By Georgie Hewson, ABC News
Celine Dion at the Grammy Awards in February 2024. Photo: AFP
Paris is abuzz with thousands of athletes and spectators arriving for the 2024 Olympic Games - but it isn't just the arrival of sporting superstars to the city that is generating excitement.
Speculation is rife on which artists will take to the stage during the opening ceremony on 27 July.
Most notably, divas Lady Gaga and Celine Dion have both been spotted in Paris, with fans theorising on social media they might be there to perform in the Olympic opener.
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Artistic director for the opening ceremony Thomas Jolly has been tight-lipped about the line-up, only telling Associated Press that "it will be very meaningful for the artists that will perform".
We might not know until the ceremony kicks off, with acts usually kept secret.
Here are some of the performers punters suspect (or hope) may take to the stage.
Celine Dion
According to US magazine Variety, The French-Candian singer has been spotted staying near the Champs-Élysées.
While she gets points for being a famous French (Canadian) speaker, given her recent health struggles, it's unlikely she could perform.
In 2022, the singer revealed her diagnosis of Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease that causes muscles to stiffen and spasm.
It wouldn't be her first time on the Olympic stage - the singer performed at the opening ceremony in Atlanta in 1996.
The singer has said she may never perform again due to her illness despite really wanting to.
But who knows, perhaps this could be her stunning return.
If not, our hearts will learn to go on.
Fans believe a chrome bodysuit shown in a teaser video is reminiscent of Gaga's Chromatica era, pictured. Photo: HBO
Lady Gaga
If anyone could add to the theatrics of an Olympic opening ceremony taking place on the Seine, it would be Lady Gaga.
She isn't French, but the pop star was spotted in town this week.
Fans on the internet have been speculating since the Olympic Committee shared a video teasing a mystery performer seen wearing a chrome bodysuit, wrapped in an Olympic flag.
They believe it's reminiscent of her Chromatica album era.
For particularly eagle-eyed (or delusional) internet sleuths, the mere sight of a piano near where the ceremony will take place has been enough to send them into a frenzy.
If you need convincing she is up to the job, read up on her show-stopping performance at the 2017 Superbowl half-time show.
It wouldn't be the first time a US singer has popped up in a Olympic ceremony they aren't local to.
But Gaga is booked and busy enough.
The trailer to her new film Joker: Folie a Deux has just dropped and she's busy recording her seventh album.
She could very well be in Paris to promote her new film.
It's also possible that she's just rich and famous and enjoying a European summer like every other celebrity at the moment.
Aya Nakamura is the most listened-to French-speaking singer in the world. Photo: AFP/ZOULERAH NORDDINE
Aya Nakamura
Now onto an actual French choice.
Earlier this year, President Emmanuel Macron threw his support behind French-Malian R&B star Aya Nakamura as a choice for the opening ceremony.
She is currently the most-listened to French-speaking singer in the world.
But Nakamura hasn't confirmed the rumour.
The BBC is reporting she would sing a song in the Chanson style by iconic French singer Edith Piaf.
The speculation has sparked a row on identity and language among the French.
An award-winning artist, Nakamura immigrated to France as a child.
The suggestion she would open the Olympics led to backlash by far-right politicians suggesting she wasn't French enough to perform and criticising her pronunciation of French words.
This triggered an investigation by the Paris prosecutor into alleged racist abuse against the artist brought forward by anti-racism advocacy group LICRA.
In April, Macron said "she speaks to a good number of our fellow citizens and I think she is absolutely in her rightful place in an opening or closing ceremony", according to The Guardian.
Christine and the Queens
French singer-songwriter Christine and the Queens has also been floated as a possibility due to his links to the Games.
Last year, he played at an event promoting the Olympic Games, performing his song 'Full of Life'.
Daft Punk has been ruled out of the opening ceremony already. Photo: Wikicommons
Daft Punk
Sorry, but hopes for the French electronic music duo to reunite for the opening ceremony have already been dashed.
Speculation began to surface after an interview with the director of the opening ceremony Thomas Jolly in a French publication who alluded to Daft Punk playing in the ceremony.
However, following the publication of the interview, Jolly posted an update on X that the group declined to play.
"My comments were confusing and generated a lot of expectations," he wrote.
"After discussing a possible presence at the ceremony, the group's decision is not to participate."
David Guetta
Speaking of French DJs, David Guetta has expressed his disappointment about not being asked to perform.
Chalking up more than 10 million album sales and 14 billion streams globally was not enough for the producer to secure a spot at the ceremony.
And he made it known that he was disappointed.
In April when asked by Agence France-Presse why he was not performing, he said he "didn't understand at all".
"I am still between the fourth and 15th most listened-to artist in the world," he said.
This story was originally published by ABC News.
