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

[Didymus 34,379]

11 minutes ago, 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.

I only watched a bit of that speech but the pictures seem to say it wasn't an act, sure. I don't agree about the Oscars. She was in perfect control of her entire presence, adjusting herself to every camera (for which she's trained during rehearsals ofc), displaying clearly rehearsed physical movements, and clearly adjusting her display of emotion for different cameras (esp in the beginning). I also don't believe she could've pulled off that last chorus if she was starting to lose control of her voice in that pre-chorus.

But anyway, lemme stop about that before people think I'm criticizing her or calling her fake A performer should not lose control of their emotions. That's not their job. They should channel their emotions into a pre-designed vision that's on display and if they're truly talented they'll simply refuse to let their emotions influence the performance at all (Céline after her husband's death in China wiping away her tears and still delivering vocal perfection). It's cute to see a performer lose it, but I think it's wrong to regard artists "acting" as fake compared to that. Just putting that out there.

[LadyGagaStan93 129]

1 minute ago, Didymus said:

I only watched a bit of that speech but the pictures seem to say it wasn't an act, sure. I don't agree about the Oscars. She was in perfect control of her entire presence, adjusting herself to every camera (for which she's trained during rehearsals ofc), displaying clearly rehearsed physical movements, and clearly adjusting her display of emotion for different cameras (esp in the beginning). I also don't believe she could've pulled off that last chorus if she was starting to lose control of her voice in that pre-chorus.

But anyway, lemme stop about that before people think I'm criticizing her or calling her fake A performer should not lose control of her emotions. That's not their job. They should channel their emotions into a pre-designed vision that's on display and if they're truly talented they'll simply refuse to let their emotions influence the performance at all (Céline after her husband's death in China). It's cute to see a performer lose it, but I think it's wrong to regard artists "acting" as fake compared to that. Just putting that out there.

 

Yeah, ultimately some control has to be there. I'm honestly surprised she didn't break down crying during or after the Bowie tribute. I think there is a defined difference between losing control and displaying the emotion of saddness, or letting a few tears stream. You'd never want to let the full emotional response of crying (sobbing uncontrollably/stuffy nose/etc) take control because then you would not be able to actually perform.

[crisTEAne 21,059]

5 minutes ago, LadyGagaStan93 said:

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

me neither. my heart skipped a beat when she did that.  

[Luc 4,775]

17 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.

Embarassment isn't really necessary... it goes from person to person. If you don't really have shame and are confident, you don't have to be embarassed from crying.. Gaga cries very easily and in different ways. One that was recent (and I'm confident it was genuine) would be the ArtRAVE in Scotland, when she read a letter about a fan who'd did and sung DITD/MTN afterwards.

I think we should assume Gaga was genuinely sad. She'd had one of the toughest years of her life, and the breakup with the person who believed in her all those years (which happened mostly due to the hip injury, something very emotional for her) was probably reason for her to let it all out. Taylor was there, and the audience was very supportive. She probably felt like it was 'closed' enough for her to be open.

[River 116,844]

Yes it was actually her audition to AHS..

[Didymus 34,379]

1 minute ago, LadyGagaStan93 said:

Yeah, ultimately some control has to be there. I'm honestly surprised she didn't break down crying during or after the Bowie tribute. I think there is a defined difference between losing control and displaying the emotion of saddness, or letting a few tears stream. You'd never want to let the full emotional response of crying (sobbing uncontrollably/stuffy nose/etc) take control because then you would not be able to actually perform.

Exactly. And it's so necessary, I mean it's not just about crying due to sadness. If a performer wasn't able to switch into a mode that met the pressure they face upon taking the stage and delivering something good, their nerves would kill them too, and they'd just look scared the whole time, or wouldn't even be able to muster up the energy to stand in front of the audience at all. I'm guessing the same "performance instinct" that pushes back these nerves (or any emotion really: boredom, sickness, melancholy, just having had a horrible day in general) is responsible for monitoring all emotions indeed, if a performer doesn't have that instinct they're pretty much doomed, and they'll never be a good performer at all.

So yeah, it'd be sad if people mistook an acted out sadness for some simple fakery. An actor in a movie should never have to actually cry in a scene, that's just a horrible actor, and chance are high the emotion actually doesn't even come across the way the director wants it to. On the other hand we also shouldn't get the feeling an actor is acting. It's hard, and it requires talent, and Gaga has that talent, so whether or not she's crying "for real" doesn't influence my love for a certain performance whatsoever.

[Bebe 17,094]

7 minutes ago, Didymus said:

I only watched a bit of that speech but the pictures seem to say it wasn't an act, sure. I don't agree about the Oscars. She was in perfect control of her entire presence, adjusting herself to every camera (for which she's trained during rehearsals ofc), displaying clearly rehearsed physical movements, and clearly adjusting her display of emotion for different cameras (esp in the beginning). I also don't believe she could've pulled off that last chorus if she was starting to lose control of her voice in that pre-chorus.

But anyway, lemme stop about that before people think I'm criticizing her or calling her fake A performer should not lose control of their emotions. That's not their job. They should channel their emotions into a pre-designed vision that's on display and if they're truly talented they'll simply refuse to let their emotions influence the performance at all (Céline after her husband's death in China wiping away her tears and still delivering vocal perfection). It's cute to see a performer lose it, but I think it's wrong to regard artists "acting" as fake compared to that. Just putting that out there.

I think you make some really good points, but TIHTY also happen post C2C while Dope obviously happened before.

Tony Bennett apparently taught her how to control her voice and remain composed while emotional:

"Tony encouraged me to let my sadness come through in my voice. When I started singing with him, I was going through a very hard time, emotionally. I was so down that when I'd sing, I'd begin to cry. You can't sing that way. It chokes you up. Tony taught me how to just breathe. You can still cry while you're singing, but you maintain your breath control and you're able to soar through it"

(http://www.wsj.com/articles/lady-gaga-on-tony-bennett-he-thinks-im-old-school-1410961999)

The differences between the Oscars performance and the Dope performances could potentially be explained by this coaching from Tony.

[Didymus 34,379]

4 minutes ago, Luc said:

If you don't really have shame and are confident, you don't have to be embarassed from crying..

What kind of inhuman monster is that though? I don't believe someone like that exists, tbh. Just my personal opinion of course. From my experience a person truly about to cry always needs to be pushed over the edge of social anxiety (and that doesn't mean that person isn't confident or has shame, it just means that people hate to display genuine emotion because we good and well know it can be registered as weakness) to really let it all out. And in that state I don't believe it's even possible to continue a performance at all.

[LadyGagaStan93 129]

1 minute ago, Bebe said:

I think you make some really good points, but TIHTY also happen post C2C while Dope obviously happened before.

Tony Bennett apparently taught her how to control her voice and remain composed while emotional:

"Tony encouraged me to let my sadness come through in my voice. When I started singing with him, I was going through a very hard time, emotionally. I was so down that when I'd sing, I'd begin to cry. You can't sing that way. It chokes you up. Tony taught me how to just breathe. You can still cry while you're singing, but you maintain your breath control and you're able to soar through it"

(http://www.wsj.com/articles/lady-gaga-on-tony-bennett-he-thinks-im-old-school-1410961999)

The differences between the Oscars performance and the Dope performances could potentially be explained by this coaching from Tony.

 

It's interesting to note that she was crying during the PBS Lush Life performance, and also delivered some of the best vocals in her entire career.

[Iwontell 7,312]

Troy and Gaga stopped working together that very afternoon, so she was probably very upset...I don' think she was acting, but she definitely wasn't trying to hold anything back.

Tbh, I like that she allows herself to cry on stage or to be a real fkn mess and angry, like she was when she did SXSW...

[Didymus 34,379]

3 minutes ago, Bebe said:

I think you make some really good points, but TIHTY also happen post C2C while Dope obviously happened before.

Tony Bennett apparently taught her how to control her voice and remain composed while emotional:

"Tony encouraged me to let my sadness come through in my voice. When I started singing with him, I was going through a very hard time, emotionally. I was so down that when I'd sing, I'd begin to cry. You can't sing that way. It chokes you up. Tony taught me how to just breathe. You can still cry while you're singing, but you maintain your breath control and you're able to soar through it"

(http://www.wsj.com/articles/lady-gaga-on-tony-bennett-he-thinks-im-old-school-1410961999)

The differences between the Oscars performance and the Dope performances could potentially be explained by this coaching from Tony.

Hmm, that's interesting. I had no idea she ever said that.

Still, that doesn't mean every time she's crying she's applying this technique. The girl is obviously an absolute master at producing tears at any possible occasion, on command. I know a good many people who can do this as well who are not performers. It would be insane to not use that to your advantage, and I think nearly all actors, and many celebrities do that when it suits them, and there's nothing wrong with that (if it's part of an act).

Anyway, I don't wanna go on a witch hunt to discover when Gaga was actually emotional and when she wasn't (I don't believe that's possible anyway) but I will still hold to my own personal theory that good performers automatically monitor their emotions when they're on stage and can, with training, allow them to come through in a way that doesn't disrupt them from doing their job. I don't believe it's possible for a person to be actually totally overcome with emotion, and continue any non-spontaneous action at all. So that would mean that even in Gaga's most emotional performances, there's always an element of acting involved, which is perfectly fine and even necessary as I argued above.

[Lord Temptation 11,209]

I've never seen it and am afraid to. I don't like seeing Gaga crying it makes me too emotional.

[REALITY 76,603]

Agree with the O.P. to an extent, she wasn't acting per se, but I do believe she exaggerated the performance. It's not to say those emotions weren't real though. That performance, if I'm not mistaken was in 2014, which she says, along with 2013, to be some of the most challenging years of her life. The emotion came from a real place, even though she's a performer, I do believe that she she exaggerated some parts, but not others.

I think that as the performance was going on, she started to realize herself, where she was, who her fans are, who her friends are, etc. I think the performance became more and more real as the performance went on. Also, her voice during this particular part of the performance was harsh and out of place. I think that if she was acting to a certain extent, she'd wouldn't do that, but she could have done it to display more emotion, or it may just have been a simple mistake, but it's interesting nonetheless.

 

[giskardsb 12,565]

The song itself obviously has deep meaning for her, and she channeled the recent events that had happened with her team into it.  Lets not forget that the point of the performances in this show was to make "iive music videos."  So whether you want to call it "acting" or not, Gaga clearly dredged up all the emotions she could for that performance.  As a trained method actor, that is exactly what she should do.   So is it "acting" if you drag out all the negative feelings in you in order to give that kind of performance?   Maybe, maybe not.  But it's not worth arguing over semantics.  I think she was clearly feeling genuine emotion, pushed forward to a higher point by her own methods for the sake of performance.

[Carmex 964]

No. She split from Troy and was performing an emotional song live for the first time (I think). If anything, she's just dramatic. But we already knew that.