After much speculation over who would be singing at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Lady Gaga emerged from a shield of bright pink feathers and wowed the crowd. But despite the performance being super fun and absolutely beautiful, fans were pretty convinced Gaga wasn’t actually singing throughout it.
Lady Gaga performed in the beginning of the opening ceremony with a group of dancers next to the Seine River, and while the performance was show-stopping — contained a piano moment from Gaga, bright pink feathers, and fast-paced choreography — fans still couldn’t help but focus on Gaga’s mouth… specifically, whether or not they were timing up with the music everyone was hearing.
While most of social media was full of fans celebrating the spunky and colorful musical number, there were several opening ceremony viewers who immediately took to social media to critique the performance. One user wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, “@Olympics Lady Gaga winning the worst lip sync performance ever…” Another user wrote, “Miming and bad lip sync.”
So, was Lady Gaga lip syncing her opening ceremony number? If you watch videos of it, you can see that it appears Gaga’s mouth doesn’t exactly align with the audio. Specifically, you can notice a delay several times about a minute into her performance. In certain moments, it appears that her voice comes a little earlier than when she moves her mouth. This performance did have an echo effect throughout it, so it could have been from that — or maybe the program had a slight time delay since it was live.
Lady Gaga winning with the worst lip sync performance ever..#OlympicGames
— JM (@jwmuk) July 26, 2024
Or, you know, should could have been lip syncing. This was a live event that took place outdoors and with very little rehearsal time. Some might argue that any performance with those conditions would have a every right to be lip synced — and many fans still absolutely loved it.
Gaga herself hopped onto social media to share her feelings after she was done with her number. She didn’t address the lip sync rumors, but she did express extreme gratitude for the opportunity to perform. “I feel so completely grateful to have been asked to open the Paris @Olympics 2024 this year,” she wrote on X. “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 also added: “To everyone in France, thank you so much for welcoming me to your country to sing in honor of you — it’s a gift I’ll never forget!”
Whether or not Gaga was lip syncing, this performance was one that was highly anticipated by fans ever since they first heard she was in Paris and rumors started swirling that she could be a performer at the Olympics. And Gaga wasn’t the only celebrity fans knew to expect during the ceremony. On July, 23, Variety reported that Celine Dion arrived in Paris on Monday at the Royal Monceau hotel near the Champs-Élysées, where Lady Gaga was also staying. Plus, Kelley Clarkson was a commentator for NBC, and Snoop Dogg served as an Olympic torch bearer (and also ended up making several on screen appearances during the opening ceremony). And then, of course, the event featured athletes from around the globe (including many college athletes who Gen Z fans are rooting super hard for).
It’s no surprise this year’s Olympic Games opening ceremony had so many big names attached to it. The last Summer Olympics in Tokyo couldn’t have big crowds due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so fans have been eagerly awaiting a big, splashy opening ceremony. Thankfully (whether it was with live vocals or not), Gaga helped deliver exactly that.