Grammys 2018: Bruno Mars and Cardi B just brought some life to the show

The ’90s were strong with Cardi B and Bruno Mars as “Finesse” came to the stage of the 2018 Grammys … and the censors slipped a little bit.

Were I running the lineup of the Grammys this year, I probably would have put Cardi B and Bruno Mars at the end of the show, just because there was no chance that they wouldn’t absolutely bring the house down. Even Trevor Noah, who took the stage right afterwards, asked everyone to give the two performers another round of applause.

How could you not? Cardi B opened, Bruno Mars came to the stage, did a dance break, and then Cardi returned for a new verse. All of this was accomplished, of course, while they wore some incredibly ’90s outfits. There was even a sign in the back that had the song’s title — “Finesse,” in case you have managed to avoid the song since it dropped earlier this year.

As the song goes, they were “out there drippin’ in finesse.” It’s that simple. Perhaps the censors weren’t paying attention, either — you can clearly hear a couple swear words slip through, at least on the CBS broadcast.

It brought what had been so far a pretty sedate Grammys back to life. Granted, it’s pretty hard to not enjoy “Finesse” and dance along when it comes on. The crowd reaction shots actually looked good for once.

Mars himself could take home awards like Song of the Year for “That’s What I Like” or even Album of the Year with 24K Magic on top of his Best R&B Album win already tonight. “Finesse,” of course, debuted on the album in question, although the new version with Cardi B is more recent.

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Cardi B, however, has not taken home any awards tonight — but hey, a big performance on the Grammys could raise her visibility even more after her bursting onto the scene with both “Bodak Yellow” and “Finesse.”