“The Sound of Music,’’ John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, the Super Bowl, and David Bowie. What do all of these things have in common?

Lady Gaga.

After her performance of the national anthem at the Super Bowl earlier this month, people were buzzing about something that fans of the New York singer-songwriter have known for some time: She’s a terrific, poised performer, with a great voice.

She’s proved exactly that multiple times over the last year, including but not limited to her performances of “I Wish’’ and “New York, New York’’ during tributes to Wonder and Sinatra, respectively, and a moving rendition of Lennon’s peace anthem “Imagine’’ during the opening ceremony of the European Games. Her tribute to “The Sound of Music’’ on last year’s Academy Awards drew criticism from some quarters, but was cheered on by Julie Andrews herself. Gaga returns to the Oscars this year as both performer and nominee, for a song she co-wrote with Diane Warren, “Till It Happens to You’’ (from “The Hunting Ground’’).

Yes, this is the woman who once routinely showed up in public in all manner of outrageous get-ups. You’ve got your meat dresses, your large eggs held aloft by musclebound men, your jacket constructed from Kermit the Frog puppets, your crime-scene tape ensemble, your headless corpse costume, and on and on.

But it would appear that since Gaga went cheek to cheek with Tony Bennett, she somehow absorbed some of his old-school vibe and has toned down the wardrobe, allowing people who’d previously missed her talents — distracted by the sirloin, no doubt — to actually hear her voice and witness her love of classic rock, soul, and the Great American Songbook, which has always been evident in her own music.

Remarkably, she’s become the go-to artist to class up a joint. Inevitably after each performance, new viewers tweet things like, “Wow, she can really sing!’’ or “We didn’t know she had that much funk.’’ Her catalog may not be perfect — but yes, she can, and yes, she does.

Whether Gaga is the “right’’ person to pay tribute to David Bowie on the Grammy Awards Monday night — a solo performance, not a collaboration with several artists as is often the case — is an understandable topic of debate. But given her penchant to prod people to peer beyond the packaging, as well as her interest in how music, art, fashion, and politics intersect, the choice feels at least symbolically fitting. Whether she shows up dressed in a smart patriotic pantsuit from the Minelli-Streisand collection as she did at the Super Bowl, as one of Bowie’s famous alter egos, or, randomly, like a potted plant, she surely will have people talking.

Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @GlobeRodman.