Lady Gaga’s ‘SNL’ Performance Packs Guts, Glory And Threeways

Idolator Staff | May 22, 2011 12:26 am

Lady Gaga’s SNL performance was bound to be a spectacle unlike any other. Not just because Saturday night represented her final major performance before Born This Way finally hits record shops (well, maybe except for her Beyonce tribute for Billboard), not just because she had to top her riveting Monsters’ Ball HBO special, and not just because she was borrowing an outfit from non-singing host Justin Timberlake. Nope. Gaga’s appearance on the Saturday Night Live season finale had to be big because, even though she’s the most powerful entertainer in the world, she’s driven to play the underdog, and to defy all critics, real or imagined.

What did she have in store after teasing us with a “GLORIOUS surprise”? Watch below.

Gaga delivered a boldly unadorned performance (well, as unadorned as she can do it while wearing that metallic headpiece) of “The Edge Of Glory” from the piano before cranking up the volume for a theatrical run-through of “Judas”. (The latter was fine, but definitely small-scale by Gaga standards, and certainly compared to her Graham Norton performance.

Lady Gaga – “The Edge Of Glory” / “Judas”

It turned out Gaga came bearing more than one surprise for the evening — but one of them was certainly the, uh, wardrobe addition in the middle of “Born This Way”. (Talk about taking her lyrics literally).

Lady Gaga – “Born This Way”

Gaga even appeared in three sketches. The first one featured the pop star dressed as a bottle of wine, which is maybe the most tame outfit we’ve ever seen her wear:

The second had Gaga playing herself against Justin Timberlake (also playing himself) on the game show What’s That Name?:

And the third had Gaga all 90s New Yawk’d out alongside “Dick In The Box” buddies JT and Andy Samberg for their third collaboration, “3-Way”:

Did you watch #TimberGagaSNLfinale? What did you make of it? Tell us here, or on Twitter or Facebook.