Almost two hours into her Coachella 2025 headlining set, Lady Gaga sat down at the piano, breathing hard and seemingly exhausted. Little did the audience know that they were about to see what many fans would call one of her greatest performances ever. Any hints of being tired melted away as Gaga began to sing her megahit “Shallow,” accompanying herself on piano and delivering a flawless and emotional vocal.
Some Coachella acts came under fire this year for excessive use of pre-recorded vocal tracks or Auto-Tune. But I know I don’t have to tell The Music Man readers that Gaga didn’t need any of that to slay the 125,000-strong crowd on her second time headlining Coachella. She left nothing in the tank as she sang “Shallow,” putting her heart and soul into the performance. Gaga also changed up many small details of her vocals and playing, creating a unique performance that no doubt everyone there will treasure.
Coachella uploaded Gaga’s “Shallow” performance to YouTube on April 24, 2025, and in the two weeks since then, the video has hit 2.5 million views. Fans were impressed by Gaga’s ability to perform so powerfully so deep into her two-hour set and added comments such as “Her best performance of ‘Shallow’ ever and one of the greatest live performances of her career” and “Generational talent, and her artistry keeps improving as she ages, the rarest of talents.”
Gaga dropped another banger at the start of her set, “Poker Face,” which hit 4.4 million views after it was uploaded to YouTube by Coachella. This live cut shows a very different side to Gaga, as she leads an army of backup dancers in a dramatic and intense choreo on a dance floor lit up like a chessboard. There was one similarity, though, being that Gaga again sang the hit 100% live and killed every line and then some.
The Music Man readers may recall that Gaga co-wrote the ballad “Shallow” for her box office smash A Star is Born, some of which was filmed at Coachella. It seems this is why her performance of “Shallow” at Coachella 2025 was so emotional. Before playing “Shallow,” Gaga told the crowd, “Since the last time I played Coachella I’ve had some songs come out. But one of them I think back to being here and remember how special it was that I got to perform here and we filmed a movie here that changed my life.” Gaga added that doing the film helped her “say something different I hadn’t said before,” and that she was “so excited” to return to sing “Shallow” for the crowd.