Lady Gaga walked the Grammys red carpet last night in this David Bowie-inspired Marc Jacobs gown. Are we calling this a gown? Sure, let’s call it a gown. This Marc Jacobs was, as it turned out, a harbinger of things to come. Gaga was really leaning into the Ziggy Stardust thing, which… I understand if that was her main inclination, but David Bowie was a lot bigger and a lot more significant than just Ziggy Stardust. Anyway, considering Gaga’s fashion was a tribute to Bowie, I feel weird judging it as a standard red-carpet look. So, whatever, it’s fine for what it is. It looks a bit amateurish for Marc Jacobs, but it’s fine.
As for Gaga’s tribute to Bowie… we knew she was the only one doing the tribute, just as she’s the only artist (this year) performing at the Grammys, Super Bowl and Oscars. I was expecting it to be The Gaga Show, but it wasn’t. You could tell that she worked hard (vocally) on the Bowie medley and she really wanted to show respect. But… but… but…
Lady Gaga – David Bowie Tribute (2016 Grammys) by musictrending
Yeah. I liked the first part, but Gaga’s vocals and performance fell apart as the medley wore on, and it became more obvious that producers should have gotten multiple performers to do a Bowie medley. When it came time for “Heroes,” that’s when I started to get mad. Gaga f—ked up one of Bowie’s most beautiful songs because she was too busy trying to act like Mick Jagger or something.
Also: I still think Gaga’s voice sounds really different these days. Almost like Gaga has been replaced. Does this make me a Gaga Truther?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
She was just a cheap GAGA impersonator singing a few David Bowie songs, he was more than just a dressup artist…he was a true performer and this felt extremely underwhelming. It was a bad performance
They should’ve had different pictures of Bowie in the back round.
They should’ve used different performers for each song.
Gaga should go back to singing with Tony Bennett
Bowie might have said, “it’s not your best, Gaga”, but I don’t want to slam her too much… Those are huge shoes to fill.
Seems Bowie’s son agree with you: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2016/02/16/david-bowies-son-takes-aim-lady-gagas-grammy-tribute/80448424/
Apparently, he feels that she was using his father’s passing as an excuse for self promotion. Gaga, a self promoter who makes things all about her? No way. (Eye roll).
I thought she was great!!
My thoughts exactly. She was baaaaaad.
I thought it was disjointed and not well thought out. She threw in everything but the kitchen sink and it turned in to a cluster f*%k. It was not worthy of David Bowie.
^^^ yes that’s the word I was looking for cluster….
Doodle: Cluster Fu!k pretty much sums it up. Excellent phrase of which I’m sure will be repeated by me on more than one occasion today.
Agreed. I don’t see what all the hoopla is about this woman. I’m a 60’s girl and this woman just makes me think about the Elton John weird-ass get ups he used to put on to perform. At least he had musical talent…that usurped the weirdo factor. She just makes me think of a Madonna-wanna-be.
A cluster f#$k is an excellent description.
Her voice was on par, sounded great, but it looked like a really bad Vegas show in a cheap hotel.
I’m not blaming GaGa necessarily for this I’m blaming who ever came up with the idea to do it like that.
The applause at the end feel ”polite”.
Not as strong if everyone was blown away.
Still would have been better if different artists would have done it, but now it’s done so lets move on.
Blaming Gaga all the way. She and her team orchestrated the whole thing with Intel. Gaga knew exactly what she wanted. Gaga gets what she wants.
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/02/lady-gaga-2016-grammys-david-bowie-performance-video
She will be David Bowie for her next album, watch out.
I’m rolling my eyes already.
Gaga doing Gaga doing Bowie! The ‘tribute’ made me mad! As some have said David was much more than a few costume changes and computer graphics. Only at the end do we get to see the magnificent man and a blur at that. And yes I agree completely with her f-king up Heroes. What was that strut????
Yes I agree he was such a monumental figure he deserved an all star tribute by other musical giants who he worked /was friends with. I think the commercial for Intel / house of gaga really cheapened the whole performance also and was insulting. No wonder David’s son tweeted something of a WTF response! RIP Bowie you deserved better!
Gaga is like the ultimate theater kid who actually got famous- she’s talented, yes, but she gets so carried away by PERFORMING! that she just comes off as a desperate amateur. Bowie deserved more/better.
yeah he deserved a whole stage of musicians paying homage. This is the same man that planned his goodbye album, goodbye video. Brilliant mind & musician till the very end. I’ve been saying for years Gaga just mimics Bowie, as many other musicians have done over the years. Even Madonna. He deserved a much bigger & more diverse tribute.
I 100% agree that the Bowie tribute fell incredibly short of honoring his legacy. It just left me depressed, especially at the end when his face was projected up on the screen in a sort of warped manner.
But I think the majority of the blame should not be put on GaGa, and rather be placed on the producers/creative directors responsible for organizing the tribute to begin with. They could have asked anybody in music industry to participate, and most musicians would likely have jumped at the chance to honor Bowie. Imo, it was just lazy/sloppy planning and execution courtesy of the Grammy production team. Very sad and not worthy of one of the greats like David Bowie.
Yeah, it was all costuming and goofy dancing. It should have been all about his music. How wonderful would it have been to have a group of artists each sing part of a song and then join together for the last one? That would have paid proper tribute.
I do think she has a good voice most of the time, but there was just too much other stuff going on to appreciate it, or focus on his music.
Terrible performance. Couldn’t even watch the whole thing. Should have just done a medley or Montage of bowie doing his own songs. That would have been great.
Agreed. It was completely affected and cringeworthy. Not moving at all. And it felt to me like it was hardly about Bowie — it was all about her. A montage of Bowie himself would have been far better.
And her red carpet look was just…yuck. That clownish red wig, also cringeworthy.
It was cringeworthy. As a number of people have said, it felt like a bad Vegas tribute act. Bad production all around, from the lack of Bowie images or footage to Gaga’s performance, and should have had multiple performers — ill conceived and poorly executed.
The voice has not changed at all. If you want, go back and google Speechless. She’s always had a powerful voice. Second of all, you know it’s a TRIBUTE, right? She’s not Bowie himself, so it’ll be hard for anyone to convey his stage presence. I wasn’t particularly blown away, only because Gaga always goes above and beyond. Everyone needs to relax. It’s not like she shat on Bowie’s career.
Thanks for this! Totally agreed – she could ALWAYS sing, and well. And this is a tribute, stop slagging her just because the doesn’t sound EXACTLY like Bowie.
I can’t speak for everyone but I have no problem with the fact she didn’t sound like Bowie. My problem was that the whole thing seemed like a cheesy Vegas impersonator performance, when it really should have been — as Poop said — a tribute.
Agreed, Esmom. I felt the same way. I mentioned to my husband while we were watching that it wasn’t a tribute at all .. and that I remembered when John Mayer was asked to play at Michael Jackson’s memorial. He was told that MJ thought he was a great talent. He did his own tribute, by only playing the melody of Human Nature on his guitar .. and that was such a moving, beautiful tribute. He paid homage to the amazing songwriting / composing of MJ but didn’t try to impersonate him.
I felt like gaga was almost mockingly impersonating Bowie. (just FYI I’m neutral on Bowie… didn’t grow up with his music.)
I agree. I think no matter what she did (whether she put her own spin on it or did it exactly like Bowie) people would have hated on it.
This! I’m just glad she made it trough relatively unscathed. She would be torn to pieces here otherwise.
Yes I knew she’s be hated on here but I loved it! I thought it was great, she really worked hard to put it together and it was amazing
Pretty much.
For her Superbowl performance, it sounded to me like she’s trying to sing in a lower register somehow.
I refuse to watch her Bowie tribute.
I was interested in what she was going to wear because one of my social media friends is a relative of her stylist for both the Superbowl and this performance. I don’t know if it’s hair and makeup, too, or just her clothes. I think this outfit is okay, but don’t like the makeup and hair at all.
I’m not a fan of Lady Gaga but one thing that always impresses me is her balance ,how do you walk in shoes like that? I would look like bambi on ice.
What. The. Fudge. Was. THAT?!
They should have left the whole thing as it was at the start. The projection on her face was cool, her voice was great, it was intimate, ballad like, far more fitting for a tribute of a beloved icon.
But THEN it blossomed into an over enthusiastic coke-induced mom dance cluster f*ck more fitting for an American Idol finale than a Grammy’s performance by an artist of any calibre trying to pay tribute to David friggin’ Bowie
I’ve had enough of Gaga. She should leave for a decade or two.
They need to stop asking Gaga to perform tributes. Granted she killed the Julie Andrews one at the Oscars but Bowie was always going to be out of her league. They should have got a male singer or at least had more than one performer.
Well, she was no better and no worse than all the other sickly tributes awards shows seem to want to show us. It’s all like an extension of the Hallmark industry. Superficial and devoid of all understanding of whatever any particular artist actually stood for. Even identity-bending Bowie. Do the organisers never cringe when they watch the rehearsals?
Quite why karaoke performances are thought to be appropriate memorials for artists, I will never understand.
Tributes are an extension of the Hallmark industry.
Wow! Sixer, you nailed it.
^This! Thisity this!
It was too much Gaga, too little Bowie.
Wish they had asked multiple artists from different genres to do a tribute.
I hated it. She made it all about herself, as usual. I don’t like her schtick, but she has a nice voice and it usually saves her performances, but this time she unnecessarily tried to imitate Bowie’s voice and it was way too low for her, which compared with shortness of breath caused by dancing, made this performance not only unwatchable, but also almost unlistenable. She also completely failed at honoring the way he performed and acted on stage. Depending on a song – she danced, moved and acted like a bad Michael Jackson, Elvis or Jagger impersonator. Bowie liked to dress up and put on unique personas, but his performances were always mainly about singing and music and she was so focused on keeping up with the dancers, that she made singing the least important part. To say something nice – in my opinion the only part that was relatively good was the beginning, with Space Oddity – very nice visuals and her voice sounded pretty nice as she was still standing in place. But other songs – especially Ziggy Stardust, sounded from bad to awful.
I don’t think “hate” is a strong enough word for how I felt about that “tribute.” It showed promise at the start, then disintegrated into a steaming pile of poo.
LOL “a steaming pile of poo”. As funny as that sounds, it’s absolutely true. She blew it.
It can be called a coatdress probably.
She should have just sang them beautifully. That’s what he deserved. 🙁
Like so many people, I loved loved loved Bowie. I don’t have strong feelings about Gaga (though I don’t think she was an ideal choice for the tribute, maybe a commercially savvy one to guarantee viewership, but that’s t.v. of course.).
What I am surprised at is this: Gaga has become SO corny and her performances laden with treacly sentimentality.
It’s such a turn from her early days, skewering celebrity culture and exploiting its possibilities at the same time.
Im just here to say I love her outfit for the red carpet. THAT is a Grammy’s ensemble and I think it’s great. It’s entertaining, fun, bright, bold and badass.
I’ve been saying all along I wanted the old Gaga back. Now I realize I don’t want her back either.
Ha, you are cute.
She is so creepy. Her vibe… It’s so desperate and needy and try-hard. Everything she does. It’s the complete opposite of what David Bowie was about. Just, no.
Nailed it. Bowie was the epitome of cool, and her performance was anything but. It wasn’t a tribute, it was “The Gaga Show”.
Yes, this!
That’s what I was trying to explain to my son last night. He loves Gaga, and while the beginning was cool, it went all down hill after that. I felt like I was in Vegas watching a Bowie impersonator. I was worried about this from the minute it was announced, and rightfully so. Bowie was so much more than Ziggy and costume changes. Would have been interesting to have different people/groups/genres take on his work to truly show his influence.
Vegas show act is what I got from her performance, they tried to jam to many songs into a short time frame, they should have had the cast of Lazarus sing a song in tribute. I’m tired of Gaga.
Terrible. Not worthy of David Bowie at all. First of all, it looks like a vegas show. It was too literal. She WAS impersonating ziggy stardust which is meant to fail just because. Second, Bowie was a chameleon, he brought so many characters and personalities to life. He was larger than life because he changed with time mentaining the core. So probably getting multiple artists impersonating (if you decide to go that risky way at all) him as different caracters would have been better. You know what I think could have been best – inviting different artists of both genders, different ages and rases and allowing them do their inerpretations of Bowie’s songs. That would be respectful at least and would speak to his massive impact on pop culture. And still what bothers me the most is that there needs to be a Bowie tribute at all
It was better than I expected. It was entertaining but I didn’t expect it to be a literal Bowie through the years medley of music and fashion tribute. I was hoping it would be Bowie inspired not a replica of what he had done. I appreciate the variety show production, it was very Elton John-ish. Reminds me of the movie Velvet Goldmine, which I love, btw. It was nice to see Raphael Saadiq on bass. I’m sure Bowie would have loved it. What was sad was the Lemmy Kilmster tribute. I know Motörhead isn’t a big thing here but Lemmy deserved a better tribute.
Well, first of all this was a thankless job no matter what but I agree with everyone who said it was like a Vegas show. Bowie was theatrical but not Vegas’y–I can’t imagine what anyone was thinking with this. The thing that annoyed me the most is that Bowie shed all of his characters in the 70s and wanted to be known as a good songwriter–not a facade. The focus should have been on the songs.
I think her choice to ADOPT HIS LOOK in this way is very attention-seeking. It’s more impersonation than tribute, which feels a bit. . . disrespectful, to me. Like she missed the point.
All I saw by the end of it was an orange-haired Elvis. ???
I had a bad feeling when she films herself getting a big Bowie tattoo two days before and then before the red carpet,getting her makeup put on, she tweets an upclose photo of tears streaming down her face while makeup is being applied, and she’s listening to Bowie as it’s being applied. So when did she decide in the middle of “allegedly genuine tears falling down her cheeks” to take a snap of it?
I got mad. She was milking this and making it about herself. But I tried to let my anger over that look-at-me-I’m-sobbing-over-Bowie snap and be open to her performance.
First, I did love her Marc Jacobs red carpet outfit. I thought it was gorgeous. I didn’t like the Bowie orange hair. I didn’t think she needed to go that far to tribute Bowie.
Now for the performance. She was fully committed to it and was a professional, and it seemed promising at first. But, I agree, it fell apart in the middle. Her vocals weren’t right for some of the songs, but okay. I didn’t like her costume on stage.
I guess I felt cheated of watching a transcendent performance moving me, instead of her rushing from song to song, with no time to get into any song. And I didn’t feel she captured the essence of Bowie, just a cheap imitation of him visually. But it wasn’t horrible. It was fine for what it was.
Bowie’s son wasn’t impressed either. He tweeted what is the word for this definition immediately after the performance. The word he was referencing was “gaga” after I looked up what he tweeted. I think he’s emotional about his father and tweeted what he felt right after, which was maybe a frenetic Vegas performance, when he would have preferred musicians honoring him maybe? Tony Visconti also stayed quiet on her performance but tweeted during the Grammys about Kendrick Lamar and said his “friend” would have loved Kendrick’s performance. He didn’t answer a question what he thought about Gaga.
Duncan’s tweet.
“”overexcited or irrational, typically as a result of infatuation or excessive enthusiasm; mentally confused.” Damn it! What IS that word!?”
Duncan’s tweet is hysterical. I was actively hoping Iman wasn’t watching it, but I’m sorry Bowie’s son was.
Duncan is getting a barrage of hate tweets from Gaga fans. Really inappropriate and Gaga herself would probably be horrified by that.
she’s such a phony.
Her tribute may not have been the best, but it was respectful. It was a nice gesture. In this situation being that it’s a tribute and Lady Gaga seems to respect Bowie as an artist, I thought Duncan’s tweet was rude.
Rude? It was is dad’s song she was trying to sing!!!
He can say whatever the heck he wants Paige.
It was an error on the Grammys part to have her do it all by herself.
I hope the MTV by seeing this will do the right thing on there up coming award show.
Maybe she could have asked the family before she did it? That would have been the respectful thing to do. The fact that she didn’t liaise with them makes it more about her than about him. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with his son’s tweet at all. Duncan clearly wasn’t pleased but he could have really laid into her and he didn’t. It must be frustrating when your Dad went to so much trouble to die quietly, privately and with dignity, and then his death becomes a pop culture circus. If the Grammy’s wanted to honour Bowie they should have talked to his family, and they should have had people who knew him and worked with him do it like Mick Jagger, Annie Lennox, Tina Turner etc.
Paige, it wasn’t rude. If anything it showed he was sitting there scratching his head wondering wtf he just watched….like most of us. I appreciate the fact that she tried but unfortunately she failed big time. The whole thing was a complete mess.
Something nice: I kinda like the coat.
Thats all
While she put a lot of effort into it, after the first bit, it falls flat. She shouldn’t have tried to carry the whole thing because it becomes obvious that she was trying to do too many things in a very short space of time. The only thing this tribute makes me want to do is turn it off and actually listen to David Bowie.
Her effort was appreciated, but the tribute just didn’t do it for me. I watched the agrammy’s only for her performance, and I was most disappointed, especially after Adele’s lackluster performance.
Hecate, what did you and your Mister think about the tribute?
Eh, bad karaoke. Genuinely don’t see why she was given the sole honor of paying tribute, would have been more interesting to see several artists. Also “Let’s Dance”, really? It did make me want to get drunk and watch Velvet Goldmine, for whatever that’s worth!
Also are we going to talk about the crappy tribute to Glenn Frey (not the actual tribute, that was moving and sad), but the treatment of it by the Grammys? There couldn’t have been another song covered by a decent artist, as opposed to Lionel Ritchie or whatever?
I was expecting something great but NO. Very disappointing. Although not particularly a fan of hers, I’ve seen Gaga do other tributes that I thought were great She definitely needed help up there and I agree her voice just sounded bizzare, like she was trying to do a Liza Minnelli impersonation. I actually enjoyed the Lionel Richie much, much more.
I get that Gaga may not be everyone’s cup of tea and naturally, expectations for this or anyone doing tribute would be sooo high etc. I agree that other artists like Annie Lennox would have been better, but I think some of the points against Gaga is way harsh. No one can replace Bowie or even come close to his charisma and fan expectations. Also it is a tribute and it is obvious that she was committed etc. True it is not the amazing tribute that most fans wanted. I think who ever decided to cram so many songs into this medley to cover his amazing career in a 6 minutes time span made a bad call. They should have her sing parts of his 3 tops songs etc. I think in her own way, she tried and I give her kudos for it.
The problem is that it didn’t feel like tribute. It felt like this was more about Gaga than Bowie.
Something was off. She tried her best but it fell flat. It was like Jagger doing Bowie looking like Elvis on a Wii Dance party
I’m not a David Bowie fan but even I know that was bad.
But watch this and you will melt. Have you ever seen such chemistry on stage during a duet? He adored Tina.
Tina Turner and David Bowie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7icGpchTH4c
Hated it. It was more about Lady Gaga than David Bowie. David Bowie was authentically “weird.” Lady Gaga is manufactured weird.
The problem I had with it is it was just Lady Gaga singing Bowie songs. It didn’t feel like a tribute. It didn’t even feel like a good impersonation. It was just usual Gaga. And I say this as a fan of hers.
I’m not gonna be a musical snob and sh*t on Gaga because pulling off a tribute to David Bowie would be hard for anyone. I’m a musician so I can appreciate that she did put a lot of work into it and also that she’s a great vocalist & pianist. That said…
I think it would have ended better & stronger if she had finished with “I’m Afraid of Americans” and leave on that note to begin Kendrick Lamar’s set. That would have set the place on fire!
It just wasn’t good, overly rushed and gimmicky. I would have preferred either fewer songs or more artist to carry the performance.
And shame on anyone that heckles Duncan.
I would have loved to see the many artists who worked with him preform as well. Or the bands he had such an obviously big influence on like Arcade Fire in particular or Cage the Elephant even. Gaga is the only popular choice I suppose but if you are gonna do Bowie do it right and do it big.
Sigh. Failure.
I used to consider myself a fan of hers, but I’m done. I just can’t with this woman anymore. Whoever authorized this “tribute” should be fired.
I deliberately avoided watching it as I knew it wouldn’t cut it! I would have liked a montage of photos/clips set to his music. I don’t think he would have like the choice of Gaga; didn’t he refuse her request to work together?
Even though I agree though that the performance was mixed, I’m not sure there would have been a better (mainstream) artist with the genuine admiration for Bowie and the showmanship to pull it off. She did about as good as possible when you’re only singing a few bars of about a dozen songs… I always hate that. It never sounds anything but awkward. I would have liked to just see her at the piano playing “Heroes” or “Changes” because I think she could have rocked those if she had just been able to slow down and play a full song.
it was one big embarrassment…. for her. And it clearly demonstrated the difference between a true genuine talent and a gimmicky impostor. Bowie was class and Gaga was vulgar.
This was a tribute performance. Not David Bowie. She did a great job of paying homage to an artist who has obviously had a huge impact on her. Whether you like her music or not, you have to give her props for working with Nile Rodgers and for clearly putting a lot of work into that performance.
Funny you say that because i thought Gaga was trying WAY too hard to be Bowie instead of paying tribute to the man. It was gimmicky, tacky and not at all good.
This stuff just continues to piss me off! Don’t let a pop/dance queen do a tribute to a rock icon! It was predictable stupid & cheesy! Bowie himself would have turned the channel! Where was Iggy, Ian Hunter, Trent Reznor & the surviving Spiders? That’s who should have done it! Gaga is a disco pop star She’s got nothing to do with Rock & Roll! Except for being one of the many who continue to kill it! No matter who she plays with or how much she wants you to believe it! She just wants everyone to love her! Well no one hates her more than relevant Rock,Metal & music fans!
She’s a Uber Maddonabe/Corperate whore milking it for all its worth even as Taylor Swift stole her thunder a while ago! It seems the industry love her so much she could fart in a microphone & they’d give her an award! Enuff already! Go do a Vegas revue or something & leave the integrity & defiance to the only place you’ll find it these days…the underground/indie scene!
Rock at this point is a damaged put prodigal child & Pop stars like her are the “molesters”!
Harsh yes but, poinant!
Leave it alone!!
Some of you don’t agree? Fine!
Doesn’t make it any less true!
You types don’t count anyway..
Cause you don’t get it!
Hated it so much. Definitely not worthy of Bowie. At all.
I also just don’t think a female voice worked doing all the songs, with no male singers participating on any songs.
Here’s the best tribute of all. Bowie himself in his 50s singing Rebel Rebel and Heroes. Perfection. And he’s adorable joking with the audience. So charming.
Heroes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsYp9q3QNaQ
Rebel REbel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fICcfY3r7YE
After last night, I’ve seen enough of Gaga (and Swift) to last me a lifetime. My vote:
http://giphy.com/gifs/hated-it-men-on-films-in-living-color-xTiTnCwW8XsS6j238A
+1000000
It was not good. People are saying it looked like a Vegas tribute act, but it wasn’t even on that level. More like the kind of act that skips Vegas and plays at a small venue in Reno. The parts where she was trying to imitate his more unique vocal mannerisms were cringeworthy.
Bowie wasn’t a fan of her at all and he made that known after she kept pathetically trying to connect herself to him, so she was really an incredibly inappropriate choice.
Irony of ironies, when I saw her, I thought she looked exactly like a young Angie Bowie!
Her thing is cheap & over the top stunts. It’s the opposite of what David Bowie was about. She should have sang one part of the tribute, and they should have thrown in some actual friends and collaborators of Bowie if they wanted it to mean something.
Wow, just went to watch. Hated it. That was a caricature not a tribute.
Her voice is fine. It’s her attitude that is the problem. She’s so far up her own butt. No sense of humbleness.
You hear stories about how low key and kind David Bowie was when in everyday life. Gaga I can imagine sending her assistant out for something trivial at 2am.
They should have let other artists be involved.
I am a huge Gaga fan, but I hated this tribute A LOT. I don’t enjoy being a hater, but what a train wreck. Who decided on the vomit-style medley? I would have rather just heard her do more complete versions of “Major Tom”, ” Fashion”, and “Heroes”. The transitions were far too frequent, and I don’t think any could have pulled it off successfully. I really hope that was a producer error and Gaga didn’t have any say. I mean so cheap and wreckless to try to pay tribute to that many songs in so little time. Truly a sad mess.
I expected it to be a little more spectacular. The parts where she tried to sound like Bowie as she sang were terrible.