"Without a doubt, the most anticipated tribute of this year’s Grammys will be Rodgers and Gaga’s celebration of Bowie’s legacy:
a gloriously theatrical but respectful 10-song, nearly eight-minute medley featuring Lady Gaga transforming into Lady Stardust, in full Ziggy-inspired glam attire, against a psychedelic backdrop of dancing starmen, flanked by Rodgers and “Fashion”-appropriate modern dancers. However, when it was first announced that Gaga would perform the tribute to Bowie, one of rock ‘n’ roll’s all-time most important and influential figures, some naysayers wondered why the segment wasn’t being led by one of Bowie’s peers, like Iggy Pop or Brian Eno.
“That’s a very legitimate question,” Ehrlich admits. Says Rodgers: “We called everybody! I could show you all my emails! I think in Iggy’s case, he just wasn’t available. People didn’t know that we were going to do a Bowie tribute at the Grammys, so what happened was, actually it was Gaga’s idea: She had me reach out to, say, 15 different people. Everybody was available, but by the time we linked up, Iggy wasn’t available, and to me that was important [to include him]. But when you see this [Gaga performance], you’ll get it. It will make sense.”
“It’s subjective, but there are probably many people who look at Lady Gaga as a modern-day incarnation of Bowie,” says Ehrlich. “She’s outrageous – it’s about clothing, it’s about musicianship, and there’s this left turn that she’s always been. Not that David was thatcontroversial, but he was controversial, like she is.”
“I don’t want to speak for Gaga, but I’ve had a huge number of conversations with her about David, and she says – I’m paraphrasing her here – that he was probably the single greatest influence on her life, in terms of where she was coming from artistically,” says Rodgers. Rodgers also stresses that
Gaga helped figure out the daunting task of distilling Bowie’s five-decade, multi-genre, multi-character career into just a few minutes. “As musical director, my concept was to musically make that statement – to tell this historical, linear journey,” he says.
“That was a little bit tricky, but Gaga’s idea was to do it chronologically, and we for the most part do it that way. But then at the end, you’ll see we do a finale that’s almost like a ‘tribute to the tribute,’ and it’s going to be very interesting.”