‘Good Morning America’: Lady Gaga performs ‘Wizard of Oz’ version of ‘Applause’

Lady Gaga apparently needs your applause in the same way that Dorothy needs to find her way home. The pop singer made an appearance on “Good Morning America” this morning to perform her new single in Times Square, and it was as pseudo-bizarre as you would expect.

But, when you really think about it, Gaga’s performances have almost become clearer in recent months. Rather than just trying to go with outfits or costumes that are symbolic or a part of some sort of larger point, she is drifting closer to her “The Fame” days of just doing things that are fun. This “Wizard of Oz”-themed performance really didn’t have anything to do with the song at all, and instead was just a nice way to make it feel more Broadway while in New York City.

First of all, we felt bad for the dog that had to be carried around in the basket for the first stretch of the video, and after that, the performance started to pick up a little bit. We have never doubted Gaga’s abilities as an entertainer at all, and she is great at this. The real reason that she is so polarizing at this point is that there is a certain intimidation level around her; her fans are extremely dedicated, there is all sorts of symbolism and history there, and she just does not have the same sort of accessibility as some others in pop music today.

But all in all, this is a performance that “Good Morning America” was probably glad to have, and that they will beg to have time and time again in the future. This is Gaga’s first major TV performance of the song since the VMAs, and we are sure that there will be more coming up in the future.

Photo: ABC