Introduction: Special Occasion Speaking
An acceptance speech is a type of special occasion speaking, which is designed “to address and engage the context and audience’s emotions on a specific occasion,” like an award ceremony, wedding, funeral, etc. (Tucker, 2019, para. 2).
I chose special occasion speaking because it is one of the most common types of speech, and it is vital to understand how to analyze such speech and what makes a good speech.
General rules dictate that a speech should be prepared beforehand and its content is adapted to the occasion and audience. For example, there should be no jokes at a funeral, and dark humor is generally a bad idea at traditional weddings. Finally, different types of special occasion speeches have different time frame expectations. Thus, it is necessary to manage speaking time well (Tucker, 2019).
Acceptance Speech
An acceptance speech is commonly given by a recipient of an award, prize, or honor. Its purpose is to thank the organizers and givers of an award, give credit to those who helped the recipient achieve it, and put the prize and its value into perspective (Tucker, 2019). As such, the primary target audience for the speech is award ceremony organizers, recipient’s partners, and contributors; then, other participants and viewers. Acceptance speech should be concise (generally under 2 minutes), gracious, and conversational. Its topic should revolve around its purpose without unnecessary topic shifting.
Lady Gaga’s Speech
Lady Gaga won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and gave her acceptance speech in 2019. She thanked the Grammy organizers and audience for the award and then extended her gratitude to God, family, and her winning partner Bradley Cooper (GRAMMYs, 2019).
The target audience for the speech is artists present at the Grammy and television viewers aged 18-49 (Zorrilla, 2021).
Lady Gaga shifted from expressing gratitude to discussing mental health issues and concluded with a call on artists to provide emotional support to everyone concerned (GRAMMYs, 2019).
Lady Gaga’s Manner
Lady Gaga seems nervous, but her speech is well-structured and has the right pace and intonation.
The artist is emotional, breathing heavily and nearly crying. Her presentation is genuine and appeals to pathos.
The speech is conversational without a complex lexicon, terminology, and cliché.
Lady Gaga’s pose is restrained and humble. She uses few gestures during her speech, but they are well placed.
Her facial expression is flustered, as though she is troubled by something. Her eyes dart across the audience.
Lady Gaga’s speech is short but meaningful. It corresponds to the fundamental principles of effective public speaking.
Effective Public Speaking
According to executive presentation coach Peter Khoury, there are nine hallmarks of good public speaking (as cited in Lumen Learning, n.d.):
Confident speech includes posed pacing with good pausing. Abrupt silence, prolonged thinking, and timid or quiet speaking leave a bad impression.
To show passion, speakers should talk genuinely without pretense. The best way to show it is to behave freely and speak naturally.
Practice and authenticity mean preparing an authentic speech without memorizing it by heart.
A speech should not be very long, as brevity is the soul of wit. It should contain a short introduction that indicates its key points, a body covering each vital issue, and a conclusion that summarizes the speech and ends on a strong note.
Researching an audience to appeal to its interests, engaging with an audience, using storytelling guidelines, and repetition also contributes to an excellent speech.
Lady Gaga’s Effectiveness
Lady Gaga more or less follows seven out of nine hallmarks. She behaves naturally and has a passionate voice and gestures. The speech is original, not memorized, and laconic. Due to Lady Gaga’s excellent publicity, she immediately connects with her audience. Lady Gaga does not seem confident because of her nervousness and does not employ storytelling in her speech. However, as it is an acceptance speech, her evident anxiety makes her sound more genuine and gracious. Overall, Lady Gaga’s speech achieves its purpose and is quite effective, making a good impression on the audience.
Lady Gaga’s Structure Analysis
It is hard to distinguish a concrete structure in a short speech like this. The introduction part takes roughly 17 seconds. The opening phrase is “Thank you so much!” (GRAMMYs, 2019, 0:36-0:37). Then, Lady Gaga expresses her gratitude to God and her love for the family. The body takes 48 seconds and starts with a phrase: “I wish Bradley was here right now…” (GRAMMYs, 2019, 0:54-0:56). The first part is the gratitude to Bradley Cooper, which ends with a transition phrase: “And if I don’t get another chance to say this…” (GRAMMYs, 2019, 1:06-1:08). The second part addresses the movie in which production Lady Gaga took part. Said movie raises awareness about mental health issues. Then, Lady Gaga urges her colleagues to provide emotional or mental support to whoever needs it. In conclusion, she thanks the audience and GRAMMYs yet again.
Conclusion
Lady Gaga’s acceptance speech at the 2019 Grammy Awards ceremony is emotional and thankful. It is short but well-paced, structured, and informative. Despite visible Lady Gaga’s nervousness, it achieves its primary purpose and even presents relevant subtopics for the audience to think about. Overall, Lady Gaga’s speech is successful because of her natural mannerisms, genuine demeanor, and popularity.
References
Tucker, B. G. (2019). Chapter 15: Special occasion speaking. In M. LeHew & B. G. Tucker (Eds.), Exploring public speaking: The free Dalton State College public speaking textbook (4th edition). Dalton State College. Web.
Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Effective public speaking. Public speaking, module 7. Web.
Recording Academy / GRAMMYs. (2019). Lady Gaga wins Best Pop Duo or Group Performance | 2019 GRAMMYs acceptance speech [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Zorrilla, M. M. (2021). TV ratings: Grammy Awards hit record low, down nearly 53% compared to 2020’s show. Variety. Web.