Kim Petras and Sam Smith, who won the 2023 Grammy award for best pop duo/group performance for “Unholy,” performed the song at Sunday’s show.
Madonna introduced the performance with a monologue about what she’s learned about rebellion and being a troublemaker after her four decades in the music industry, noting that an artist is doing something right if they’re being called provocative.
Surrounded by a monochromatic wash of red lights and in front of a backdrop of fire, Smith opened up the song, encircled by dancers, wearing an ensemble and working with props that had allusions to BDSM themes. Halfway through the song, Smith added a horned hat to his look.
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Petras sang her section from inside a cage onstage, and wore a red leather mini-dress with her signature long, blonde hair.
In the press room following the performance, Petras spoke about the inspiration behind it, saying: “I think a lot of people, honestly, have kind of labeled what I stand for and what Sam stands for as religiously not cool. And I personally grew up wondering about religion and wanting to be a part of it, but then slowly realizing it doesn’t want me to be a part of it. So it’s a take on not being able to choose religion and not being able to live the way that people might want you to live, because, you know, as a trans person, I’m kind of already not wanted in religion.”
After the commercial break, Trevor Noah faked a call to his mother, acknowledging the “unholy” themes of the performance’s set design and the singers’ wardrobe choices, joking: “No, it wasn’t the actual devil, they were just dressed like the devil, Mom,” before panning to the audience: “She said she’ll be praying for all of us.”
Earlier Petras and Smith won the Grammy for best pop duo/group performance for “Unholy” with Petras saying she was the first transgender winner in the category’s history.
