Lady Gaga SNL Performance Was ‘One Belting, Glorious, Tinsel Tornado’ [Video]


Lady Gaga’s SNL appearance as the show’s musical guest Saturday night has been receiving rave reviews.

MTV News‘ Hilary Hughes described Gaga’s appearance as “one belting, glorious, tinsel tornado.”

“Lady Gaga continued her hometown takeover on October 22, and hit Saturday Night Live to perform two of the most revved-up tracks off Joanne in a get-up as glittery as the top of the Chrysler Building,” Hughes writes in a review of the performance.

Joanne, Gaga’s latest album, was released on Friday and is expected to sell approximately 125,000 to 135,000 copies, Trisha Faulner previously reported for The Inquisitr.

“While the first-week sales of Lady Gaga’s Joanne does not even come close to the first-week sales of Artpop, chances are pretty good the album will still take the No. 1 slot for both Top Album Sales and Billboard 200 charts,” Faulkner predicts.

Saturday’s performance on SNL might help improve those sales forecasts.

“Starting with ‘A-Yo,’ Gaga — along with Mark Ronson, who produced the album, on guitar — roared through the twangified single, leaving no high note un-checked and working herself into a frenzy as she gyrated and convulsed through the track,” Hughes continues. “She then dove into ‘Million Reasons’ for a serious mood change without scrimping on any of ‘A-Yo’s intensity.”

Hughes was not alone in her praise.

Joey Nolfi’s headline for his Entertainment Weekly review invited readers to “Watch Lady Gaga rock through ‘A-YO’, ‘Million Reasons’ on SNL.”

“Lady Gaga gave fans a million reasons to love her during two rousing performances on this weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live,” Nolfi writes.

Nolfi then turned the focus to Gaga’s sparkly, cowgirl-inspired outfit consisting of glittering, tasseled silver shorts, a matching halter top, and a wide-brimmed cowboy hat with a silver band around it to match the shorts and top. The ensemble definitely had a good bit of razzle-dazzle to it, though it was arguably less flashy than outfits Gaga has been known to wear in the past.

Writing for Rolling Stone, Daniel Kreps also had nothing but good things to say about Lady Gaga’s SNL appearance.

“Assisted by producer Mark Ronson, who contributed guitar to the performance, Gaga’s country-pop ‘A-Yo’ was equal parts honky-tonk, go-go and Daft Punk stage design,” Kreps writes. “The energetic rendition featured Gaga intensely singing, feverishly dancing and wildly shredding on her guitar.”

Kreps notes that while “A-YO” and “Million Reasons” are wildly different songs in terms of sound and theme, Gaga managed to give distinct yet equally impressive performances for each of them.

“Later in the Tom Hanks-hosted episode, Gaga scaled things down for ‘Million Reasons,’ delivering the ballad accompanied only by a piano and the backing vocals of songwriter Hillary Lindsey, who co-wrote the track,” Kreps says.

However, Kreps did have one complaint.

“The one downside to Gaga’s SNL visit: The Golden Globe Best Actress-winning singer didn’t participate in any sketches,” he joked at the end of his review.

Gaga burst onto the music scene with the release of her debut solo album, The Fame, in 2008. That album included the hit singles “Just Dance” and “Poker Face,” both of which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, according to Billboard Magazine.

Since then, she’s released five additional studio albums, including Joanne, and had nearly two dozen songs on the Hot 100.

As Kreps suggested, Gaga is a bit of a Renaissance women. In addition to her stellar musical career, she’s also had a successful acting career. She’s had minor roles in The Sopranos, The Simpsons, and other TV shows, and appeared in the movies Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and Machete Kills, among others, according to her IMDB profile. She had a prominent role in American Horror Story: Hotel, for which she won her Golden Globe award for Best Actress.

Lady Gaga’s SNL performance Saturday was not the first time she’s been the musical guest on the show. She also appeared on the show in November of 2013. If her success Saturday is any indicator, she’ll be back again.

[Featured Image by Rick Diamond/Getty Images]

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