This might be Lady Gaga’s most personal performance. The American star performed the piano ballad “Til It Happens to You” at the Oscars, giving an intense and heartfelt performance. Gaga had a moving finale planned for the performance, when 52 sexual assault survivors walked onstage with linked arms. When the New York singer-songwriter finished the song, she stood and raised her arms together with the survivors as the whole crowd gave them a standing ovation.
Gaga co-wrote “Til It Happens to You” for the 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground, which covered the issue of sexual assault on college campuses in the US. Gaga had previously gone public about her own experience as a survivor. The power in her performance was really intense, and The Music Man readers might notice that she had several audience members tearing up by the end of the song.
Gaga’s performance of “Til It Happens to You” drew two million views on YouTube. She performed the ballad at the 88th Academy Awards on February 28, 2016. The then-Vice President Joe Biden introduced the performance, giving a speech that advocated for people to take action to change the culture that led to the campus abuses documented in The Hunting Ground.
Gaga’s performance really made an impact on viewers, who added comments such as “I shed actual tears watching this. Her passion while singing this is breathtaking” and “I think this is the most important song and performance she’s ever done. Because it comes from a real place.” Gaga is a real master of solo piano performances, which she also displayed with her live studio session of “Million Reasons” on the Howard Stern Show.
Gaga released “Til It Happens to You” on September 18, 2015. She wrote the song with Californian songwriter Diane Warren specifically for The Hunting Ground. The filmmakers sought out an influential figure to write a song for the documentary and contacted Warren, who took them up on the offer. The Music Man readers might be interested to know that Gaga really showed off her abilities as an ace by producing the song herself in addition to co-writing and performing it. The lyrics of the song address a universal theme of surviving loss or tragedy in life. Thirty producers remixed “Til It Happens to You,” including Dave Audé and Tracy Young. These remix versions resulted in the song topping the US Dance Club Songs chart.