‘Saturday Night Live’ music: Lady Gaga performs ‘AYO,’ ‘Million Reasons’

Typically, “Saturday Night Live” is structured in a way where you either get a really notable host or a musical guest; it’s not often that you have both in the same show, other than of course the premiers and the finales. That was a little bit different this week, as we had the appearance of Lady Gaga performing during Tom Hanks’ show.

The one question that we had going into this episode was whether Gaga was going to lead off with her recent hit “Perfect Illusion” or “AYO,” the latest single from her album “Joanne.” Ultimately, she opted for the second song, which definitely has a distinct pop-country vibe to it. With all of the talk about cigarettes, it feels a little bit more like a song from twenty years ago than today. We gotta say that we can’t relate much to the song’s content, but there’s no doubt that Gaga knows how to put on a performance.

One nice surprise was seeing Mark Ronson, who was very involved with the “Joanne” album, present on the show playing guitar. This whole bit was very energetic and fun, and probably was a good way for her to present herself in a way that is very different from some of her past music and albums.

Second song – This song was “Million Reasons,” which really surprised us since there was no “Perfect Illusion” performance at all. Still, this was a nice change of pace from the original. It was a slower folk-rock song with her sitting at the piano, while reminding us at the same time that she’s a really fantastic singer. This is something that does get a little lost sometimes for pop stars who spend so much time moving around on stage.

You can head over here now to read our full review of tonight’s episode. (Photo: NBC.)