Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman deliver emotional Grammys 2024 performances
MANILA, Philippines — Women were the biggest winners of the 2024 Grammy Awards: Taylor Swift broke the record for Album of the Year wins, Celine Dion made a rare public appearance, Miley Cyrus won her first Grammys, and the stage saw performances by two musical legends.
Singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman made a rare public appearance accompanied by country musician Luke Combs for a performance of her 1988 hit "Fast Car."
Combs covered the song for his album "Gettin' Old" leading to a renewed rise in popularity for the 35-year-old song.
We are going to be blasting this #GRAMMYs rendition of “Fast Car” by @LukeCombs and #TracyChapman on all of our road trips from now on. ???? pic.twitter.com/utYXDxiwHg
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) February 5, 2024
"Tracy's obviously written one of the best songs for a few generations. [The opening riff] is already iconic even before you've heard the words," said Combs onstage, singing alongside Chapman who also played the guitar. It was her first live performance in about a decade.
"Fast Car" won Chapman the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance in 1989, the year she also won Best New Artist and Best Contemporary Folk Recording. In 1997, she won a fourth Grammy, Best Rock Song for "Give Me One Reason."
Perhaps even more emotional was Joni Mitchell performing on the Grammys stage for the very first time at 80 years old, having won 11 Grammys including a Lifetime Achievement Award and one this year for Best Folk Album.
Mitchell was introduced by fellow singer Brandi Carlile as "the matriarch of imagination" and her own personal hero, mentioning Mitchell's personal struggles such as suffering a brain aneurysm and learning how to walk again three different times.
What a medley of beautiful voices and music on the #GRAMMYs stage with @JoniMitchell! ???? @BrandiCarlile, @outsidechild13, SistaStrings, @ilovelucius, @JacobCollier and @_BlakeMills joined the “Both Sides Now” performance last night and we cannot stop thinking about it. pic.twitter.com/vwcimBckQz
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) February 5, 2024
Carlile was later joined by Alison Russell, Lucius, Jacob Collier, Sista Strings, and Blake Mills to accompany Mitchell as she sang her timeless hit "Both Sides Now" while seated on a large cushioned throne.
The arrangement was slowed down and Mitchell's voice was much huskier and lower than the original, but it still had millions of viewers choking up tears and the live audience giving a resounding standing ovation.
"She redefined the very purpose of a song to reflect the contents of a person's soul and before she took this leap, the popular song was observational," Carlile said. "It was brilliant and influential, of course, but the exhilarating risk that we all now take by turning ourselves inside out for all the world to see started as far as I can tell with Joni Mitchell doing it first."
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