Harry Styles is a seasoned performer known for his infectious, bright energy onstage.
That’s why fans found it odd when things seemed off during his Grammy Awards performance Sunday (Feb. 5), where he performed his massive hit “As It Was.”
“He is also shy, he gets his energy from the crowd. The atmosphere the fans create. He had to dance and sing in front of his idols, he was nervous, and he might not be happy with his performance,” one fan theorized on Twitter after the performance aired, chalking up the strange energy to Grammys jitters.
Now, two of his backup dancers are shedding light on what really went down during the show.
One dancer, Brandon Mathis, shared on Instagram Stories that the turntable stage the dancers and Styles were standing on actually started spinning the wrong way at the start of the performance, throwing off the entire choreographed routine.
“At the moment the curtain opened, and it was time to perform, our turntable started spinning in reverse… Backward… Freaking all of us out on live television, and there was nothing we could do to stop it,” Mathis explained.
Mathis said they had rehearsed the piece “perfectly” for a week going in one direction (no pun intended), and they all had to “troubleshoot” the choreography “in real time” to do it in reverse.
“Talk about professionalism,” Mathis noted.
A fan re-posted Mathis’ Stories to TikTok, captioning the clip: “It’s prob why Harry almost tripped…like they rehearsed specific parts and stage directions a certain way and then had to flip it ON THE GRAMMYS STAGE.”
Another dancer, who goes by Dexter on TikTok, shared another perspective in a video that has since been deleted.
“We rehearse[d] for ten days getting down these beautiful formations. Harry did such a good job integrating into it and had a beautiful duet,” Dexter said.
The dancer said they practiced with the turntable moving counterclockwise.
“It was different than anything most of us had ever done before. It was frustrating, and it was difficult, and making all those patterns while something’s moving and having all this spatial awareness…” the dancer continued.
Dexter called it a “wild challenge” and said that they tried to let the technician know the turntable was spinning the wrong way but were unable to get the message across in time.
“To switch all of those patterns around on the spot, having not even walked in that direction… It’s such a special type of balance,” Dexter continued.
“Harry did his best to like be able to walk and reverse everything while he was singing and reverse his entire duet, which is incredible. We were just trying to f—ing stay standing,” the dancer added.