Lady Gaga’s ‘Sobbing’ Oscars Rehearsal Revealed, Singer Shared Empowering Message To Sexual Assault Survivors, Source Says

Lady Gaga’s performance of her Oscar nominated song during the recently held Academy Awards was one of the memorable moments of the night. However, prior the prestigious awards ceremony, the singer was seen sobbing through a rehearsal performance for the show.

The 88th Academy Awards, held Sunday at the Dolby Theater, featured several unforgettable moments such as Leonardo DiCaprio finally landing his first Oscars Award after numerous nominations. One of the moments that also touched the hearts of many fans and celebrities was Lady Gaga’s powerful performance of “Til It Happens To You” alongside dozens of sexual assault survivors.

Kirat Sandhu was one of the individuals who joined the “Born This Way” singer on stage during the Oscars. Sandhu shared in an Entertainment Tonight interview that Lady Gaga was “sobbing” during the first time they met her in rehearsals. Sandhu explained that the singer was touched that sexual assault survivors were doing the performance with her.

Sandhu also recounted how Lady Gaga had asked them to form a group huddle, where she had a “one-on-one conversation with all of [them].” The singer told the group that it meant so much to her to have all of them with her for the Oscars performance. Sandhu even stated that Lady Gaga shared some of her personal experiences and that she continues to feel the pain years after it happened.

"She said, 'I want all of you to look into that camera and I want you to hurt.' ... 'This is gonna be the time that we heal, and we're gonna heal together,’” Sandhu added.

Meanwhile, following the singer’s impressive Oscars performance, Lady Gaga’s Oscar nominated hit “Til It Happens To You” received a huge Spotify bump, according to Entertainment Weekly. The song received a 1,689 percent increase in plays on the said digital music service. The peak hours happened around an hour after the end of the Academy Awards, between the time period of midnight to 1 a.m.

Apart from Lady Gaga’s song, Sam Smith’s “Writing’s on the Wall” also saw a Spotify bump of 407 percent after the event. Smith won the Best Original Song for the said “Spectre” theme song.