Lady Gaga is in the house – and she brought it down with an emotional performance of her best-original-song-nominated track, “Hold My Hand,” at the 2023 Oscars on Sunday night. It was originally reported that the singer, who’s currently filming her next movie, wouldn’t be present at the Dolby Theatre as a performer, however, it seems she tore herself away from the set long enough to pull together a last-minute performance for fans.
Gaga opened up her performance by introducing her song as the one she wrote for best picture nominee “Top Gun: Maverick”; she previously won best original song for “Shallow” from her 2018 film, “A Star Is Born.” The singer, who sported a faded black T-shirt and ripped jeans on stage, also shared a heartfelt spiel about “Hold My Hand”‘s message, saying, “It’s deeply personal for me, and I think that we all need each other.” She added: “We need a lot of love to walk through this life, and we all need a hero sometimes. There’s heroes all around us in unassuming places, but you might find that you can be your own hero, even if you feel broken inside.”
After outlets reported earlier this week that Gaga would not be performing at the Oscars ceremony, as she’s currently filming the “Joker” sequel, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” Variety reported on the day of the show that several sources confirmed she would, in fact, hit the stage.
In fact, all of the best original song nominees performed during this year’s Oscars, including Rihanna, who sang the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” track “Lift Me Up.” “Everything Everywhere All at Once”‘s Stephanie Hsu hit the stage with David Byrne and Son Lux to perform “This Is a Life,” while Sofia Carson and Diane Warren performed a rendition of “Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman”; and “RRR”‘s “Naatu Naatu” was performed by Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava.
Scroll ahead to watch Gaga’s surprise Oscars performance.
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