Harry Styles opens 63rd Grammy Awards with sexy, soulful ‘Watermelon Sugar’

Harry Styles opened the 63rd Grammy Awards Sunday night in low-key but sexy fashion with a sultry take on his hit “Watermelon Sugar.�

Wearing matching black-leather trousers and a jacket — but no shirt to conceal his sinewy frame — the former boy-band heartthrob led a crafty live band, which included Blood Orange’s Devonté Hynes on bass, through the disco-kissed pop jam from his “Fine Line� album.

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Styles, a former member of the British boy band One Direction, is nominated for two Grammys due to be handed out on Sunday’s CBS telecast: pop vocal album for “Fine Line� and pop solo performance for “Watermelon Sugar.� (The award for best music video, which Beyoncé won with “Brown Skin Girl,� was presented before the show.)

Those three nods make Styles perhaps a bit less decorated than is typical of the Grammys’ opening act; other artists who’ve done the job in recent years include Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, Adele and last year’s opener, Lizzo, who led the field of 2020 nominees.

But Styles has a clear advocate in his close friendship with the Grammys’ executive producer, Ben Winston, who’s worked with Styles on many occasions (including One Direction’s charming episode of “Carpool Karaoke�) and even asked the singer to be the godparent to one of his children.

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March 14, 2021