In a time of division and partisan rancor, love is what we need right now. That was the overarching message in Lady Gaga’s 30-second ad for “The Love Project,” which debuted during Sunday night’s (Feb. 26) Oscars. The spot, a collaboration with makeup giant Revlon, featured Pharrell and Ellen DeGeneres dancing, and urging people to find ways to express their love.
“Love is embracing everything you are,” Gaga says in the opening shot of the black and white PSA, cued to her ballad “Million Reasons.” Sporting a head of long blonde hair with choppy bangs, Gaga makes her statement as Pharrell stares into the camera and DeGeneres moves through the frame doing a silly dance. “Love is why we’re here,” adds the daytime talk show queen, while the “Happy” singer notes, “Love is a light in the dark.”
Gaga and director/producer Brett Ratner teased the campaign last week, and it appears that Ratner directed it. In one of the lighter bits, Gaga says love is “being at my grandma’s house,” to which DeGeneres responds, “Ooh, I love Lady Gaga’s grandma’s house!” Together, they argue, “Love is all we have… for a million reasons we need love now.”
