. Diana Ross was already performing in honor of her 75th birthday, but there are dozens of other Motown recording artists who are alive, well, and still performing who would have been a more meaningful choice than JLo, starting with Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Lionel Richie, Boyz II Men, DeBarge, and/or Michael McDonald (who recorded two Motown tribute albums!). JLo should have never been invited to perform this tribute, but given that she was, she should have turned it down. Still, female artists were the clear highlight of the night. Janelle Monae brilliantly performed her Prince-inspired “Make Me Feel,” declaring in the middle of the song, “Let the vagina have a monologue!” This was followed by Album of the Year winner Kacey Musgraves, a beautiful tribute to Dolly Parton featuring duets with Miley Cyrus and other female country singers, a powerful Lady Gaga rendition of “Shallow,” and a raunchy, show-stopping performance of “Money” by Cardi B, who made history by becoming the first female solo artist to win Best Rap Album. While many of these performances were bursting with energy and female swagger, the biggest revelation of the night for me was sister duo Chloe x Halle’s stripped down, gorgeously harmonized rendition of Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack’s “Where Is the Love?”<doc-sep>After the other three talked about their appreciation for music, Obama started to speak, but the crowd’s applause drowned her out. “All right, we got a show to do!” she said with a laugh and then segued into her own tribute, which, of course, included a reference to Beyoncé: “From the Motown records I wore out on the South Side to the ‘Who Runs the World’ songs that fueled me through this last decade, music has always helped me tell my story . . . whether we like country or rap or rock, music helps us share ourselves. Our dignity, our sorrows, our hopes and joys. It allows us to hear one another, to invite each other in. Music shows us that all of it matters, every story within every voice, every note within every song.”<doc-sep>
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 07: Aretha Franklin performs on stage at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Commemorates Its 25th Year And Honors Founder Sir Elton John During New York Fall Gala - Show at Cathedral of St. John the Divine on November 7, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/WireImage) NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Host James Corden attends the 60th Annual GRAMMY Awards at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images) Janelle Monae attends the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 4, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images) What to look for at the 2019 Grammys Grammy trophies sit in the press room during the 60th Annual Grammy Awards on January 28, 2018, in New York. / AFP PHOTO / Don EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 10: Drake accepts the Best Rap Song award for 'God's Plan' onstage during the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 10, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy) (CNN) — Former first lady Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night and talked about how music has “always helped me tell my story.” Obama appeared on stage alongside Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, and host Alicia Keys. “From the Motown records I wore out on the South Side —” Obama began, but was immediately drowned out by thunderous applause from the crowd. After sustained applause, Obama laughed and said, “All right you all, all right, we got a show to do.” “From the Motown records I wore out on the South Side, to the ‘who run the world’ songs that fueled me through this last decade, music has always helped me tell my story. And I know that’s true for everybody here,” Obama said. “Whether we like country, or rap or rock, music helps us share ourselves — our dignity and sorrows, our hopes and joys,” the former first lady continued. “It allows us to hear one another, to invite each other in.” “Music shows us that all of it matters, every story within every voice, every note within every song — is that right ladies?” Obama asked, looking around at the women on stage with her. Obama’s recently published memoir, “Becoming,” quickly became a best-seller and has become one of the most popular books of the decade. Obama has sold out arenas on her massive international book tour, where she has been interviewed on stage by Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Jessica Parker and former Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, among others. Obama posted on Twitter after the Grammy appearance, “A big part of friendship is showing up for your girls—that’s why I was thrilled to be there for the one and only @aliciakeys at the #GRAMMYs. She is one of the most genuine and thoughtful people I know—there’s no one better to help us all celebrate the unifying power of music!”