Gaga Welcomes in the Holidays By Dale Johnson This year, ABC extended two very odd invitations: one to Lady Gaga requesting her to create a Thanksgiving special, and another to viewers asking us to join in and watch the musical night unfold. In the holiday special “A Very Gaga Thanksgiving,” Lady Gaga returned to her old high school in New York for an hour and a half of live performances, an interview with Katie Couric, and even a cooking session with celebrity chef Art Smith. Nothing is as fascinatingly ordinary as watching Lady Gaga mix batter for fried turkey and waffles while maneuvering around a kitchen in a yellow trench coat, oversized black hat, and matching two-inch nails. Pairing up the anything-but-conventional Gaga with a traditional holiday like Thanksgiving seems the recipe of bad reality TV. But to the contrary, Gaga’s offbeat refinement coupled with jazzed-up big band versions of her singles merged into a palatable special. A duet of “The Lady is a Tramp” with Tony Bennett set the tone for the jazz-filled night, and her singles was given a homey feel with the inclusion of trumpets and piano. The performance of her new single “Marry the Night” was particularly expressive; alone at the microphone and supported by a backing track, Gaga’s gestures and dress hit a good blend of theatrics and glamor, if a bit forced. She looked like she had fun, regardless. Some of Gaga’s expected flare had to make itself shown, of course. Performances of “Born This Way” and “Bad Romance” stayed true to their bass-thumping forms while tuxedo-clad backup dancers twisted through the aisles of the performance hall. Gaga standing on a banquet table crying “I’m a free bitch, baby!” with a mouthful of turkey may not be the makings of a relaxing dinner, but she certainly knows how to crash her own party. Alongside the special, Gaga also released A Very Gaga Holiday, an EP with four live tracks pulled directly from the show. The name is up for interpretation as the only holiday song included is “White Christmas,” which Gaga’s low register warmly covers. A few of her pop tricks sneak their way in, but her trademark lyrical stutter is better suited for “p-p-p-poker face” than “snow-oh-oh-oh.” Thankfully, Gaga keeps the classic carol tame. There’s some bated breath when she pauses halfway through to say that she added a verse to the song, but it’s a harmless line about a snowman that leaves something to be desired. It also lands far from her 2009 track “Christmas Tree” that included sentiment like “Light me up, put me on top” and “my Christmas tree’s delicious.” Following “White Christmas” is a fitting cover of the jazz song “Orange Colored Sky,” a big-band version of “You and I,” and an acoustic rendition of “Edge Of Glory” that shows off the ability of Gaga to transition from outrageous to refined. It takes some rationalization to fit each single into the “holiday” category, and it’s a mystery why these

were selected over any of the other performances of the night. Perhaps it’s because they’re the ones most interspersed with lyrical additions referencing Thanksgiving, and filled with Gaga’s family recollections. The EP isn’t the usual holiday record, but Gaga isn’t an average hostess.