Travis Scott’s 2024 Grammy Awards Performance Featured in The Hollywood Reporter
Travis Scott delivered a stark, aggressive performance of hit songs from his album UTOPIA at the 2024 Grammys Sunday night.
Standing on an ominous set, surrounded by speakers and smoke and strobe lights, the rapper performed “My Eyes,” “I Know?” and “FE!N.” Towards the end of the medley, Scott could be seen breaking chairs and other onstage props.
Prior to his performance, Scott spoke in a video about UTOPIA, which was also nominated for best rap album this year.
“If you could have a feeling of Utopia for one second, or one moment, or one minute, one hour, things can be calm even though everything else around you is moving at 1,000 miles per minute,” the rapper said. “And the album is just my trip trying to find that.”
This was Scott’s first Grammys performance since the November 2021 Astroworld festival tragedy that left 10 dead and hundreds injured. He previously performed “Stop Trying to Be God’ and “No Bystanders” at the 2019 Grammy Awards.
Following his performance Sunday, Scott received some backlash on social media. One person wrote, “Having travis scott perform and then talk about tragedies in music festivals and concerts but not mention astroworld is a choice…,” while another person added, “As someone who listens to Travis Scott…I can not believe they let him perfom tonight….AND interviewed him about his live performance. What Astroworld???”
Shortly after Scott had performed, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. took the stage to pay tribute to the victims of the Supernova music festival that launched the Israel-Hamas war on Oct 7. During his speech, Mason Jr. mentioned the tragedies at the Bodacline concert hall in Paris, the Manchester Arena in England and at the Route 91 Harvest Music festival in Las Vegas.
“Tonight, we celebrate the world of music. Every one of us, on matter where we’re from is united by the shared experience of music. It brings us together like nothing else can and that’s why music must always be our safe space. When that’s violated it strikes at the very core of who we are,” he said, highlighting the playing string quartet being from Palestinian, Israeli and Arab backgrounds and asking for global love and empathy. Of Oct. 7 he added, “That day, and all the tragic days that have followed, have been awful for the world to bear as we mourn the loss of all innocent lives.”
Scott was among many artists who performed Sunday night, including SZA, Joni Mitchell, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, U2, Miley Cyrus and Luke Combs.
Trevor Noah hosted the 66th annual Grammy Awards, which aired live from Los Angeles on Feb. 4. Find the complete list of the night’s winners here.