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While musical stardust is secondary during the Academy Awards, Sunday’s ceremony still offered enough auditory high-wattage to entertain in between all those film clips.
Lady Gaga added some drama to the proceedings, deciding at the 11th hour to sing “Hold My Hand,” her nominated song from “Top Gun: Maverick.” The show’s executive producer Glenn Weiss announced last week that the superstar was unable to perform because of her filming schedule on “Joker: Folie à Deux,” in which she plays Harley Quinn.
Her inclusion solidified a marquee performance lineup of 2023 best original song nominees. Including:
- A fresh-from-Super-Bowl triumph Rihanna performing “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
- David Byrne, Stephanie Hsu and Son Lux offering the ethereal “This Is A Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
- Perennial Oscar favorite Diane Warren paired with Sofia Carson for “Applause” from “Tell It Like A Woman”
- The hip-twisting, heel-kicking duo of Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava making their Oscar debut with “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR.”
Here’s a look at how the live performances landed:
Lady Gaga ‘Hold My Hand’
Lady Gaga fans got a nice surprise Sunday afternoon when it was announced, despite the Oscars’ producer saying she couldn’t perform due to filming commitments, the multihyphenate would, indeed, take the stage to sing her “Top Gun: Maverick” song.
Likely with little time to prepare a Gaga-esque spectacle, the world-class belter, clad in a dark T-shirt, ripped pants and Converse, relied on her mega-vocals in the most affecting performance of the show.
“We need a lot of love to walk through this life and we all need a hero sometimes,” Gaga said before starting the song, her voice quivering with emotion. “There are heroes all around us in unassuming places. You might find you can be your own hero, even if you feel broken inside.”
The camera stayed close to her makeup-free face, so close that you could see her chapped lips and dark roots of her braided blond hair.
With a piano as her primary backup – and eventually, the rest of her equally casually clad band joining in – Gaga furrowed her brow and soared, electrifying the otherwise mundane ballad.
Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava ‘Naatu Naatu’
The first full-scale performance spectacle among this year’s crop, the “RRR” nominee display was not only as lavish as a Broadway production, but a showcase for some spectacularly fleet footwork.
The coordinated heel-and-hip-heavy moves traditional to Bollywood requires amazing leg strength and likely inspired more than a few viewers to hit the leg press tomorrow.
“Naatu Naatu” might not be the most deeply emotional of the nominated songs, but the infectious joy it inspires – and the fact that somehow, suspenders became a notable prop in the performance – is worthy of the attention it’s garnered as the front-runner to snag the best song Oscar.
David Byrne, Stephanie Hsu and Son Lux ‘This Is A Life’
The combination of experimental trio Son Lux, Oscar-nominated actress Stephanie Hsu and ever-quirky Talking Heads frontman David Byrne meshed for an expectedly idiosyncratic performance.
The song, a combination of lilting and plodding, is an appropriate fit for the equally unusual “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” Byrne – sporting the hot dog fingers that have become a touchpoint of the movie – and Hsu, in a feathered dress, were surrounded by a cadre of dancers-turned-acrobats as they unspooled the few lyrics of the song, which is more of a series of phrases absent a fully-formed melody.
The pair, initially performing a few feet apart in front of Son Lux, met in the middle of the small stage to clasp hands (or, in Byrne’s case, rubbery fingers) as the dancers fell to the ground in a coordinated circle.
Hsu filled in for the song’s original female contributor, Mitski, who co-wrote the piece with Byrne and Son Lux’s Ryan Lott.
Byrne previously won an Oscar in 1987 for best original score for “The Last Emperor.”
Sofia Carson and Diane Warren ‘Applause’
Standing center stage in a beige cape and gown, singer/actress/former Disney star Sofia Carson infused the slight ballad with plenty of emotion.
With a string section adding texture and iconic songwriter Diane Warren backing her on piano, Carson stood under a halo of light. Midway through, she edged to the front of the stage to speak-sing to “all the women in the world … give yourself some applause” before diving into the big-note chorus with a choir backing her.
It isn’t one of Warren’s most robust compositions – she was finally bestowed with an honorary Oscar for the 2022 season – but the “Tell It Like A Woman” offering showcases her predilection for writing soaring, inspirational songs.
The pair embraced at song’s end, with Carson making sure Warren got some well-deserved … applause.
Everything Oscars all at once
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