2016 Grammy Awards: The Technology Behind Lady Gaga's David Bowie Tribute
— -- When Lady Gaga electrified the 2016 Grammys with her tribute to the late David Bowie, she did so with the power of technology behind her.
Gaga partnered with the tech giant Intel to bring her vision of honoring one of her biggest creative influences to life.
“We wanted to create an expression of not only David Bowie's magic, but also to show that there is magic that can be made with technology,” Gaga said in a video shared by Intel. “The idea with this performance is to create something that feels as other worldly as the most beautiful mountaintop in the world.”
Gaga began the Grammys tribute with a rendition of Bowie’s classic “Space Oddity” while her face transformed into various iconic Bowie characters, from Ziggy Stardust to Aladdin Sane.
“We used some complex tracking and projection techniques to enable her to actually animate some of the makeup that was on her face and really make it look like digital skin,” Paul Tapp, Intel’s director of technology, told "Good Morning America"'s Abbie Boudreau.
Intel gave “GMA” an exclusive look at the Intel ring worn by Gaga that tapped into computers almost five times faster than regular computers. It was that technology that turned the Grammys stage into a 4-D animated wonderland during Gaga’s performance.
When Gaga asked Intel if her rose-gold piano could move onstage, Intel's technology wizards responded with the use of industrial robots that propelled the piano.
“We can give you some dancing instruments and actually make your piano come alive, give it some personality, respond, dance, celebrate Bowie with you as you're up on the stage,” Tapp told Gaga as they were creating the performance.
Nancy Tilbury, the creative technologist on Gaga’s team, known as "Haus of Gaga," said creating the tribute to Bowie, who died last month at the age of 69, was a major moment for Gaga and the whole team.
“In her formative years she always talked a lot about Bowie, so for the Haus of Gaga, it's been incredibly inspiring,” Tilbury said.
