Grammys 2016: Lady Gaga is Ziggy Stardust

Barry Quinn
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At last nights (February 15) Grammy Awards Lady Gaga payed the ultimate tribute to perhaps her biggest influence – she became David Bowie’s alter-ego Ziggy Stardust.

The six-minute performance saw Gaga pay tribute to the man, the personas, and the music. She adopted numerous costumes influenced by Bowie’s career, including Ziggy Stardust’s infamous slicked red hair and forehead piece, and the lightning bolt make-up that has become synonymous with Bowie himself. Gaga already claimed this look during promotion of her debut album The Fame.

Gaga performed a medley of Bowie’s biggest tracks, opening with ‘Space Oddity’. She went on to perform ‘Changes’, ‘Ziggy Stardust’, ‘Suffragette City’, ‘Rebel Rebel’, ‘Fashion’, ‘Fame’, ‘Under Pressure’ and ‘Let’s Dance’ before finishing on a rousing rendition of ‘”Heroes”‘.

The performance was high-energy and full of love, with the stage bedecked in the tacky trappings of Bowie’s early career. No doubt the man would have loved her take on his classics.

The gig was a hit with critics and most fans, though of course some have thrown shade at Gaga, including Bowie’s son Duncan Jones. He tweeted the following not long afterwards: ‘Over-excited or irrational, typically as a result of infatuation or excessive enthusiasm; mentally confused.’ Damn it! What IS that word!?’

That word, of course, is ‘gaga’, and the definition comes directly from the Oxford English Dictionary.

Some, too, have claimed that Gaga used her tribute to sell Intel. CBS cut directly from her tribute to a commercial by Intel starring Gaga.

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What fans must be reminded of, however, is that prior to Bowie’s death in January, Gaga was already booked up to perform at the Grammys alongside technology by Intel. Though she was asked to instead pay tribute to Bowie, the stage production by Intel still had to go ahead.

Whatever the case, it’s undeniable that her performance was brilliant. Watch it below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=413&v=3fGBZhsa4VU

About Barry Quinn

Barry Quinn is an English Language and Literature graduate and a Creative Writer MA studier. He is an aspiring creative and professional writer and is currently in the process of writing his first novel. His writing blog can be viewed here: https://barrygjquinn.wordpress.com You can follow him on Twitter at: @mrbarryquinn