--- title: Michelle Obama Brought the Crowd to Their Feet at the 2019 Grammys description: Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance at the 2019 Grammy awards, and brought the audience to its feet. canonical: https://time.com/5526367/michelle-obama-grammys-2019/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-11T01:55:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:56:36.099Z og:title: Michelle Obama Brought the Crowd to Their Feet at the 2019 Grammys og:description: Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance at the 2019 Grammy awards, and brought the audience to its feet. og:url: https://time.com/5526367/michelle-obama-grammys-2019/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6d75a71386babdc/698944e77cdbac1d3dd5f094/michelle-obama-grammy-awards-alicia-keys.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Alicia Keys, Michelle Obama, and Jennifer Lopez speak onstage during the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michelle Obama Brought the Crowd to Their Feet at the 2019 Grammys twitter:description: Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance at the 2019 Grammy awards, and brought the audience to its feet. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6d75a71386babdc/698944e77cdbac1d3dd5f094/michelle-obama-grammy-awards-alicia-keys.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michelle Obama Brought the Crowd to Their Feet at the 2019 Grammys ## Video: This Video Is No Longer Available [Watch (HLS stream): This Video Is No Longer Available](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8) (0:10)  _Published 2026-06-23. Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance at the 2019 Grammy awards, and brought the audience to its feet._ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 11, 2019 1:55 AM UTC by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 11, 2019 1:55 AM UTC Amid some of music’s biggest stars at the [2019 Grammys](http://time.com/5525752/grammys-2019-winners/) was a surprise guest. Michelle Obama made an unexpected appearance to talk about the influence of music—and was greeted with a standing ovation from the crowd at the awards ceremony. “We’ve got a show to do,” the former First Lady said in reaction, before sharing how music has touched her life. “From the Motown records I wore out on the South Side to the ‘Who Run the World’ songs that fueled me through this last decade, music has always helped me tell my story,” Obama said as she stood on stage alongside Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Jada Pinkett Smith and Grammys host Alicia Keys. “Music helps us share our selves—our dignity and sorrows, our hopes and joys,” she continued. “It allows us to hear one another. To invite each other in. Music shows us that all of it matters. Every story within every voice. Every note within every song.” Obama tweeted that she dropped in at the Grammys to support Keys. > [](https://twitter.com/MichelleObama/status/1094774438959050752) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5526367/michelle-obama-grammys-2019/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5526367/michelle-obama-grammys-2019/"},"headline":"Michelle Obama Brought the Crowd to Their Feet at the 2019 Grammys","datePublished":"2019-02-11T01:55:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:36.099Z","description":"Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance at the 2019 Grammy awards, and brought the audience to its feet.","url":"https://time.com/5526367/michelle-obama-grammys-2019/","keywords":["Newsfeed","awards","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6d75a71386babdc/698944e77cdbac1d3dd5f094/michelle-obama-grammy-awards-alicia-keys.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6d75a71386babdc/698944e77cdbac1d3dd5f094/michelle-obama-grammy-awards-alicia-keys.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Alicia Keys, Michelle Obama, and Jennifer Lopez speak onstage during the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards","caption":"Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Alicia Keys, Michelle Obama, and Jennifer Lopez speak onstage during the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards","creditText":"Kevin Winter—The Recording Academy/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5526367/michelle-obama-grammys-2019/","name":"Michelle Obama Brought the Crowd to Their Feet at the 2019 Grammys"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance at the 2019 Grammy awards, and brought the audience to its feet.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5526367/michelle-obama-grammys-2019/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5526367/michelle-obama-grammys-2019/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```