Watch: Kesha’s wrenching performance of “Praying” at the 2018 Grammys

Kesha didn’t come to the Grammys to play.

Two hours into the 2018 Grammys, the singer took the stage flanked by an all-star lineup of female singers — including Cyndi Lauper, Camila Cabello, and Julia Michaels — to sing her scorched-earth ballad “Praying.” And Kesha, whose 2017 album Rainbow was one of the most searing and noteworthy of the year, let her voice fly through Madison Square Garden with visceral, righteous fury.

After a fiery, passionate introduction from Janelle Monae affirming the importance of speaking up against widespread sexual abuse across industries, Kesha and her co-stars took the stage in all white. It was a nod to a last-minute Grammys protest honoring the Time’s Up initiative, which had many Grammy guests sporting white roses to keep sexual harassment and assault at the forefront of the evening, no matter the winners. It was, as the Grammys voiceover told the audience before the previous commercial break, “a powerful Grammys moment from Kesha that speaks to our times.”

“Praying” was the first single off Rainbow, Kesha’s first album since her 2014 sexual assault lawsuit against her producer Dr. Luke. It is an explicit rejection of him and all other men who would dare snuff out the light within women they purport to be helping, a raging rebuke of power abuse.

It’s the kind of sentiment that is acceptable and laudable in 2018; in 2014, however, Kesha’s crusade to bring down her alleged abuser was a startling outlier. In fact, she is still beholden to the original contract she tried to get out of, and will indeed keep producing albums under Dr. Luke’s label until said contract runs out.

So no matter how much the Grammys seemed to be patting itself on the back for including this “incredibly powerful and relevant performance,” as host James Corden cringingly called it afterward, Kesha was explicitly outspoken about the abuses she has suffered within the music industry for years before awards show attendees were inspired to sport pins and white roses. She deserved this spotlight, and she used every moment of it to wrenching effect.