Lady Gaga returned to her Las Vegas Jazz & Piano residency the night of August 31 and took the opportunity to make a statement during her set.
In fan-captured video, Gaga said, “I’ve got something to say about trans rights in this country.” She then started playing a slowed-down piano ballad version of “Born This Way.”
“When you got something to say, you gotta speak up, right?” she asked, before she started singing.
Toward the end, she stopped singing and added, “And you know, sometimes you hear people say, like, ‘I don’t always know what to say.'”
She paused and said, “Just listen. Don’t say nothin’. Listen to the stories of real people’s lives.”
She then sang the song’s second verse, which includes the lyrics, “No matter gay, straight, or bi/ lesbian, transgender life/ I’m on the right track, baby, I was born to survive.”
Gaga’s set list for the show was slightly different than the one from the last time she did the residency, back in the spring of 2022. One addition was a jazz version of “Stupid Love,” from her album Chromatica.
Another addition was “Steppin’ Out with My Baby,” made famous by her late friend Tony Bennett. His 1993 version of the song, as well as the MTV Unplugged version he did in 1994, helped revive his career and turn him into a pop culture icon.
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