Lady Gaga has one mode: all-in. That’s the lesson Little Monsters learned (again) over the weekend when Mother Monster hopped in the car with Zane Lowe for a surprise A Carpool Karaoke Christmas special — which also featured Dua Lipa and Chappell Roan — and talked about the time she was told to dial it back as a music video extra.
While regaling a surprised Lowe with the spicy lyrics to her 2008 single “Christmas Tree,” Gaga also shared a clip of her late grandmother singing AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” in a tribute to her granny’s loud, proud love of music. Gaga and Lowe both cracked up at the footage of Gaga’s nana shouting out the lyrics from a living room chair, with Gaga urging, “Get it, grandma!”
After the singer got emotional talking about the lessons she learned from her grandma, Lowe stepped out of the SUV to fetch her a special Christmas gift. That present, was, of course, AC/DC singer Brian Johnson. The pair then shouted out a duet on “Highway to Hell” with Johnson impressed by Gaga’s powerful pipes.
After an appropriate amount of rocking, Gaga recalled that she was an extra in a 2000 AC/DC music video. “You wanna hear something funny? I was in the ‘Stiff Upper Lip’ video,” Gaga told an incredulous Johnson. “I was 17 and I was an extra in the back.”
The best part? Gaga said she was headbanging, as one does when listening to AC/DC, before she was told to cut it out. “I was headbanging and they were like, ‘hmmm. Don’t head bang, we want it to be modern.’ And I was like, ‘no, there’s only one more that I can do.’”
The bit ended with car fanatic and weekend racer Johnson joking “I don’t have a license!” You can check out the full episode of Apple TV+ now.
Check out a fan screen grab of Gaga’s “Stiff Upper Lip” cameo below.
