OLYMPIC GAMES
What song did Lady Gaga perform at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games Opening Ceremony?
The American singer-songwriter made a theatrically camp entrance, slinking down a golden staircase accompanied by eight, pink pom-pom wielding dancers.
If anyone knows how to make an entrance, it’s Lady Gaga. The American singer-songwriter doesn’t do things by half - as she showed at the Met Gala a few years back. Her performance at this evening’s 2024 Paris Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on the banks of the River Seine has everyone talking.
Lady Gaga’s tribute to Zizi Jeanmaire by the Seine
Dressed from top to toe in black, and with a nod to the French capital’s cabaret temple the Moulin Rouge, the Bad Romance singer made a choreographed entrance, sashaying down a golden staircase, accompanied by eight dancers and hidden under a canopy of giant, coral pink plumes. As she was revealed at the bottom of the stairs, Lady Gaga greeted an audience of millions - those present and those watching live on television around the world, in French.
Bonsoire! Bienvenue a Paris! (Good Evening, welcome to Paris) she exclaimed before performing to a backing track of Zizi Jeanmaire’s 1962 hit Mon Truc en Plumes (“My Thing With Feathers”), written by Bernard Dimey and Jean Constantin. She briefly moved on a piano before returning to join her dance troupe.
Shortly afterwards, Gaga explained her reasons for choosing Mon Truc en Plumes, and revealed that the connection comes from her 2014 collaboration with Tony Bennett, which kicked off with Cole Porter’s Anything Goes - Zizi starred in the 1956 film of the same name.
“Although I am not a French artist, I have always felt a very special connection with French people and singing French music,” Lady Gaga posted on X. “I wanted nothing more than to create a performance that would warm the heart of France, celebrate French art and music, and on such a momentous occasion remind everyone of one of the most magical cities on earth - Paris”.
Who was Zizi Jeanmaire?
Paris-born ballet dancer, actress, showgirl and singer Renée Zizi Jeanmaire would have turned 100 this year. She starred in dozens of ballets, cabarets, musicals and films (Folies-Bergère, Guinguette), often mixing styles while remaining true to her classical training.
Unmistakable with her boyish, short cropped hair, Zizi and her choreographer Roland Petit epitomized cool Parisian chic during the 1960s and to this day she is still considered a national treasure, four years after her passing in Tolechenaz, Switzerland. Zizi was famously name-checked in Peter Sarstedt’s 1969 hit Where Do You Go To (My Lovely).
Completing the lineup at this evening’s Opening Ceremony were a host of other artists, both national and international, including: Aya Nakamura, Juliette Armanet, Sofiane Pamart, rock band Gojira, rapper Rim K and Supernature disco drummer Cerrone.