Lady Gaga never half-steps her awards show performances, and Sunday night’s (Feb. 1) outré run through her hit 2025 smash “Abracadabra” at the Grammy Awards was no exception. Shouting, “Grammy Awards, put your paws up!” in a call to arms to Little Monsters in the house at L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena and at home, Gaga kicked things off with peak energy while wearing one of her one-of-a-kind costumes, this one consisting of a black, basketlike helmet with red strings shooting out of the caged opening in front.
Positioned at a set of keyboards, Gaga sang from beneath the woven headdress, looking down into the camera while holding a black cane, her torso wrapped in black and red feathers above a long black leather skirt. “Like a poem said by a lady in red/ You hear the last few words of your life/ With a haunting dance, now you’re both in a trance/ It’s time to case your spell on the night,” she sang ominously as she tossed the cane away, attacked the keyboard and recited the song’s refrain, “Abracadabra/ Amor oo na na/ Abra ca da bra/ Morta oo gaga.”
Halfway through, she stumbled out from behind the keys and pointed the cane at the audience, then did a series of excited, stabby hand gestures as she repeated the chorus and a plume of smoke filled the stage behind her while she busted into an operatic wail.
The spirited, strobe-lit performance ended with Gaga yowling “death or love tonight” as the song lurched to a chaotic, gunshot-like conclusion.
The single from her MAYHEM LP peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 20 weeks on the chart. In addition, MAYHEM peaked at the top of the Billboard 200 following its March release, becoming her fifth solo album to top the tally; it also spent 37 weeks at No. 1 on the Top Dance Albums chart.
Gaga came into Sunday night’s 2026 Grammy Awards with seven nominations for MAYHEM — her highest one-year total to date — including album of the year and best pop vocal album, record/song of the year and best dance pop recording for “Abracadabra,” and best pop solo performance (“Disease) as well as best traditional pop vocal album (Harlequin); she took home the best pop vocal album award shortly after her performance.
She won earlier in the evening, with a Grammy for best dance pop recording for “Abracadabra,” which brought her win total to date up to 15 on an eye-popping 45 nominations.
