The 2023 Oscars contain a lot of things: a long list of wins that we can all discuss, beautiful dresses, another live performance by Rihanna this year, and some extreme close-ups of Lady Gaga.
Gaga showed up to perform the original song she wrote for Top gun: Maverick, “Hold my hand.” While the music video is all straight bravado — Gaga donning a combat jacket in front of a wind machine mixed with footage from both Top Gun movies — the Oscars performance was different. On stage, Gaga went for more of an MTV’s Oscars Unplugged look, wearing ripped black jeans and a gray T-shirt.
It also involved the camera pushing her very close — very close. Almost (not quite, never that close, but almost), maybe, too close? But it all seemed to be part of the raw and relatively unfiltered vibe Gaga wanted for the performance. She introduced the song by saying:
I wrote this song with my friend BloodPop for the movie Top gun: Maverick in a studio basement. It’s very personal to me, and I think we all need each other. We need a lot of love to go through this life. And we all need a hero sometimes – there are heroes all around us in humble places. But you may find that you can be your own hero, even if you feel broken inside.
Unfortunately, Gaga did not win the Oscar. But “Naatu Naatu” from RRR won, which is still a win for anyone watching the Oscars. I mean come on, look at this.
