Lady Gaga Performs Stripped-Down ‘Hold My Hand’ From ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ at the 2023 Oscars

Lady Gaga took the stage at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday night (March 12) to perform her hit best song nominee “Hold My Hand,” from the blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.

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“I wrote this song with my friend BloodPop for the film Top Gun: Maverick in my studio basement,” she began her performance. “It’s deeply personal for me, and I think that we all need each other. We need a lot of love to walk through this life, and we all need a hero sometimes. There’s heroes all around us, in unassuming places, but you might find that you can be your own hero even if you feel broken inside.”

Gaga then delivered a stripped-down version of the Maverick power ballad, with just a piano for accompaniment for the first verse and chorus, before being joined by drums and bass for the remainder of the performance. It was an appropriate raw and intimate-feeling version of the song, given its emotional introduction.

“Hold My Hand” hit No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022 — one of two Hot 100 hits from Maverick, along with OneRepublic’s “I Ain’t Worried.” Lady Gaga previously won the Oscar for best original song at the 2019 Academy Awards, for her Hot 100-topping Bradley Cooper duet “Shallow” from A Star Is Born.

Top Gun: Maverick is nominated for six total categories at this year’s Academy Awards, also including best editing, best adapted screenplay and best picture. It is one of two box office-besting sequels to be nominated for best picture this year, along with Avatar: The Way of Water.