In 2016 Smith performed "People Have the Power" at Riverside Church, Manhattan, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Democracy Now. She was joined by Michael Stipe. On December 10, 2016, Smith attended the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm on behalf of Bob Dylan, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, who himself could not be present due to prior commitments. After the official presentation speech for the literary prize by Horace Engdahl, a member of the Swedish Academy, Smith sang the Dylan song "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall". Possibly overcome by nerves she sang "I saw the babe that was just bleedin’", the wrong words to the second verse and became unable to continue. She stopped, and after a brief apology, resumed the song, which earned her a jubilant applause at the end.