was not important to the Recording Academy or the mainstream music industry at the time, Tommy Mottola, then-chief of Columbia Records, was certain about Martin's stardom and pushed hard to have him on the Grammy Awards ceremony. During an interview with Billboard, Mottola told the magazine about it: "There was tremendous resistance from the Grammys. They did not want an 'unknown' to perform, yet we he had already sold 10 million copies of Vuelve worldwide. To me, that was absolutely UNACCEPTABLE." Finally, on February 24, 1999, cavorting with a 15-piece band alongside and a large number of dancers and percussionists, Martin performed a bilingual version of "La Copa de La Vida" at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, which was greeted with a massive standing ovation and met with acclaim from music critics. Rosie O'Donnell, who hosted the show, said: "I never knew of him before tonight. But I’m enjoying him soooooo much." Billboards Marjua Estevez described the performance as "the most memorable Latin performance at a Grammy Awards show", and the publication ranked it as the 54th Greatest Award Show Performance of All Time on their 2017 list. The performance was additionally placed on a 2017 unranked list of "Top 20 Best Grammy Performances of All Time" by Gold Derby, and on a 2019 list of "The Most Unforgettable Grammys Performances of All Time" by InStyle. In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked it as the 15th Greatest Grammy Performance of All Time, as the only Latin performance on the list. The magazine praised Martin's "enough energy and sex and showmanship" that "melt the room" and labeled the performance "a huge moment for the history of Latin pop in the USA", naming it "easily the biggest star-making moment in Grammy history". They added that "nobody ever forgot his name after this". Crystal Larsen from the Recording Academy described the rendition as colorful, and Frank Tortorici from MTV described it as electrifying. J. Freedom du Lac from The Sacramento Bee called it "magical". NPR staff labeled it "the most memorable part of" the ceremony and described it as "electric". Martin was also nominated for Best Host or Performer of a Variety, Musical or Comedy Special at the 1999 OFTA Television Awards. Besides the 1999 Grammy Awards, Martin performed the song at many live shows, including the MTV Asia Awards, the 1998 Festivalbar, and the halftime show at the Dallas Cowboys-New England Patriots football