She once sang “Things got so compliquées” in “Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say,” but is Lady Gaga French? The question arose after Gaga was announced as one of the performers at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, along with Celine Dion and Aya Nakamura, who are both of French descent. Dion is French Canadian and has sung many songs in French, while Nakamura is French Malian. But what about Gafa?
Is Lady Gaga French?
Lady Gaga, whose real name is Joanne Angelina Germanotta, was born in New York City, so her nationality is American and not French. She does, however, have French on the side of her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, who is half-Italian and part French, German and Scottish, according to reports. Lady Gaga’s father, Joe Germanotta, is of Italian descent.
Gaga also doesn’t speak French fluently. When asked if she spoke French by a French radio station in 2009, she responded, “No, my French is shit.” That said, Gaga has sung in French in many of her songs, according to Gaga Daily. Those songs include “Love Game” and “Eh, Eh, Nothing Else I Can Say” from her first album The Fame; “Bad Romance” from from The Fame Monster; “Bloody Mary” and “Fashion” from Born This Way; “Donatella from “Artpop”; and her cover of “La Vie en Rose” from 2018’s A Star Is Born.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony, Gaga performed a cover of of Renée Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc en Plumes” (“My Thing With Feathers”). She started her performance along the steps of the Seine River before she paid tribute to Jeanmaire, a renowned French ballet dancer, actress and singer also known as Zizi. Gaga’s performance started with a group of eight dancers carrying pink feather fans before she moved to a piano for the second part of her cover. The performance ended with Gaga dancing back on her feet with a grand finale.
