Is it really an Oscars ceremony if Lady Gaga isn't there?
The actress and global superstar made a surprise appearance (and performance) at the 95th annual Academy Awards on Sunday. The Oscar winner was nominated once again in the Best Song category for her record "Hold My Hand" from last year's blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick. It wasn't confirmed until the day of the ceremony that the singer would make an appearance since she's been busy filming the musical sequel to Todd Philipp's Joker film titled Folie à Deux, alongside Joaquin Phoenix. Lady Gaga joined fellow Best Song nominees including Rihanna, Sofia Carson and Diane Warren, Stephanie Hsu, David Byrne and Son Lux, and Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava for memorable performances throughout the night.
For her (champagne) carpet appearance, the superstar wore a fresh off the runway gown courtesy of Versace with bold smoky eye makeup and a vibrant red lip. For the performance however, Gaga stripped back —literally— by removing all her makeup and opting for a plain black t-shirt, ripped jeans, and platform converse, and chose to perform an acoustic rendition of the song.
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According to Lady Gaga's makeup artist Sarah Tanno, going barefaced for the performance was completely intentional.
"I asked her several times if she wanted even some light grooming. She said she wants to see every pore or imperfections because it’s real. So we quick changed in the dressing room and stripped all her makeup off," Tanno exclusively told BAZAAR of the decision. "
I loved watching her bare her soul on that stage; knowing how much 'Hold My Hand' means to her. I always trust her instincts, she is always right, It was perfection."
The star of Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise, previously praised Lady Gaga for her involvement in the film and helping craft the accompanying soundtrack.
"It just opened up the whole movie. She's amazing," Cruise previously told James Corden, per People. "It just opened those doors to the emotional core of the film that we had ... in that moment, things just came together in such a beautiful way. Her song that she'd written just fell right in and became, really, the underlying score and the heartbeat of our film."
Bianca Betancourt is the culture editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, where she covers all things film, TV, music, and more. When she's not writing, she loves impulsively baking a batch of cookies, re-listening to the same early-2000s pop playlist, and stalking Mariah Carey's Twitter feed.
