Stripped down Lady Gaga performs ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ song: ‘You can be your own hero’
Tom Cruise may have skipped the show due to filming constraints, but Lady Gaga appeared to perform an astonishing, unadorned “Hold My Hand” from ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ at the 2023 Oscars.
Tom Cruise is physically distant from the 2023 Oscars. In fact, he’s in the United Kingdom filming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part II. But Lady Gaga proved more than a worthy ambassador, performing “Hold My Hand” from the blockbuster action sequel.
The emotionally bare performance arrived in the wake of major speculation. Initially, it was just a rumor: she wasinitially reported to be skipping the awards show due to demands on filming “Joker: Folie à Deux.” During a creative team press conference on March 8, Oscars executive producer and showrunner Glenn Weiss stated that Gaga would not be performing.
But the 13-time GRAMMY winner came through with an astonishing rendition of “Hold My Hand” — one of six nominations that Top Gun: Maverick received, including Best Picture.
Keep watching this space for more music-related wins at the 2023 Oscars!
The singer gave a surprise performance after it was originally reported she wouldn’t be making an appearance at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Lady Gaga once again hit the Oscars stage, this time with a surprise performance of “Hold My Hand,” singing a raw rendition of the song from “Top Gun: Maverick.”
The performance at the 2023 Oscars started with Lady Gaga sitting on a stool in a black T-shirt, jeans and sneakers with her hair in a braid. She introduced the song by saying it was written in her studio basement with a friend.
“It’s deeply personal for me,” she said. “And I think that we all need each other. We need a lot of love to walk through this life. And we all need a hero sometimes.”
She continued, “But you might find that you can be your own hero, even if you feel broken instead.”
Gaga was accompanied at first just by a keyboardist. As the song continued, it built to an epic rock ballad, before concluding with the singer belting the last words: “I heard from the heavens.”
Gaga was formerly reported to be unavailable for the award show, citing filmmaking conflicts from the upcoming “Joker” sequel.
“It didn’t feel like she can get a performance to the caliber that we’re used to with her and that she is used to. So, she is not going to perform on the show,” Oscars producer Glenn Weiss said in a previous statement, per Variety.
The surprise news came just a few hours before the start of the ceremony. Before her performance, the singer stunned in a black dress, with a wide skirt and sheer long-sleeved top, making her one of many stars seeming to emulate Wednesday Addams.
Some fans commented on the disconnect between the drama of the performance compared to the tenor of the action movie “Top Gun: Maverick.”
“You don’t have to pretend the top gun song is deeply personal to you, gaga,” one Twitter user wrote. “It’s the top gun song. it’s for the movie with the planes. it’s the one where they fly fast.”
Another likened it to a “Monster Inc.” meme.
“The camera panning to Lady Gaga sitting like this,” they commented.
“Hold My Hand” was nominated for best original song, making Gaga the first artist to receive three nominations in that category. Previously, she was nominated for “Til It Happens to You” from “The Hunting Ground” in 2015 and “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born” in 2019.
Others performances from the big night included Rihanna, Sofia Carson, Diane Warren, Stephanie Hsu, David Byrne, Son Lux, and Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava.