Mickey Guyton Is a Grammy Stunner With ‘Black Like Me’
Mickey Guyton understood the importance of her 2021 Grammy Awards moment and rose up to it. Sunday night's (March 14) performance of "Black Like Me" was historical, but powerful and elegant foremost.
The song is from Guyton's Bridges EP, released in 2020. It's one she admits she wrote as therapy, perhaps never intending for others to hear it before it started to be distributed last year at the height of Black Lives Matter protests. Country music's reckoning with race started in earnest after her full EP was released.
However, viewers were left with feelings of hope and unity as Guyton finished a rousing version of the ballad. It started simple, with a camera squared up on Guyton's glamorous gold gown. As she leaned into her first chorus, an overhead camera showed the depth of her ensemble. It was a diverse group behind her, something she says was by design. Everyone on that stage — and viewers at home — felt her early song insecurities turn to pride as she imagined a more perfect world. "Black Like Me" was the right song for the right time and the right audience.
"It's not just about me," Guyton said of her Grammy moment before the show. "The song 'Black Like Me' is so many people's stories. And that was my goal in this performance ... I just want people to feel like they're coming together."
Guyton's performance came just weeks after she gave birth to her first child, a baby boy. She was also recently announced as co-host for the 2021 ACM Awards in Nashville on April 18, making her the first Black woman to host the show. "Black Like Me" was nominated in the Best Country Solo Performance category, given out earlier in the day during a pre-Grammy ceremony.
"This is a huge moment for Black people in country music," she says. "I just feel so honored to stand in these shoes right now."
Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile and Miranda Lambert also performed at the 2021 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
WATCH: Mickey Guyton Almost Quit Before "Black Like Me"