When my friend got the role of social media intern for the Grammys, I never imagined that just a couple of weeks later, I’d be dropping everything to book hotels and flights to attend as her plus one. What started as a “what if” turned into me crying in class as I received her text saying that I’d be going. With little time to plan, I showed up at the Austin Airport a week later with a backpack and a dream, constantly refreshing my ticket to convince myself this was actually happening.
Upon landing at LAX, it started to sink in that this wasn’t just an elaborate dream. I was just one day away from a night that wasn’t even a thought in my head the month before, and I wanted to stop every passerby to tell them just how excited I was. I was studying every face I passed, half expecting a celeb sighting before even making it out of the airport. The next 24 hours were a blur of asking myself, “Am I actually in LA right now?” and panicking that my hotel would cancel my reservation and tell me I was crazy. But somehow I made it, and there I was, staring at my dress hanging in the closet and dreaming about tomorrow.
11:30 AM – head to the premiere
Upon being dropped off outside of Crypto Arena, all my plans to act nonchalant went straight out the window. The streets of LA were a glamorous frenzy of people in gorgeous, ornate dresses, and I started to question if I was underdressed in my navy satin gown, which I reused from an earlier sorority formal. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but we followed the crowd to find the line waiting outside the Peacock theatre for our first stop, the premiere ceremony. What you don’t see on TV is the amount of standing in line and waiting that a day like this involves. We ended up spending most of our time using slow-mo to make DIY Glambots on our phones, texting updates to our friends, or making random TikToks.
The premiere is a pre-show that consists of the non-televised awards that they announce before the ceremony. Our standing line paid off, as we received complimentary espresso martinis and such a dizzying feeling of excitement and glam that I don’t think will be replicated ever again in my life. I couldn’t stop wondering what all these people did to get here. I could feel the talent and passion buzzing in the room, and it was exciting to be part of it as someone who felt like they ended up here mostly by accident. My highlight of the premiere was seeing FKA Twigs run right past our row after her win had been announced. Her performance of Cellophane is my go-to crash-out watch, and I was absolutely fangirling seeing her in person.
4 PM – the awards ceremony
After the premiere, we followed the crowd to Crypto Arena, which entailed another long line and desperate attempts to get a peek at the red carpet. Once we got to our seats, which amazingly were in the first row of the lower bowl, the buzz I felt at the premiere was nothing compared to being at the actual show. We sat right above the floor exit, where artists slipped out for bathroom breaks or touch-ups, which means I have about one million blurry, 10x zoomed-in photos of celebrities on my phone that I will cherish forever.
My favorite part of the day, though, was seeing the behind-the-scenes, less glamorous aspects of the show. I loved seeing the crew running around to make sure everything and everyone is in place, the casual chatting during the commercial breaks, and then the sudden hustle afterwards as they count down to the show starting up again, and watching the artists “turn off” and exit the stage after their performances. It humanized these celebrities for me and made everything that usually seems magical and robotic feel so real.
The day only kept getting crazier, and I remember crying as Bruno Mars and Rosé kicked off the show from a mix of excitement, disbelief, and awe. We were able to see Chappell Roan, Tyler the Creator, Charli XCX, Cher, Harry Styles, Sabrina, the list goes on and on. Everything that happened felt impossible, and I couldn’t get over the “what am I even doing here” feeling.
9 PM – cry because it’s over (or smile because it happened?)
You’ve heard of post-concert depression. The crash that I felt after this show was unreal, and I genuinely wasn’t sure if I would be able to return to my normal life as a functioning human. Everything from getting to LAX and making it back to my apartment in Austin just feels like a melancholic flurry of events that I was completely emotionally checked out for.
I’m so grateful to have gone, and I can’t stop recounting every single thing that happened to make sure I never forget a single detail. The biggest shoutout to Ana for giving me my forever fun fact and the most surreal weekend I will ever experience.