Will Gaga Perform “Hold My Hand” At The Oscars? Here’s The Deal

While many viewers tune into the Oscars for the awards and occasional snubs, the show’s real star is the live performances. The ceremony, which airs on Mar. 12, announced this year’s roster of performers in February, including golden faces like Rihanna and other artists present in the Best Song category. However, as they steadily released the list of names, many noticed that Lady Gaga (who’s also nominated in the aforementioned category for her Top Gun: Maverick anthem, “Hold My Hand”) was missing from the lineup. After weeks of speculation, the Oscars have confirmed the singer won’t grace the stage this year, and the reasoning behind the decision makes so much sense.

On Mar. 8, Oscars producer Glenn Weiss revealed in a press conference that Gaga is currently filming the latest Joker: Folie à Deux film, where she stars as the new Harley Quinn. “We have great relationships with Lady Gaga and her camp [but] she’s in the middle of shooting a movie right now, and here we are honoring the movie industry and what it takes to make a movie,” Weiss said, per Variety.

Weiss also added that while he and Gaga’s team went “back and forth” on the idea of her performing, Gaga felt she couldn’t give an entire performance the time and commitment it would need to meet a certain expectation. The singer was definitely onto something there, as her performances are always carefully executed and flawless.

Even though she’s booked and busy, the Chromatica singer told producers she will still attend the awards ceremony as a nominee. If things had panned out differently, this would have been Gaga’s fourth time performing at the Oscars. IYDK, in 2015, she sang in a medley honoring The Sound of Music and its 50th anniversary at the time. She then stunned the crowd with her performance of “Til It Happens to You” from The Hunting Ground in 2016 and “Shallow” with Bradley Cooper from their 2019 musical drama, A Star Is Born. That signature tune won for Best Original Song at the ceremony that year.

The singer’s absence will also be the second Oscars that one of the five nominated songs will not be performed live, which is normally the show’s annual tradition. Last year, Irish singer Van Morrison was the first to break the Best Song ritual when he declined to perform “Down to Joy” from the Belfast soundtrack.

However, this year, all the other songs for the same award will be performed during the show, including: Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Sofia Carson’s “Applause” (Tell It Like a Woman), Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava’s “Naatu Naatu” (RRR), and Mitski’s “This Is a Life” (Everything Everywhere All at Once).

Gaga might not hit the stage with her theatric frills, but her overall appearance is still a win.