Lady Gaga performs during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, on the Pont d’Austerlitz, in Paris, France, on July 26, 2024, Photo Fabien Boukla / KMSP (Photo by BOUKLA Fabien / KMSP / KMSP via AFP)
Lady Gaga pre-recorded her performance at the Olympics due to "safety reasons".
The 38-year-old pop star sang 'Mon Truc En Plumes' on a set of stairs along the Seine River in Paris - but Maud le Pladec, the choreographer of all Olympics and Paralympics opening ceremonies, has now revealed that the performance was actually pre-recorded.
Speaking to Variety, Maud explained: "Unfortunately, it was the only [performance] that, for safety reasons, we had to pre-record late in the afternoon, once we knew for sure that it was going to rain - we had minute-by-minute updates, we had never watched the weather forecast so closely in our lives.
"We assessed that it was going to be too dangerous for performers, even with a few drops of rain. [Gaga] wanted to do it absolutely so we preferred to pre-record it rather than cancel it."
Maud explained that the performance wouldn’t have worked in the bad weather.
She said: "The soil would have been slippery. She was wearing heels, very near the water, there were stairs … We had to be extremely cautious."
Gaga took to social media after her performance, revealing that she relished the opportunity.
She wrote on Instagram: "I feel so completely grateful to have been asked to open the Paris @Olympics 2024 this year. I am also humbled to be asked by the Olympics organizing committee to sing such a special French song—a song to honor the French people and their tremendous history of art, music, and theatre.
This song was sung by Zizi Jeanmaire, born in Paris a French ballerina, she famously sang “Mon Truc en Plumes” in 1961.
The title means “My Thing with Feathers.” And this is not the first time we’ve crossed paths. Zizi starred in Cole Porter’s musical “Anything Goes” which was my first jazz release. (sic)"