Although Lady Gaga kicked off Friday’s opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics in dazzling fashion, her performance was actually pre-recorded.
The Grammy Award winner powered through technical difficulties and inclement weather as it rained along the Seine River during her rendition of ‘Mon Truc en Plumes‘ in tribute to French star Zizi Jeanmaire, but the set reportedly took place hours before it aired.
According to the Associated Press, Gaga was spotted warming up onstage about three hours before the ceremony started and then performing for about an hour. She waved to fans as she exited the stage.
Olympic and Paralympic opening ceremony choreographer Maud le Pladec told Variety that Gaga’s surprise performance was the only one 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.”
Lady Gaga rehearsing along the Seine ahead of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. (John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)
Pladec added, “The soil would have been slippery. She was wearing heels, very near the water, there were stairs… We had to be extremely cautious.”
Gaga reportedly watched the performance onscreen from her dressing room before returning to her hotel and sharing a heartfelt statement about the experience. “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,” she wrote in part on X.
“Although I am not a French artist, I have always felt a very special connection with French people and singing French music—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,” added Gaga.