Gaga’s David Bowie tribute at the Grammys electrified most of us, but at least one very important person was seemingly unimpressed.
The eagle-eyed peeps over at OMGBlog caught a bit of shade thrown by Bowie’s son, director and producer Duncan Jones, who couldn’t quite find the right word for his feelings about Gaga’s spectacle and looked to twitter for the answer:
We’re pretty sure “reductive” isn’t the word in question, but for some reason it’s always the first word that pops up when it comes time to shade Our Lady of the Gaga.
Although it could be seen as a dig, one clever little twitter user caught what could be seen as an inadvertent tribute to Gaga in the tweet:
Yes, Google is your friend, and we think that Jones is just fine with the tribute. He literally called it gaga! We loved the visuals. In case you missed it, check it out below.
https://youtu.be/3fGBZhsa4VU
Wendyl ? Harris
Yes, I should think so…it really didn’t work at all for us in the UK, particularly us older types who’ve had our whole lives with Bowie…she rather missed the point of the experience sadly…
Glücklich
So? It’s his right. I’m not interested in the tribute but the reviews haven’t been favorable.
Also, other than fodder for “shade,” do the Grammys still have *any* relevance?
Jim Tatman
I thought Gaga’s performance was horrible…terrible vocals, ugly costumes and make-up, awkward dance moves. Nothing good about it at all.
Rodney Shull
If you missed the performance, or just want to see it again……
brianrio66
GaGa demonstrates once again why she is the reigning queen of the music world, – the Lady is busting with talent.
Aline Louise
Well it was awful 😛
MarionPaige
Two things:
1. Duncan Jones is on record as not being “interested” in his father’s music. If he wasn’t thrilled about seeing his father do it, while would he be thrilled over someone doing his father?
2. According to some, the Radio Ga Ga line in the song by Queen was a dig at the dumbed down music showing up on MTV.
A tribute to someone who’s life was very visually documented (like Bowie) probably plays out to most people as cartoonish.
cleverusername
@Wendyl ? Harris: As Bowie considered himself a New Yorker and opted to live his life in America, I’ll confirm that most people in America were not super impressed either. It was cheesy.
Sweetie Pie
She tried to pull an “Annie Lennox” but it did not work out. Annie Lennox did not impersonate Freddy Mercury during her interpretation of Under Pressure, what GaGa did was simply impersonate David Bowie, which is impossible to do.
I feel rather sad for her
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
”Gaga’s David Bowie tribute at the Grammys electrified most of us,”
as warmly welcomed as a live toaster lobbed in your bathtub
NateB79
@Sweetie Pie: Spot on. It was like an off the strip, Vegas impersonation act. I usually like her and think she’s really talented but she did not pull this off at all. Instead of taking his songs and putting her spin on them, which she does really well, she went for impersonation and in this performance, it was not the sincerest form of flattery.
Stached1
Of course he did. But he did not like Gaga’s histrionics as usual or how she’s a poseur.
Brian
Lady Gaga got David Bowie’s Ziggy mullet completely wrong. She shouldn’t have tried.
There must have been other better performers or perhaps a video compilation might have been better than to have Lady Gaga. The Grammys failed big time.
mgkbus
@Wendyl ? Harris: I wold have to agree with you. All the performance did for me was make me feel odd, like I was watching a particularly American tribute band. I am usually impressed with Gaga, but not this time. Big fail, in my book.
davincibarnette
…..just another reason for Gaga to play dress up. We have yet to met or her the real her.
OzJosh
It had all the style, subtlety and finesse of the third-rate tribute band you might see at your local pub.
SteveDenver
Apparently a lot of B|TCHING B|TCHES didn’t bother to read the article.
1EqualityUSA
I appreciate her sentiment and endearing appreciation for Bowie. It may have been too soon to go there. Those of us who truly love Bowie, do so because he plumbed the depths and tapped us at times in our lives when we were coming out of the closet. His facial features, the muscles around his mouth, his eyes, his languid, studied movements will not be given up easily, no matter how enthusiastically Lady Gaga performs. I’m so glad he touched so many musicians. Her performance was harmless fun.
jeff1370
LOVED IT!!! she can do no wrong. She takes chances other people won’t. She is…. a space oddity, in a good way. And, by the way, the reviews of fellow musicians have been great.
Pistolo
Erm, a lot of people had already reported on the fact it was the definition of “gaga”. Yet, it’s still quite unbecoming and definitely intended shade or else he would’ve clarified. “Overexcited” or “irrational”? As a result of “*excessive* infatuation”? “Mentally confused”? Let’s not be revisionist, it’s still a slight at the very least.
Gaga fans act as though anyone who doesn’t like her is in denial of her talent. Yep, she can sing. She should be able to, right? She is a *singer*? She can play instruments too. Gotcha. But she’s just very entitled, very smug, and very self-aggrandizing and it alienates people and affects the narrative and style of her work to debilitating extents.
Jonathonz
The computer graphics were great, especially at the beginning, but she had none of Bowie’s fire in her voice. Zip, zilch, nada.
SeijnSei
Once you stripped away the “technology” there was nothing memorable there.
DistingueTraces
She was stiff, it wasn’t great. But the medley itself seemed clumsily put together — it would have been difficult for anyone to do Bowie justice through the medium of those mashed-together snippets.
1EqualityUSA
If she were brave enough to do it solo, without all of the carnival action going on behind her, it may have kicked. No make up, no era hair, just graphics over-layed on her face to be interesting….maybe.
1EqualityUSA
Found this nugget today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWfYAxkBgQg
TVC 15
This was pretty painful to watch. I had to cut it off midway. As others said, she’s usually pretty good, but this was a bad idea.