- Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's intimate 'Shallow' performance at the Oscars on Sunday has led some fans to speculate whether they're in love in real life.
- Gaga clarified last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, 'That's what we wanted you to see!'
- The Oscar-winning singer also took a jab at social media for spreading rumours, and explained that it was important for her and Cooper to 'stay connected the whole time' throughout their set.
Ever since Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper shared the Oscars stage for an intimate and cinematic performance of 'Shallow' from A Star Is Born, the Internet has been speculating whether the co-stars' on-screen romance has seeped into real life. After all, they looked into each other's eyes, leaned into each other on the piano bench, and sang lovingly with their eyes closed—they must be in love, right?
To that, Lady Gaga responds with the most epic eye-roll in the history of time:
'First of all, social media, quite frankly, is the toilet of the Internet,' the singer and Oscar-winner said during her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night. 'It's just like, and what it has done to pop culture is just, like, abysmal.
Then, Gaga addressed the 'romance' viewers apparently saw during that Oscars set:
Yes, people saw love. And guess what? That's what we wanted you to see! This is a love song, 'Shallow.' The movie, A Star Is Born, it's a love story. We worked so hard, we worked all week on that performance.
She later discussed her and Cooper's connection:
From a performance perspective, it was so important to both of us that we were connected the entire time. I mean, look, I've had my arms wrapped around Tony Bennett for three years, touring the world. When you're singing love songs, that's what you want people to feel.
Gaga continued:
'I'm an artist, and I guess we did a good job, and fooled ya!
Cooper’s girlfriend, model Irina Shayk, reportedly had a similar response to her man’s chemistry with the music superstar. She knows they were 'in character putting on an Oscar performance,' a source told Us Weekly.
Gaga also explained Cooper's vision behind their moving performance:
I never relinquish control about a live stage performance; I've done a million of them. But, you know, he directed this film and he directed, obviously, all of the musical moments in the film, and he directed, obviously, 'Shallow,' the moment in the film, so I knew he had the vision for how it should go.
And so I was like, 'What do you think, Bradley?' and he laid it all out. Everything that you saw, the way that it was shot, the way that they pushed the piano out, you saw them put the piano together, and us walk up on stage—all of it, that was all him.
The singer added that it was Cooper's idea to have the audience lit with amber lighting, so she reached out to her lighting design contact from her own performances to help add that touch to their now-iconic Oscars moment. 'Bradley wants honeycomb, and we've got to give him what he wants!' Gaga quipped.
Jokes aside, though, Gaga did reference the day after the Oscars that she and Cooper are just friends with a celebratory Instagram post. 'Nothing could be more special than sharing this moment at the Oscars with a true friend and artistic genius,' she captioned a photo from their performance.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now.
