Why did Gaga change the key for Paparazzi live performances (2009-2013)?

[Pop Art 1,773]

This is probably meaningless to many people, so I'm gonna apologize in advance if people think this is stupid.  But personally I like dissecting these things.

So I think it's common Gaga stan knowledge that Gaga's voice even during The Fame era had changed enough to the point that she couldn't comfortably sing Paparazzi at its normal key, at least in a reliable manner as needed during a tour for example.

Spoiler

See her struggling to hit the higher notes in the normal key here in 2008.

 

So what did the good sis do? She learned that lowering the key of the song once (or even twice during the summer of 2009) made it much easier for her to sing.

Spoiler

Here she sings it one key lower and clearly sounds much stronger in the chorus - she's even able to hit the "promise I'll be kind" note, but not regularly enough (as seen by other performances around this time), so...

...she lowered the key again in her performances during the summer of 2009, which essentially made the song a cakewalk for her to sing - she's never sounded as strong during the chorus as she did during this time in my opinion. (This is also the first time to my knowledge that she used just the backing vocals as a backing track in the chorus rather than the full studio lead + backing vocals, which leads to us being able to hear how she "really" sounds in the chorus for the first time.)

(There's not a super good quality version the below performance to my knowledge, but it's literally the best performance of the song vocally in my opinion. )

 

 

However, once The Monster Ball began, she went back to performing it at the same key as the album version, which was...a choice in my opinion.

Spoiler

We went from powerful vocals at the end of September 2009 to weak chorus vocals that relied on low harmonization just two months later.

She of course got better as time went on, and was eventually able to sing the chorus "correctly" if you will in this key by 2011, though still not as strongly.

 

She continued at this key into 2013 with the Born This Way Ball.

Spoiler

This is personally my least favorite vocal performance of the song, you could barely even hear her in the chorus in basically every tour stop.

 

 

But thankfully went back to lowering the key again during the artRAVE, Joanne World Tour, and Enigma.

Spoiler

Strong vocals came BACK.

 

So my question after all of this is...what logical reason was there for her to return the key back to normal from November 2009 - February 2013? I can vaguely understand it for the Born This Way Ball because the studio version played for half the song and maybe they thought lowering the key would make that part sound too different from the album since, again, that's the version that played in the first half, but I have yet to figure out why they went back to the normal key for the Monster Ball, especially just two months after her best vocal performance of the song in September 2009 at the very end of the Fame Ball tour. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Am I just overthinking all this?

[Gagaism 11,002]

Maybe because there’s only uptempo/coreographed songs before, so she put it to have some break and recovery?

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3 minutes ago, applauseGa said:

Maybe because there’s only uptempo/coreographed songs before, so she put it to have some break and recovery?

But since singing the song in its normal key is clearly harder for her, how would that give her any recovery? If anything I feel like it would cause her more vocal stress.

[Miel 15,009]

I'm wondering if it was possibly confidence on her part? She sang it in it original Cm/A# during the VMA's and SNL performances, and did fairly well in both of them.

Although I agree that she sounds way more comfortable now that it's a semitone lower. She wrote and recorded the song when she was at a much different vocal stage.

[edgy 6,918]

You could tell the good sis had trouble singing it in the original key live here:

So she probably figured a lower key was better than an off-key. 

The thing now is that her voice and singing ability has improved significantly so now she can hit those notes without an issue. Ugh, her mind!

[KatieJudasGaga4 67,907]

1 minute ago, edgy said:

You could tell the good sis had trouble singing it in the original key live here:

So she probably figured a lower key was better than an off-key. 

The thing now is that her voice and singing ability has improved significantly so now she can hit those notes without an issue. Ugh, her mind!

She still sounds amazing even when you can tell its difficult for her, QUEEN 

[Pop Art 1,773]

2 minutes ago, Miel said:

I'm wondering if it was possibly confidence on her part? She sang it in it original Cm/A# during the VMA's and SNL performances, and did fairly well in both of them.

Although I agree that she sounds way more comfortable now that it's a semitone lower. She wrote and recorded the song when she was at a much different vocal stage.

I was thinking that too after I posted the thread, but like...that was a bold move Gaga.  As an artist myself, I know personally that being able to sing a certain way for an event/a one-off performance is very different than being able to roughly replicate it every night/every few nights during a tour.

2 minutes ago, edgy said:

You could tell the good sis had trouble singing it in the original key live here:

So she probably figured a lower key was better than an off-key. 

The thing now is that her voice and singing ability has improved significantly so now she can hit those notes without an issue. Ugh, her mind!

I think you're confused, I'm saying why did she go back to using the higher original key in from November 2009 - February 2013. What you said is exactly why she went to a lower key, but then she mysteriously went back up to the original key during the aforementioned time period, which I've been lost about for all these years.

[DC 25,164]

Gurl she can't hit a high D# anymore! 

[Miel 15,009]

Just now, E r o s said:

I was thinking that too after I posted the thread, but like...that was a bold move Gaga.  As an artist myself, I know personally that being able to sing a certain way for an event/a one-off performance is very different than being able to roughly replicate it every night/every few nights during a tour.

Definitely. From my experience (and probably from yours), it's harder to recreate the preparedness and literal physical demonstration from a singular performance, into a performance context that is completely different. In Gaga's case, both nearly at the end of the show. In the MB2.0 HBO special in particular, you can hear her recreating some of the runs that she performed a year/year and a half prior, at the VMA's. I mean, she hit the notes fine, but it's thinner and more worn out. Also considering this is Gaga at a younger vocal ability in 2011.

I'm glad she is more cognizant about what her limits are for a particular time period (the temporary Diamond Heart and Perfect Illusion key changes during some JWT dates, for example). Although, I can say with full confidence that Gaga could pull off a full-belted, original key Cm/A# Paparazzi at this moment, if she really wanted to- but probably on a slower, acoustic scale.

[Dutch 90,078]

10 minutes ago, edgy said:

You could tell the good sis had trouble singing it in the original key live here:

So she probably figured a lower key was better than an off-key. 

The thing now is that her voice and singing ability has improved significantly so now she can hit those notes without an issue. Ugh, her mind!

I remember showing this video to every bitch that hated on Gaga and I was defending ha by saying “BUT SHE CAN SING LIVE1!1!2!!”. Now that’s what I call a veteran Monster moment.

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3 minutes ago, DCgaga said:

Gurl she can't hit a high D# anymore! 

That's why I'm asking why she went back to using the album version key from late 2009 - early 2013, since she's never really been able to pull it off during tour performances.

(This isn't shade directly towards you but it looks like we need to work on our reading comprehension skills ladies. )

[edgy 6,918]

2 minutes ago, E r o s said:

I was thinking that too after I posted the thread, but like...that was a bold move Gaga.  As an artist myself, I know personally that being able to sing a certain way for an event/a one-off performance is very different than being able to roughly replicate it every night/every few nights during a tour.

I think you're confused, I'm saying why did she go back to using the higher original key in from November 2009 - February 2013. What you said is exactly why she went to a lower key, but then she mysteriously went back up to the original key during the aforementioned time period, which I've been lost about for all these years.

Oh. Dunno. Maybe it has something to do with the amount of time she got to rehearse? 

[SS77 1,940]

 

Btw, the performance of “Paparazzi” at the Monster Ball, Tacoma, Washington, is one of the VERY few, if only only one of two that I can think of (the date directly after this one I think is the other one), where she hit BOTH high notes. The promise I’ll be kind AND the till that boy is mine. All while the song is performed in the album key. 

It’s pretty amazing tbh. Her vocals during that first chorus (@ 1:55) unbeatable. I just wish there were more videos of it with better audio 

[Der Meister 3,000]

Ugh, the smoking and heavy drinking is destroying her voice... So sad that she is losing the ability to hit those high notes. Maybe more practice?

[DC 25,164]

Just now, E r o s said:

That's why I'm asking why she went back to using the album version key from late 2009 - early 2013, since she's never really been able to pull it off during tour performances.

(This isn't shade directly towards you but it looks like we need to work on our reading comprehension skills ladies. )

Sorry I have a habit of commenting before I read the full post 

Anyway, the answer is like how you put it, thick stronger vocals. The VMA 2009 was the last time she really could hit the high notes live, and those were with a little auto tune. She also had it in the original key for the artrave on the first 3 dates but the playback was usually so loud on camera you could barely even hear her, and even when you could, she was doing the lower harmony. So I think it just got to the point where it was too high, it's a very challenging song to sing