HARRY STYLES and his crew of dancers unexpectedly found themselves rotating the wrong way during a live performance of his hit track As It Was at this week’s Grammy Awards ceremony.
In a nod to the song’s music video, Styles and 12 dancers practiced a routine meant to take place on a giant orbiting platform on the Grammys’ stage.
But the translation from rehearsal to real thing had nearly disastrous results.
According to an article by Variety, two of Styles’ backup dancers took to social media after the show, revealing that a malfunction caused the turntable to turn clockwise instead of counter-clockwise as it had been rehearsed.
“12 of us were on the turntable and we rehearsed for ten days getting down these beautiful formations and sliding off the turntable and Harry did such a good job integrating into it and had a beautiful duet,” explained choreographer Dexter Da Rocha in a now-deleted TikTok.
However, during the live performance, the turntable began spinning the wrong way. There was nothing the performers could do other than improvise in the moment, including Styles.
Another of Styles’ backup dancers, Brandon Mathis, said in another since-deleted TikTok that the technical malfunction required them to “troubleshoot” in real time, doing the piece in reverse instead.
While Mathis’ video is no longer available, keen-eyed TikTokers have posted close-ups of Styles at the beginning of the performance, closing his eyes in what appears to be frustration and rotating his finger potentially trying to alert technicians of the glitch.
On his Instagram, Mathis posted about the performance writing: “From top to bottom this was a once in a life time experience.
“Not only is Styles an actual rockstar, he’s also a kick ass down to earth human being who truly cares about what he’s doing and who he’s doing it with.”
Technical issues, strange mishaps and wardrobe malfunctions are all too common for performers when performing live, but Styles is certainly to be commended for improvising on the spot.
Fortunately, the snafu appeared to be a distant memory for the singer by the end of the evening.
Along with winning album of the year, Styles also picked up a statue for best pop vocal album for Harry’s House, as well as nominations for record of the year, song of the year, best pop solo performance and best music video for As It Was.