“From the time I was a little kid I always dreamed about performing on the GRAMMYs,” Skylar Grey told Radio.com.

Her dream finally came true in 2011 when she took the stage alongside Eminem and Dr. Dre to perform “I Need a Doctor.”

“That was my ultimate dream. Every year I looked forward to watching them and watching the performances,” Grey said.

“Honestly, for the three months leading up to the GRAMMYs I had a feeling that I was going to be performing even though I hadn’t heard any confirmation that we actually were,” she confessed. “I just had this gut feeling and I was so nervous that I lost weight.”

For three months Skylar was hardly eating. When she finally got confirmation the week before the GRAMMYs that she’d be performing she hired a stylist to get her GRAMMY ready.

“It was really exciting! Not only just to be performing at the GRAMMYs but to be up there with Eminem and Dr. Dre, two legends. It was incredible,” she said. “The energy in that room when we were up on that stage is probably something I’ll never get to feel again. It was insane. Also to be nominated. I think I’ve been up for 5 GRAMMYs total now and that’s pretty cool.”

Citing the GRAMMYs as the “most prestigious music award,” Skylar said to be nominated was validating.

“It made me feel like everything I had done and worked for in my life all made sense. Nobody ever said, ‘You’re not good enough.’ They were supportive of my talents but I don’t think they believed that it would ever go that far because it’s so hard,” she explained. “Getting nominated for a GRAMMY changes everybody’s perspective of it.”

Ed Sheeran, fun., Miguel, the Lumineers, and Frank Ocean will follow in Skylar’s footsteps and perform on the GRAMMY stage for the first time this Sunday on CBS.

-Annie Reuter, Radio.com