Lady Gaga may have skipped the Oscars red carpet this year, but she didn’t miss the opportunity to make a Lady Gaga Entrance™ at the 2022 Grammys on Sunday, April 3. The singer/actor/Liza Minnelli whisperer is up for five awards, including Record of the Year and Album of the Year, for her jazz album with Tony Bennett, Love for Sale. In fact, by the time she stepped foot on the red carpet, Gaga and Bennett had already won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
In addition to her five nominations, Gaga performed “Love for Sale” and “Do I Love You.” Bennett, who officially retired last year, did not attend. Instead, he introduced his “friend, Lady Gaga” in a pre-taped message. Gaga performed the songs on her own, as video of her time with Bennett played in the background. She made sure to give Bennett a shoutout mid-performance, and ended with a personal message to him, “I love you, Tony, I miss you.” Cue the tears. (And a standing ovation from the audience.)
Over her career, Gaga has earned 12 Grammys and 30-plus nominations, but this year’s nominations are especially meaningful to Gaga, as she shares them with Bennett, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016. Love for Sale is expected to be his final album. “I’m so honored to be his companion in music and his friend,” she wrote on Instagram after the nominations were announced last November. “Thank you to the public for loving us, we surely love each other, and you. Believe in love and partnership, even with 60 years between us, and Alzheimer’s, there is nothing like the magic of music.” She added, “I love you Tony, and the world loves you too. How could they not?”