Was Gaga acting during the Dope performance at the YouTube Music Awards?

[Slayer 9,227]

Another topic on Dope reminded me of this performance by Gaga where she mumbled and cried throughout her performance and seemed really upset. Part of me thinks she was "acting" - i.e. the emotion came from a real place, but she was exaggerating it on stage. But we also know now that she ended her professional relationship with Troy Carter around this time (news broke the day after the performance), so I wonder if that was the real cause of her sadness and maybe her 'breakdown' on stage wasn't exaggerated after all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAVgwA9Gx1A

I really don't know what to think. 

Thoughts?

[kabirartfling 9,063]

"Part of me thinks she was "acting" - i.e. the emotion came from a real place, but she was exaggerating it on stage." They are coming for you 

 

[PartySick 160,403]

I like to think she just fully let herself go on stage. Either way it works and it's one of my favorites 

[LadyGagaStan93 129]

No, she was really crying. I think he left her the day of the concert. All the emotions probably hit her then. Those tears were real. 

[Didymus 34,379]

Probably. She could hold her emotions together perfectly on stage when she sang Til It Happens to You at the Oscars, while she was nearly blocked physically during rehearsals because of them. 

She clearly has an immense professional attitude when it comes to being on stage and delivering no matter what, so I don't believe she would be that overpowered. I think she has a switch in her head that puts her in performance mode.

So yeah, maybe the emotion was real indeed, but she just thought it was convenient to actually display it so the performance would be talked about, or would just become better suited to what she imagined it would be all along.

[Didymus 34,379]

I mean, remember this?

That's the only celebrity crying for real I've seen in public in years. When you're genuinely overcome with emotion you're not in control of your face, your voice breaks constantly, and you get an instant emotional reflex in your entire body because you feel embarrassed for losing it with people watching.

None of that happened, so. I build my ideas upon that most of all.

[MaryJaneHolland 77,348]

i didnt know that video had 15.7M views 

[LadyGagaStan93 129]

She was nearly in tears during the Til it happens to you performance at the Oscars too. It was written all over her face. But she definitely 'channeled' her sadness into the performance. That's not acting though.

[LadyGagaStan93 129]

Just now, MaryJaneHolland said:

i didnt know that video had 15.7M views 

The amount of views it got back then and also because it was featured in so many other ad videos caused it to peak in the top 10 LOL. It was quite an anomaly.

[Didymus 34,379]

Here you can see what I'm talking about:

https://youtu.be/gkGV_AgjMb0?t=3m4s

That switch right there. For just a second and a half she's clearly completely stunned, looks at the audience, remembers what she's doing and within an instant jumps back into performance mode, looking in the right camera, playing the right chords, and regaining control over her face, just because she had rehearsals, the experience of which she could tap into again without thinking.

I love that moment because it's one of the only ones I've seen Gaga really.. snap out of her performance mode. In that moment she realized the gravity of what she was doing, while in the rest of the performance she was displaying emotion to the audience. Very different thing.

I agree with @LadyGagaStan93 in the sense that "acting out an emotion" shouldn't be a synonym for faking one (that's your point, right?). And it's not what I'm saying either, just for the record.

[The Surrealist 27,470]

6 minutes ago, Didymus said:

I mean, remember this?

That's the only celebrity crying for real I've seen in public in years. When you're genuinely overcome with emotion you're not in control of your face, your voice breaks constantly, and you get an instant emotional reflex in your entire body because you feel embarrassed for losing it with people watching.

None of that happened, so. I build my ideas upon that most of all.

Gaga cried for real on the Orlando event and also when she was performing TIHTY at the Oscars she couldn't control her voice anymore and instead of letting it crack she sang higher.

[LadyGagaStan93 129]

Just now, Didymus said:

Here you can see what I'm talking about:

https://youtu.be/gkGV_AgjMb0?t=3m4s

That switch right there. For just a second and a half she's clearly completely stunned, looks at the audience, remembers what she's doing and within in an instant jumps back into performance mode, looking in the right camera, playing the right chords, and regaining control over her face.

I love that moment because it's one of the only ones I've seen Gaga really.. snap out of her performance mode. In that moment she realized the gravity of what she was doing, while in the rest of the performance she was displaying emotion to the audience. Very different thing.

I agree with @LadyGagaStan93 in the sense that "acting out an emotion" shouldn't be a synonym for faking one (that's your point, right?). And it's not what I'm saying either, just for the record.

Absolutely, you get what I'm saying, and I understand you. I just don't want people to take "acting" and think "acting" like when she was acting during Marry The Night prelude or something. She's still in a performance zone, just performing with her emotions on display. 

[Slayer 9,227]

3 minutes ago, LadyGagaStan93 said:

She was nearly in tears during the Til it happens to you performance at the Oscars too. It was written all over her face. But she definitely 'channeled' her sadness into the performance. That's not acting though.

The thing that makes me think it was exaggerated/acting is the beginning where she's apologising and making those weird pppffft noises (still don't know why she did that...). It just seems like she's really TRYING to sound upset and it comes across a bit forced to me. She's done it in other Dope performances, so that's where it comes across as staged. 

@Didymus Good point about TIHTY. Surely that song would be even more emotional and hard-hitting for her...

[LadyGagaStan93 129]

Just now, Sycamore said:

Gaga cried for real on the Orlando event and also when she was performing TIHTY at the Oscars she couldn't control her voice anymore and instead of letting it crack she sang higher.

That moment had me shook. I really didn't expect that at all.

[LadyGagaStan93 129]

Just now, etron said:

The thing that makes me think it was exaggerated/acting is the beginning where she's apologising and making those weird pppffft noises (still don't know why she did that...). It just seems like she's really TRYING to sound upset and it comes across a bit forced to me. She's done it in other Dope performances, so that's where it comes across as staged. 

@Didymus Good point about TIHTY. Surely that song would be even more emotional and hard-hitting for her...

I think those parts were intended to be in there, just that she was upset so it came off looking funky. They're supposed to be an imitation of someone coming off of a high. Remember the performance at Roseland? She had a moment where she was tweaking throughout the song. I think that's what that was supposed to be truthfully.