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

[Dutch 91,415]

1 minute ago, Der Meister said:

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?

Lol sis, the Joanne World Tour had the best Gaga live vocals in her touring career, including adding high notes to songs without high notes.

[Miel 15,009]

4 minutes ago, DCgaga said:

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

I think about this sometimes, because she can comfortably belt an E5 (Million Reasons, BR) and has been even relaxing into a G5 belt (newer Applause performances). I... wonder.

[2School4Cool 6,449]

Maybe she felt like fans would prefer the original key but eventually decided the lower key was easier to sing in so she went back. She began the artRAVE in the original key and then lowered it after about a week, maybe she found it too difficult to sing because of how high energy the start of that show was and then decided to keep it lower. I personally just prefer the lower key because it makes the song sound darker. This is one of my favorite live songs of hers, I love all the different live harmonies she sings even more than the album melody on the chorus.

[ARTPOPRS 1,431]

2 minutes ago, Der Meister said:

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?

Gaga most certainly doesn’t smoke or drink as much as she did in the first half of her career. She takes care of her body a lot better, 2012 was a big reality check moment for her. 

[DC 25,164]

1 minute ago, Miel said:

I think about this sometimes, because she can comfortably belt an E5 (Million Reasons, BR) and has been even relaxing into a G5 belt (newer Applause performances). I... wonder.

There is no E in Million Reasons  So either she added new chords to the song or she was just bein' Gaga 

But either way, she probably can hit it now, but she'd rather protect her voice rather than do another Monster Ball and hit the lower harmony 90% of the time :3

 

WAIT NEVERMIND!!!! I forgot C and Am has an E!!! 

[Miel 15,009]

5 minutes ago, SS77 said:

 

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 

Kind of OT, but her Tacoma dates for MB2.0 were really something else. The videos around of her singing Speechless, and just the whole show in general, are fantastic.

 

[Miel 15,009]

1 minute ago, DCgaga said:

There is no E in Million Reasons  So either she added new chords to the song or she was just bein' Gaga 

But either way, she probably can hit it now, but she'd rather protect her voice rather than do another Monster Ball and hit the lower harmony 90% of the time :3

She hits the E in the final chorus twice? The songs in C, and E is in the scale (the note itself, not a chord).

[Pop Art 1,773]

8 minutes ago, Miel said:

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.

Very true. That's what I was trying to say in the OP, even when she did sing it "correctly" (for the lack of a better term) in its normal key, she still didn't sound as strong as she does when she lowers the key. Glad someone else said it better than I did.

I also agree with your second point. I'm not fully confident that she could do the studio version at the normal key seeing that the last time she tried it (early artRAVE dates), she still didn't seem to be able to, but sit her down at a piano and I agree that she could belt it out with relative ease.

[DC 25,164]

Just now, Miel said:

She hits the E in the final chorus twice? The songs in C, and E is in the scale (the note itself, not a chord).

I know reload the page 

[Miel 15,009]

Just now, DCgaga said:

I know reload the page 

Why is this thread a mess with reading and reloading

[DC 25,164]

Just now, Miel said:

Why is this thread a mess with reading and reloading

I don't know man I don't know 

[Miel 15,009]

1 minute ago, E r o s said:

Very true. That's what I was trying to say in the OP, even when she did sing it "correctly" (for the lack of a better term) in its normal key, she still didn't sound as strong as she does when she lowers the key. Glad someone else said it better than I did.

I also agree with your second point. I'm not fully confident that she could do the studio version at the normal key seeing that the last time she tried it (early artRAVE dates), she still didn't seem to be able to, but sit her down at a piano and I agree that she could belt it out with relative ease.

Yeah. It's not super distinctive, but she has been really fine tuning her vocal technique these last few years (especially after C2C). Not a bad thing by any means, as her voice is literally better than ever, but I'm wondering if that is also a factor when it comes to performing older songs. Paparazzi is a great example of her having a very, very different technique when she recorded it at the age of, what, 20? 21?

[Pop Art 1,773]

7 minutes ago, ILoveAGypsyLife said:

Maybe she felt like fans would prefer the original key but eventually decided the lower key was easier to sing in so she went back. She began the artRAVE in the original key and then lowered it after about a week, maybe she found it too difficult to sing because of how high energy the start of that show was and then decided to keep it lower. I personally just prefer the lower key because it makes the song sound darker. This is one of my favorite live songs of hers, I love all the different live harmonies she sings even more than the album melody on the chorus.

YES YES YES me too! It's so fun to see how she's gonna sing it every tour (sometimes even every tour date ) because she always does it so differently than the studio version. (To the point that I low key don't even like the studio version anymore because the live versions are WAY more interesting. )

[Pop Art 1,773]

19 minutes ago, SS77 said:

 

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 

Oh yes I remember this date! I was also shook at the time that she FINALLY did that in this key. Glad to hear there's other stans that watch out for these things!

[SS77 2,040]

11 minutes ago, Miel said:

Kind of OT, but her Tacoma dates for MB2.0 were really something else. The videos around of her singing Speechless, and just the whole show in general, are fantastic.

 

Not entirely haha

Duriing the entirety of the Monster Ball (both 1.0 and 2.0)  and Born This Way Ball, Paparazzi was sung at the album key.

But whether she sung the melody or the harmony during the chorus, or if she hit the Promise I’ll be Kind, was a hit and miss an entirely random.

There were some performances where she just sung the harmony throughout the entire chorus.

But her hitting both high nights, while performing at album key, was really something special and amazing :’)