I’d be hard-pressed to find a better Gaga performance, let alone pop performance, than this one. While her 2009 VMAs performance was rightfully-lauded, it’s her BRITs performance that goes on to exhibit her unique abilities within the mainstream pop landscape. Surging from a haunting and touching piano rendition of one of her most club-ready hits into a throbbing, otherworldy take on one of her greatest ‘hit-that-never-was,” Gaga upstaged every other popstar on the planet that night, all without a backup dancer. Just her, a piano, “Emma,” and excellent lighting.

And to think that the performance was “thrown together” in a few short days after McQueen’s death…