Lady Gaga paid a psychedelic tribute to the late British rock visionary David Bowie with a transformative performance at the 2016 Grammy Awards ceremony today.
The 29-year-old artiste, who is also a 6-time Grammy winner, arrived at the awards dressed in an outfit that channeled David’s signature androgynous look, sporting a bright, blue embellished jacket-dress, and bright orange hair.
Lady Gaga has always been an admirer of Bowie, crediting the musician for inspiring her sound and aesthetic. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter prior to his death, Gaga shared, “When I fell in love with David Bowie, I was living on the Lower East Side. I always felt that his glamor was something he was using to express a message to people that was very healing for their souls.”
She added, “He is a true, true artiste and I don’t know if I ever went, ‘Oh, I’m going to be that way like this,’ or if I arrived upon it slowly, realising it was my calling and that’s what drew me to him.”
Her tribute, which involved a multimedia song-and-dance performance, filled with special effects and costume changes, sought to capture the boundary-pushing essence that was David Bowie’s career as an eclectic icon.
Lady Gaga kicked off her astonishing stage with “Space Oddity”, appearing on-screen with just her head mutating with Aladdin Sane makeup – a nod to one of David’s many personas. She then moved to a piano featuring hydraulics before performing full choreography to a slew of David’s most popular hits:
- Space Oddity
- Changes
- Ziggy Stardust
- Suffragette City
- Rebel Rebel
- Fashion
- Fame
- Under Pressure
- Let’s Dance
- Heroes
“Let’s Dance” and “Black Tie White Noise” producer Nile Rodgers, who also directed Lady Gaga’s performance, joined in on guitar for the second half of the tribute, which ended with “Heroes”.
Watch her performance below:
David Bowie, a forerunner of Lady Gaga’s brand of provocative, gender-bending performance imagery, passed away on 10th January after a long battle with liver cancer. News of his illness came as a shock to his fans as he had kept it a secret from all but a handful of people.
Days before his death, he released, “Blackstar”, his 25th and final studio album, to coincide with his 69th birthday.
Sources: The Verge, Reuters via MMO, Rolling Stone / Featured image from TIME.
