Watch Lady Gaga Perform "Abracadabra" Live for the First Time on SNL
The pop star made incredible use of the Studio 8H stage performing the Mayhem single with a throng of backup dancers.
It's been nearly nine years since Lady Gaga last rocked Studio 8H as a Musical Guest in 2016, and her first live performance of "Abracadabra" was well worth the wait.
Gaga debuted the lead single from Mayhem, her studio album released on March 7, via a high-drama music video that aired during a commercial break for the 2025 Grammys. Her live SNL performance called back to the visual, with Gaga donning a glitzy red ensemble similar to that in the video (red glittery fabrics were a through-line in both of her performances, as she stripped down to a short jazzy gown of the same hue toward the end of her "Killah" number).
Where the music video made use of a large soundstage, surrounding her with a veritable army of dancers, Gaga matched the energy level on SNL's small stage by placing the action inside an austere, double-peaked structure surrounded by flashing neon lights. The result was a spectacle of tightly-controlled chaos, in which her dancers froze in various poses as Gaga sang "Abracadabra"'s opening lyrics (did anyone else think of a certain scene from Smile 2?)
RELATED: Watch Lady Gaga's SNL Monologue and Sketches from March 8, 2025
What is Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra" about?
Discussing the song in a February 25 interview with Elle, Lady Gaga said "the song is about facing the challenge of life and the challenge of the night and finding the magic in it all."
As for what "the challenge of the night" means, she elaborated, "you have to face the world, the people around you, your life, your unique circumstances, your unique fabric in the world. And when you feel challenged with really showing everybody who you are."
As for "the lady in red" that Gaga herself plays, "The lady in red is all of you that puts you to the test. Your internal monologue. 'Can you do it? Can you do it? Will you do it? Are you good enough? Can you handle it?' In a lot of ways, the song is about dealing with that challenge to yourself and very often the world around us can reflect it back to us as well. I wanted to explore the question, 'What does it feel like to thrive and not just be surviving all the time?'"
Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra" performance was introduced by "superfan" Bowen Yang
As Gaga teased in her monologue, Season 50 cast member Bowen Yang introduced her first performance of the evening. The pop star is Yang's all-time favorite artist, as he has long shared on his Las Culturistas podcast with actor Matt Rogers — and reiterated during his intro to her "Shallow" performance on SNL: The Homecoming Concert.
"I’m writing an entire book about march 8th 2025," Yang captioned a March 9 Instagram post, sharing a selfie with Mother Monster and SNL writer Celeste Yim. "I think Celeste Yim and I experienced every possible human emotion. There is no one better than Lady Gaga."
RELATED: Lady Gaga Belts a Lullaby for a Tiny, Buff Mouse in SNL's "Pip" Short
Speaking for many Yang fans, one commenter wrote, "I’ve never been so happy for someone I do not know."
Yang also got to sing with Gaga twice during the episode — including a hilarious song about slang words we really need to put to bed in a sketch titled "No More Slay."
