cnn latest news: Lady Gaga Doubles Up At Grammy Nominations Special

Gaga opens and closes the show, with an assist from country duo Sugarland.
By James Montgomery

Lady Gaga opens the "Grammy Nominations Concert Live!!"
Photo: Lester Cohen/ WireImage

Anyone who has ever seen Lady Gaga is aware that she knows how to work a look. And on Wednesday's (November 30) "Grammy Nominations Concert Live!!," she worked two of them, both about as different as could be.

As she announced earlier, Gaga served as both the opening and closing act during the telecast, and, of course, those two roles required two totally different sides of the Mother Monster. She started things off with a steampunk-y version of "Marry the Night," opening the song on a stage littered with smoking pipes and scattered bits of scrap metal. Her face done up like a skeleton (or perhaps Zombie Boy?), wearing a black cloak, she solemnly sang the song's opening lines, as a group of gothed-up dancers cavorted around her.

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As the beat kicked in, she shed her cloak (revealing a sport coat, matching underwear set and, of course, thigh-high boots) and hit the harmonies hard, while guitars wailed and those dancers posed and popped. Then the whole thing gave way to a particularly fierce dance segment, which brought the performance to a close and earned a standing ovation from the industry-heavy crowd (David Guetta seemed particularly pumped, it should be noted).

And after the nominations were revealed, Gaga was back to wrap things up, and she did so in true Grammy style, joined onstage by country duo Sugarland for a husky, musky version of "Yoü and I." Seated at the piano, she traded verses (and a whole lot of suggestive glances) with Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles. Gaga changed a couple of the song's lines — "With your high cowboy boots on," "Oh Sugarland, it's been six whole years" — to fit the occasion and pounded on the keys as the song built to a bluesy guitar solo from Sugarland's Kristian Bush.

The whole performance wound down with Gaga and Nettles swapping extended vocal runs, and as the audience gave them another standing O, the three embraced and laughed mid-stage. All in all, it was pretty much the kind of night we've come to expect from Gaga: She worked two seemingly disparate looks, brought together some equally disparate musical genres and, oh yeah, even picked up an Album of the Year nomination for Born This Way. And, as always, she made it look pretty effortless.

What did you think of Gaga's performance? Let us know in the comments!

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