Although it undoubtedly made for a soggy journey down the Seine, the regular rain in Paris throughout Friday evening’s lavish opening ceremonies for the 2024 Summer time Olympics didn’t deter Woman Gaga from stealing the present early within the four-hour spectacle. And whereas Gaga’s eye-popping tackle Zizi Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc en Plumes” (“My Factor With Feathers”) appeared to dodge the raindrops, that’s as a result of it was pre-taped to keep away from any potential weather-related points in response to choreographer and head of dance for the Olympics and Paralympics Maud le Pladec.
Le Pladec spoke to Selection in regards to the intense preparations for the song-and-dance routine, explaining that Gaga filmed her efficiency hours earlier than the athletes’ elaborate boat journey down Paris’ iconic river on account of security causes. Gaga’s vocals had been carried out reside as she made her manner up and down an enormous set of stairs together with dancers carrying outsized pom poms.
Gaga’s was certainly one of a dozen unique performances created by Le Pladec and Olympics inventive director Thomas Jolly, with Le Pladec saying that the singer’s four-minute set was simply the “most artistically difficult” of the bunch. “Sadly, it was the one [performance] that, for security causes, we needed to pre-record late within the afternoon, as soon as we knew for positive that it was going to rain — we had minute-by-minute updates, we had by no means watched the climate forecast so carefully in our lives,” Le Pladec stated. “We assessed that it was going to be too harmful for performers, even with just a few drops of rain. [Gaga] needed to do it completely so we most popular to pre-record it slightly than cancel it.”
Le Pladec stated the efficiency floor, together with that enormous set of stairs, would have been too slippery for Gaga — who was carrying excessive heels — to carry out on. “We needed to be extraordinarily cautious,” Le Pladec stated, noting that whereas she didn’t play reside, Gaga was on website in the course of the opening ceremonies and watched her bit on display screen from her dressing room earlier than returning to her lodge.
Not lengthy after, Gaga wrote on X, “I’m additionally humbled to be requested by the Olympics organizing committee to sing such a particular French music—a music to honor the French individuals and their large historical past of artwork, music, and theatre… Though I’m not a French artist, I’ve at all times felt a really particular reference to French individuals and singing French music—I needed nothing greater than to create a efficiency that will heat the guts of France, have a good time French artwork and music, and on such a momentous event remind everybody of one of the magical cities on earth—Paris.”
Gaga famous that her crew rented the pom poms from a “actual French cabaret” theater’s archive, collaborated with Dior to create the customized costumes utilizing naturally molted feathers and that she studied French choreography to place her “fashionable twist” on a French traditional. “I rehearsed tirelessly to review a joyful French dance, brushing up on some previous abilities—I guess you didn’t know I used to bop at a 60’s French occasion on the decrease east facet once I was first beginning out! I hope you like this efficiency as a lot as I do,” she added. “And to everybody in France, thanks a lot for welcoming me to your nation to sing in honor of you—it’s a present I’ll always remember! Congratulations to all of the athletes who’re competing on this yr’s Olympic Video games! It’s my supreme honor to sing for you and cheer you on!! Watching the Olympic Video games at all times makes me cry! Your expertise is unimaginable. Let the video games start!”
Consistent with her perfectionist streak, Le Pladec stated that the singer was adamant about delivering a spectacle that will really feel “genuine” and pay tribute to the French efficiency custom. That explains her choice to do a cabaret-style act that includes singing and dancing with a mixture of humor and glamour. The choreographer stated Gaga — a “workhorse and a perfectionist” — was working till the ultimate moments on her vocals and steps after coaching for weeks in Los Angeles with plenty of dancers who flew in from Paris.
“She needed to make a present à la Française,” Le Pladec stated. “She places a lot effort and thought into the whole lot she does and he or she has a really developed inventive course of.”
The occasion didn’t finish after the efficiency, both. Over the weekend, Gaga additionally shocked French Little Monsters when she blasted what she stated had been two new songs from her as but untitled seventh studio album from a laptop computer whereas dancing by means of the roof of her limo. At press time no further data was accessible on these songs.
