Immediately following Beyoncé’s historic win, Mary J. Blige took the stage for a show-stopping live rendition of “Good Morning Gorgeous.” Joined by a soul-stirring choir, the illustrious singer rose from a platform adorning an oversized wide-brimmed hat with skin-tight crystallized gown and a risqué thigh slit.
Looking absolutely stunning, the 52-year-old bellowed out her affirming lyrics, “And I refuse to let it end me/Mentally (mhm), spiritually (oh), physically/I need my peace […] I wake up every morning and tell myself/Good morning gorgeous.”
By the end of the set, the audience was at attention, captivated by Blige’s moving performance.
This year, the New York native was up for both Record of The Year and Album of The Year, marking her first time being nominated in two of the Big Four categories since 2007 with “Be Without You.” However, her being nominated for Album of The Year is a career-first.
Mary J. Blige performs onstage during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Ahead of the performance, Blige spoke with Billboard about that feat. “I’ve earned the moment, I’ve been in the game for a while,” she expressed. “It’s a blessing to still be around doing what I love.”
She was honored with the Icon Award at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards.
“Through it all, I always one way or another gravitated back to my first love, music. To be recognized in this way at this moment is an incredible honor and one that I am truly humbled by […] Every inner-city girl was recognizing their own and could relate to everything I was saying and every female artist that came into the game wanted to do everything I was doing and still does to this day. So ghetto, so fabulous, and people were threatened by that. And now everybody wanna be ghetto fabulous,” Blige stated during her acceptance speech regarding her influence.
Watch her full performance below.
