Lady Gaga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lady Gaga |
Lady Gaga performing on The Monster Ball Tour in 2010 |
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta |
| Born |
March 28, 1986 (age 26)
New York, New York, U.S. |
| Genres |
Pop, dance, electronic |
| Occupations |
Singer-songwriter, performance artist, record producer, dancer, businesswoman, activist |
| Instruments |
Vocals, piano, keyboards |
| Years active |
2005–present |
| Labels |
Def Jam, Cherrytree, Streamline, Kon Live, Interscope |
| Website |
LadyGaga.com |
Influenced by
David Bowie,
Michael Jackson,
Madonna and
Queen,
Lady Gaga is recognized for her flamboyant, diverse and outré
contributions to the music industry through her fashion, performances
and music videos. She has sold an estimated 23 million albums and 64
million singles worldwide, making her one of the
best-selling music artists of all time and her singles are some of the
best selling worldwide.
[1] Her achievements include five
Grammy Awards and 13
MTV Video Music Awards. Lady Gaga has consecutively appeared on
Billboard magazine's Artists of the Year (scoring the definitive title in 2010), ranked fourth in
VH1's list of 100 Greatest Women in Music, is regularly placed on lists composed by
Forbes magazine and was named one of the most influential people in the world by
Time magazine.
[2][3] In 2012, Gaga was ranked at number four on
Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing more than 25 million dollars.
[4]
Biography
1986–2004: Early life
Manhattan's
Upper West Side, where Gaga grew up, has been an inspiration for many of her songs.
Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta on March 28, 1986 in
New York City to parents Cynthia (née
Bissett) and Joseph Germanotta, an internet entrepreneur.
[5][6] Descending from
Italian and more distant
French-Canadian roots, Gaga is the elder of two children.
[7][8] Her sister, Natali, a fashion student, was born in 1992.
[9][10] Despite her seemingly affluent upbringing in the family home in Manhattan's
Upper West Side,
Gaga has stressed that she did not come from a wealthy background,
stating that her parents "both came from lower-class families, so we've
worked for everything—my mother worked eight to eight out of the house,
in telecommunications, and so did my father."
[11][12]
From the age of 11, Gaga – who was raised Roman Catholic – attended the
Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private all-girls Roman Catholic school on Manhattan's
Upper East Side.
[13][14][15]
She described her academic life in high school as "very dedicated, very
studious, very disciplined" but also "a bit insecure": "I used to get
made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I
started to tone it down. I didn't fit in, and I felt like a freak."
[16][17]
Acquaintances dispute that she did not fit in at school. "She had a
core group of friends; she was a good student. She liked boys a lot, but
singing was No. 1," recalled a former high school classmate.
[18] Gaga began playing the piano at the age of 4, went on to write her first piano ballad at 13, and started to perform at
open mike nights by the age of 14.
[19][20] Her passion for musical theatre brought her lead roles in high school productions, including Adelaide in
Guys and Dolls and Philia in
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
[21] She also appeared in a very small role as a mischievous classmate in the television drama series
The Sopranos in a 2001 episode titled "
The Telltale Moozadell" in addition to unsuccessfully auditioning for parts in New York shows.
[11][22]
When her time at the Convent of the Sacred Heart came to an end, her mother encouraged her to apply for the
Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP21), a musical theatre training
conservatory at
New York University's
Tisch School of the Arts.
[11] After becoming one of twenty students to gain early admission, she eventually lived in an
NYU dorm on 11th Street by the age of 17.
[21]
CAP21 prepared her for her future career focus in "music, art, sex and
celebrity" where, in addition to sharpening her songwriting skills, she
composed essays and analytical papers on art, religion, social issues
and politics, including a
thesis on pop artists
Spencer Tunick and
Damien Hirst.
[20][23][24] With CAP21, she also tried out for and won auditions, including the part of an unsuspecting diner customer for MTV's
Boiling Points, a prank reality television show.
[11][25]
But Gaga felt more creative than some of her classmates. "Once you
learn how to think about art, you can teach yourself," she said.
2005–07: Career beginnings
Gaga (
right) performing with Lady Starlight (
left) at
Lollapalooza 2007
Gaga withdrew from CAP21 at 19, in the second semester of her sophomore year, deciding to focus on her musical career.
[26]
Her father agreed to pay her rent for a year, on the condition that she
re-enroll at Tisch if unsuccessful. "I left my entire family, got the
cheapest apartment I could find, and ate shit until somebody would
listen," she remembers.
[21] Settled in a small apartment on
Rivington Street towards the summer of 2005, Gaga recorded a couple of songs with hip-hop singer
Grandmaster Melle Mel, for an audio book accompanying the children's book
The Portal in the Park, by Cricket Casey.
[11][27]
She also began a band called the Stefani Germanotta Band (SGBand) with
some friends from NYU – guitarist Calvin Pia, bassist Eli Silverman,
drummer Alex Beckham and booking manager
Frank Fredericks – in September of that year.
[11][21] The band played a mixture of songs: some self-penned alongside classic rock numbers like
Led Zeppelin's "
D'yer Mak'er".
[11] Playing in bars like the
Greenwich Village's
The Bitter End and the Lower East Side's the
Mercury Lounge, the band developed a small fan base and caught the eye of music producer Joe Vulpis.
[11] Soon after arranging time in Vulpis' studio in the months that followed, SGBand were selling their extended plays
Words and
Red and Blue (both 2005) at gigs around New York while becoming a local fixture of the downtown Lower East Side club scene.
[21]
SGBand reached their career peak at the 2006
Songwriters Hall of Fame New Songwriters Showcase at
The Cutting Room in June where
Wendy Starland, a musician, appeared as a talent scout for music producer
Rob Fusari.
Starland informed Fusari – who was searching for a female singer to
front a new band – of Gaga's ability and contacted her. With SGBand
disbanded, Gaga traveled daily to New Jersey to work on songs she had
written and compose new material with the music producer.
[11] While in collaboration, Fusari compared some of her vocal harmonies to those of
Freddie Mercury, lead singer of
Queen.
[28] It was Fusari who helped create the moniker Gaga after the Queen song "
Radio Ga Ga".
Gaga was in the process of trying to come up with a stage name when she
received a text message from Fusari that read "Lady Gaga."
[29]
He explained, "Every day, when Stef came to the studio, instead of
saying hello, I would start singing 'Radio Ga Ga'. That was her entrance
song" and that the text message was the result of a
predictive text glitch that changed "radio" to "lady". She texted back, "That's it," and declared, "Don't ever call me Stefani again."
[29][30] The New York Post, however, has reported that this story is incorrect, and that the name resulted from a marketing meeting.
[18]
Gaga performing in a bar, sporting one of her earlier looks (2008)
Although the musical relationship between Fusari and Gaga was
unsuccessful at first, the pair soon set up a company titled Team
Lovechild in which they recorded and produced
electropop tracks and sent them to music industry bosses.
[11] Joshua Sarubin, the head of
A&R at
Def Jam Recordings,
responded positively and vied for the record company to take a chance
on her "unusual and provocative" performance. After having his boss
Antonio "L.A." Reid in agreement, Gaga was signed to Def Jam in September 2006 with the intention of having an album ready in nine months.
[11] However, she was dropped by the label after only three months – an unfortunate period of her life that would later inspire her
treatment for the music video for her 2011 single "Marry the Night".
[31][32] Devastated, Gaga returned to the solace of the family home for Christmas and the nightlife culture of the Lower East Side.
[11]
She became increasingly experimental: fascinating herself with emerging
neo-burlesque shows,
go-go dancing at bars dressed in little more than a bikini in addition to experimenting with drugs.
[11][14] Her father, however, did not understand the reason behind her drug intake and could not look at her for several months.
[14][30]
"I was onstage in a thong, with a fringe hanging over my ass thinking
that had covered it, lighting hairsprays on fire, go-go dancing to
Black Sabbath and singing songs about
oral sex.
The kids would scream and cheer and then we'd all go grab a beer. It
represented freedom to me. I went to a Catholic school but it was on the
New York underground that I found myself."
[23] It was then when she became romantically involved with a
heavy metal drummer in a relationship and break-up she likened to the musical film
Grease: "I was his Sandy, and he was my Danny, and I just broke." He later became an inspiration behind some of her later songs.
[33]
During this time, she met performance artist Lady Starlight, who helped mold her on-stage persona.
[34]
Starlight explained that, upon their first meeting, Gaga wanted to
perform with her to songs she had recorded with Fusari. Like SGBand, the
pair soon began performing at many of the downtown club venues like the
Mercury Lounge, The Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall. Their live
performance art piece was known as "Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue"
and, billed as "The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow", was a low-fi
tribute to 1970s variety acts.
[35][36] Soon after, the two were invited to play at the 2007
Lollapalooza music festival in August that year.
[37] The show was critically acclaimed, and their performance received positive reviews.
[20][35] Having initially focused on
avant-garde electronic dance music, Gaga had found her musical
niche when she began to incorporate pop melodies and the
glam rock of
David Bowie and Queen into her music.
[38]
While Gaga and Starlight were busy performing, producer Rob Fusari
continued to work on the songs he had created with Gaga. Fusari sent
these songs to his friend, producer and
record executive Vincent Herbert.
[39] Herbert was quick to sign her to his label Streamline Records, an
imprint of
Interscope Records, upon its establishment in 2007.
[40]
Gaga later credited Herbert as the man who discovered her, adding "I
really feel like we made pop history, and we're gonna keep going."
[39] Having served as an apprentice songwriter under an internship at
Famous Music Publishing, which was later acquired by
Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Gaga subsequently struck a
music publishing deal with Sony/ATV.
[41] As a result, she was hired to write songs for
Britney Spears and labelmates
New Kids on the Block,
Fergie, and the
Pussycat Dolls.
[41] At Interscope, singer-songwriter
Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio.
[42] Akon then convinced
Interscope-Geffen-A&M Chairman and CEO
Jimmy Iovine to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label
Kon Live, making her his "franchise player."
[31][43]
As 2007 came to a close, her former management company introduced her to songwriter and producer
RedOne, whom they also managed.
[44] The first song she produced with RedOne was "Boys Boys Boys", a
mash-up inspired by
Mötley Crüe's "
Girls, Girls, Girls" and
AC/DC's "
T.N.T.".
[30][44]
Gaga continued her collaboration with RedOne in the recording studio
for a week on her debut album and also joined the roster of
Cherrytree Records, an Interscope imprint established by producer and songwriter
Martin Kierszenbaum, after co-writing four songs with Kierszenbaum including the singles "
Christmas Tree" and "
Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)".
[41]
Despite her secure record deal, she admitted that there was fear about
her being too "racy", "dance-orientated" and "underground" for the
mainstream market. Her response: "My name is Lady Gaga, I've been on the
music scene for years, and I'm telling you, this is what's next."
[15]
2008–10: The Fame and The Fame Monster
By 2008, Gaga had relocated to Los Angeles in order to work
extensively with her record label to complete her debut album and set up
her own creative team
Haus of Gaga, modeled on
Andy Warhol's
Factory.
[30][45] The Fame
was first released on August 19, 2008 to slow radio play. Gaga
supported it by performing around Europe and in small gay clubs around
the US in addition to being billed as a supporting artist on the North
American leg of New Kids on the Block's
reunion concert tour.
[46][47] A
sleeper hit, lead single "
Just Dance"
had preceded the album's release by four months but only hit the summit
of the international charts in January 2009, provoking the instant
success of the album, earning her first
Grammy Award nomination (for
Best Dance Recording) and becoming one of the
best-selling singles worldwide.
[46][48] Gaga achieved a greater unexpected success when "
Poker Face",
another sleeper hit, reached number one in most major music markets
worldwide in early 2009, selling 9.8 million singles worldwide.
[49][50] The follow-up single won the award for Best Dance Recording at the
52nd Grammy Awards over nominations for
Song of the Year and
Record of the Year.
The Fame itself was nominated for
Album of the Year while winning
Best Dance/Electronica Album at the same ceremony.
[51] Contemporary critics lauded the album, describing it as an exploration of her obsession with
fame and the intricacies of a rich and famous lifestyle, noting its combination of genres "from
Def Leppard drums and hand claps to metal drums on
urban tracks", the inspiration drawn from 1980s synthpop and incorporation of dance music with clear
hooks.
[31] The Fame
went to number one in Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland
and the UK and appeared in the top five in Australia, the US and 15
other countries.
[52][53] It also stayed atop the
Dance/Electronic Albums chart for 106 non-consecutive weeks and, since its release, has sold over 12 million copies worldwide.
[54] The album's success spawned many 2009 honors including
Billboard magazine's Rising Star award and the accumulation of 3 of 9
MTV Video Music Awards nominations, winning
Best New Artist with the video for her single "
Paparazzi" gaining
Best Art Direction and
Best Special Effects.
[55][56] In addition to being an opening act on the Pussycat Dolls'
Doll Domination Tour
during the first half of 2009 in Europe and Oceania, she also embarked
on her own six-month critically appreciated worldwide concert tour
The Fame Ball Tour which ran from March to September 2009.
[57][58]
While she traveled the globe, she wrote
The Fame Monster,
an EP of eight songs released in November 2009. Each song, dealing with
the darker side of fame from personal experience, is expressed through a
monster
metaphor. Making Gaga the first artist in digital history to have three
singles (alongside "Just Dance" and "Poker Face") to pass the four
million mark in digital sales, its lead single "
Bad Romance"
topped the charts in eighteen countries and reached the top two in the
US, Australia and New Zealand while accruing the Grammy Awards for
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and
Best Short Form Music Video.
[59] The second single "
Telephone", which features singer
Beyoncé, was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
and became Gaga's fourth UK number one single; its accompanying music
video, although controversial, received positive reception from
contemporary critics who praised her for "the musicality and showmanship
of Michael Jackson and the powerful sexuality and provocative instincts
of Madonna."
[60][61] Her following single "
Alejandro" paired Gaga with fashion photographer
Steven Klein for a music video similarly as controversial – critics complimented its ideas and dark nature but the
Catholic League attacked Gaga for her alleged use of
blasphemy.
[62] Despite the controversy surrounding her music videos, they made Gaga the first artist to gain over one billion
viral views on video-sharing website YouTube.
[63] At the
2010 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga won 8 of her 13 nominations, including
Video of the Year
for "Bad Romance" (with "Telephone" also nominated), which made her the
first female artist to be nominated twice for the award.
[64][65] In addition,
The Fame Monster garnered a total of six nominations at the
53rd Grammy Awards – equating to the amount of Grammy nominations her debut received – winning
Best Pop Vocal Album and earning her a second-consecutive nomination for Album of the Year.
[66][67]
The success of the album allowed Gaga to start her second worldwide concert tour,
The Monster Ball Tour, just weeks after the release of
The Fame Monster and months after having finished The Fame Ball Tour.
[68]
Upon finishing in May 2011, the critically acclaimed and commercially
accomplished tour ran for over one and a half years and grossed $227.4
million, making it one of the
highest-grossing concert tours of all time and the highest-grossing for a debut headlining artist.
[69] Concerts performed at
Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for a
HBO television special titled
Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden. The special accrued one of its five
Emmy Award nominations and has since been released on DVD and Blu-ray.
[70] Gaga also performed songs from the album at international events such as the 2009
Royal Variety Performance where she sang "
Speechless", a
power ballad, in the presence of
Queen Elizabeth II;
the 52nd Grammy Awards where her opening performance consisted of the
song "Poker Face" and a piano duet of "Speechless" in a medley of "
Your Song" with
Elton John; and the
2010 BRIT Awards where a performance of an acoustic rendition of "Telephone" followed by "
Dance in the Dark" dedicated to the late fashion designer and close friend,
Alexander McQueen, supplemented her hat-trick win at the awards ceremony.
[71] Other performances may have included her participation in
Michael Jackson's
This Is It concert series at London's
O2 Arena.
"I was actually asked to open for Michael on his tour," she stated. "We
were going to open for him at the O2 and we were working on making it
happen. I believe there was some talk about us, lots of the openers,
doing duets with Michael on stage."
[72]
In 2009 she collaborated with consumer electronic company
Monster Cable Products
to create a pair of in-ear jewel-encrusted headphones titled
Heartbeats. "They are designed to be the first ever fashion accessories
that double as the absolute best sonically sounding headphones in the
world," she commented.
[73] Gaga also partnered with
Polaroid in January 2010 as their Creative Director.
[74]
Excited about "blending the iconic history of Polaroid and instant film
with the digital era," Gaga unveiled the first trio of new products
called Grey Label: a pair of picture-taking sunglasses, a
paperback-sized mobile printing unit and an updated version of the
traditional
Polaroid camera at the 2011
Consumer Electronics Show.
[75]
But her collaboration with past producer Rob Fusari led to her
production team, Mermaid Music LLC, being sued in March 2010 when he
claimed that he was entitled to a 20% share of the company's earnings.
Gaga's lawyer, Charles Ortner, described the agreement with Fusari as
"unlawful" and declined to comment, but five months later, the
New York Supreme Court dismissed both the lawsuit and a countersuit by Gaga.
[76][77] In addition to such strife, Gaga was tested borderline positive for
lupus,
but claimed not to be affected by the symptoms. The revelations caused
considerable dismay among fans, leading to Gaga addressing the matter in
an interview with
Larry King, saying she hopes to avoid symptoms by maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
[78][79]
2011–present: Born This Way
Gaga released her second studio album and third major release,
Born This Way,
on May 23, 2011. Described as a marriage of electronic music with
metal, rock 'n' roll, pop and anthemic style melodies with
sledge-hammering dance beats and referred to as an album "about what
what keeps us up at night and what makes us afraid," Gaga characterized
it as "something so much deeper than a wig or lipstick or a fucking meat
dress" and, upon hearing it, Akon remarked that she is taking music to
the "next level."
[80][81]
Upon release, the album received generally positive reviews from music
critics, who praised its range of different styles and her vocals.
[82][83] Born This Way sold 1.108 million copies in its first week in the US, debuted atop the
Billboard 200, and topped the charts in more than 20 other countries.
[84] In addition to exceeding 8 million copies in worldwide sales,
Born This Way received 3 Grammy Award nominations, including her third consecutive for Album of the Year.
[85]
In the months prior to its unveiling, Gaga released the singles "
Born This Way", "
Judas" and "
The Edge of Glory" alongside promotional single "
Hair".
The eponymous lead single, first sung live at the 53rd Grammy Awards in
a performance that saw Gaga emerge from an egg-like vessel, deals with
self-acceptance regardless of
race or
sexual orientation. The single debuted atop the
Billboard Hot 100, becoming the 19th number-one debut and the 1,000th number-one single in the history of the charts.
[86]
It sold more than 3 million digital copies in the US by October 2011,
becoming her eighth consecutive single to exceed sales of 2 million and,
with worldwide sales of 8.2 million copies by November 2011, one of her
five best-selling singles worldwide.
[87]
Critics noted artistic and cultural references and praised the concept
of the song's accompanying music video, in which Gaga gives birth to a
new race amidst surrealistic images.
[88][89] The video for "Judas", in which Gaga portrays
Mary Magdalene, and Biblical figures such as
Jesus Christ and
Judas Iscariot
are also featured, was criticized for its religious references but
received acclaim for its overall delivery and praise from others who
claimed that there was nothing offensive about it.
[90]
"Judas" also peaked within the top ten in several major musical
markets, while "The Edge of Glory", first a commercial success in
digital outlets, was later released as a single to critical
appreciation, accompanied by a video which was notably stripped down
from her usually "extravagant" efforts.
[91][92] She released "
You and I" and "
Marry the Night" as the following singles from
Born This Way.
Although their "crazy and ambitious" videos were praised for their
audacity, both songs failed to match the similar international success
that their predecessors achieved.
[93]
Gaga continued her musical endeavors by pairing with veteran artists like
Tony Bennett to record a jazz version of "
The Lady Is a Tramp".
[94] She also recorded a duet with
Cher
on a "massive" and "beautiful" track, which Gaga "wrote a long time
ago, and I've never put it on one of my own albums for, really, no
particular reason."
[95] Gaga also lent her vocals to an original duet with Elton John for the animated feature film
Gnomeo & Juliet. The song, "Hello, Hello", was released without Gaga's vocals but the duet version features in the film.
[96][97] She also continued her live appearances throughout 2011, performing a one-of-a-kind concert at the
Sydney Town Hall on July 13 in promotion of
Born This Way and at the celebration of former US president
Bill Clinton's 65th birthday, wearing a blond wig as a nod to the famous performance of
Marilyn Monroe for
John F. Kennedy and changing the lyrics to "You and I" specifically for the performance.
[98] Televised appearances comprised her own Thanksgiving Day television special entitled
A Very Gaga Thanksgiving which was critically lauded, attained 5.749 million American viewers, and spawned the release of her fourth extended play
A Very Gaga Holiday.
[99] Her second performance on
Saturday Night Live saw her singing a selection of
Born This Way songs alongside appearing in number of sketches with
Justin Timberlake and
Andy Samberg.
[100] In March 2012, Gaga was ranked at number four on
Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing $25,353,039 dollars, which includes sales from
Born This Way and her
Monster Ball Tour.
[4]
Artistry
Influences
Gaga's parents, who exposed her to artists like
The Beatles,
Stevie Wonder,
Bruce Springsteen,
Pink Floyd,
Led Zeppelin and
Elton John, had significant influence on her childhood and, presently, still do.
[104]
"I am a real family girl. When it comes to love and loyalty, I am very
old-fashioned. And I am quite down-to-earth for such an eccentric
person," she insists.
[105] "I'm quite traditional in the family sense. I've always been that way."
[104]
According to Gaga, Joanne Germanotta – her aunt who died of lupus aged
19 – lives on through her and inspires all of her music and art.
[106]
Joanne's date of death is tattooed on Gaga's body and, despite dying 12
years before her birth, Gaga commented, "I really believe I have two
hearts. I think I actually carry two souls in my body, and that I'm
living out the rest of her life and her goodness – she died a virgin,
she died never having experienced all these things that we all get to
love and experience in our lives."
[107] Another spiritual influence on Gaga has been the Indian physician, public speaker and writer
Deepak Chopra.
Labeling him a "true inspiration", she stated that "he's always
reminded me to work in a life of service to my fans and to fulfill my
vision and my destiny" in addition to thinking about Chopra when it
comes to her work as a musician: "I want so much for it to go beyond the
music for my fans."
[108]
Gaga performing in a plastic bubble dress (2009)
Musically, Gaga takes influence from numerous musicians from
dance-pop singers like
Madonna and
Michael Jackson to glam rock artists like
David Bowie and
Queen whilst employing the theatrics of artists like
Andy Warhol and of her musical theatre roots in performance.
[31][109][110] The Queen song "
Radio Ga Ga" inspired her stage name: "I adored
Freddie Mercury
and Queen had a hit called 'Radio Gaga'. That's why I love the name
[...] Freddie was unique—one of the biggest personalities in the whole
of pop music," she commented.
[18][109][111] Gaga receives regular comparisons to recording artist Madonna who admits that she sees herself reflected in Gaga.
[112]
In response to the comparisons, Gaga stated, "I don't want to sound
presumptuous, but I've made it my goal to revolutionize pop music. The
last revolution was launched by Madonna 25 years ago" in addition to
commenting that "there is really no one that is a more adoring and
loving Madonna fan than me. I am the hugest fan personally and
professionally."
[109][113]
Like Madonna, Gaga has continued to reinvent herself and, over the
years of her career, has drawn musical inspiration from a diverse mix of
artists including
Whitney Houston,
Grace Jones,
Cyndi Lauper,
Blondie singer
Debbie Harry,
Scissor Sisters,
Prince,
Marilyn Manson,
Yoko Ono, and
Britney Spears.
[114]
Gaga has mentioned Spears in several interviews, and revealed, "Britney
certainly doesn’t need any freakin’ tips from me! Britney Spears is the
queen of pop. I was learning from her."
[115] Gaga also paid tribute to Spears during the
2011 MTV Video Music Awards with the
MTV Video Vanguard Award, adding that the pop singer "taught us all how to be fearless, and the industry wouldn't be the same without her."
[116]
Gaga has identified fashion as a major influence and has been stylistically compared to English eccentrics
Leigh Bowery and
Isabella Blow and to American recording artist
Cher.
[14][26][105][117] She commented that "as a child, she somehow absorbed Cher's out-there fashion sense and made it her own."
[117] She has considered
Donatella Versace her
muse and the late British fashion designer and close friend
Alexander McQueen as an inspiration, admitting that "I miss Lee every time I get dressed" while channeling him in some of her work.
[14][78] Modeled on Andy Warhol's Factory, Gaga has her own creative production team, which she handles personally, called the
Haus of Gaga, who create many of her clothes, stage props, and hairdos.
[118] Her adoration of fashion came from her mother, who she stated was "always very well kept and beautiful."
[6]
"When I'm writing music, I'm thinking about the clothes I want to wear
on stage. It's all about everything altogether—performance art, pop
performance art, fashion. For me, it's everything coming together and
being a real story that will bring back the super-fan. I want to bring
that back. I want the imagery to be so strong that fans will want to eat
and taste and lick every part of us."
[26] The
Global Language Monitor named "Lady Gaga" as the Top Fashion Buzzword with her trademark "no pants" a close third.
[119] Entertainment Weekly
put her outfits on its end of the decade "best-of" list, saying,
"Whether it's a dress made of Muppets or strategically placed bubbles,
Gaga's outré ensembles brought performance art into the mainstream."
[120] Gaga made her runway debut at
Thierry Mugler's Paris fashion show in March 2011 where she wore items from
Nicola Formichetti's debut women's wear collection.
[121] In June of the same year, she won the
Council of Fashion Designers of America Award for Fashion Icon.
[122] Time Magazine
placed Gaga on their "All-Time 100 Fashion Icons List" amongst some of
Gaga's inspirations such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, and the The
Beatles, stating: "Lady Gaga is just as notorious for her outrageous
style as she is for her pop hits. After all, Gaga, born Stefani
Germanotta, has sported outfits made from plastic bubbles,
Kermit the Frog dolls, and
raw meat."
[123] She has since devoted her time as a fashion columnist for
V
magazine, where she has written about her creative process, her
studying of the world of pop culture, and her ability to tune into the
evolution of pop-culture meme.
[124]
In August 2011 she sent to her 15 millions followers that she had at that time on Twitter, a
quote about creativity from the book "Creativity"
[125] by
Osho,
[126]
which led journalists, on October 28, of the same year, on her arrival
to India for the inauguration of a big Formula One motorsport event,
[127]
to ask her about her connection to him, to which Gaga said she was
influenced by his work and that for her, "the creativity is the greatest
way of rebellion": "Equality", she concluded, "is one of the most
important things in my life".
[128]
Musical style
Continually experimenting with new musical ideas and images, Gaga's
musical and performance style is the subject of much analysis and
scrutiny from critics. She professes that she is "liberating" herself by
constantly reinventing her sound and image, insisting that she has been
drawn to such a practice since her childhood.
[129] Vocally, Gaga possesses the range of a
contralto
and exhibits "overwhelming expression, instinctive vocal phrasing, '80s
rock reminiscent chest belts and animalistic vocal ticks" while being
able to move through 2.4 octaves.
[130][131] Refusing to
lip sync, Gaga – whose range is frequently compared to those of Madonna and
Gwen Stefani – has manipulated her vocal style over the course of her career yet considers
Born This Way (2011) "much more vocally up to par with what I've always been capable of."
[132][133] In summation of her voice,
Entertainment Weekly
wrote, "There's an immense emotional intelligence behind the way she
uses her voice. Almost never does she overwhelm a song with her vocal
ability, recognizing instead that artistry is to be found in nuance
rather than lung power."
[134]
Although her early lyrics have been criticized for lacking
intellectual stimulation, "[Gaga] does manage to get you moving and
grooving at an almost effortless pace."
[135] She admits that her songwriting has been misinterpreted; her friend and blogger
Perez Hilton
articulated her message in a clearer way: "you write really deep
intelligent lyrics with shallow concepts." Gaga opined, "Perez is very
intelligent and clearly listened to my record from beginning to end, and
he is correct."
[136]
"I love songwriting. It's so funny – I will just jam around in my
underwear or I could be washing my dishes. I wrote several songs just at
the piano," she confesses.
[136] Gaga believes that "all good music can be played at a piano and still sound like a hit."
[137] She has covered a wide variety of topics in her songs: while
The Fame (2008) meditates on the lust for stardom,
The Fame Monster (2009) expresses fame's dark side through monster metaphors.
Born This Way
(2011) is sung in English, French, German and Spanish and includes
common themes in Gaga's controversial songwriting like love, sex,
religion, money, drugs, identity, liberation, sexuality, freedom and
individualism.
[138][139]
The structure of her music is said to echo classic 1980s pop and 1990s
Europop.
[140] Her debut album
The Fame (2008) provoked
The Sunday Times to assert "in combining music, fashion, art and technology, [Gaga] evokes Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa '
Hollaback Girl',
Kylie Minogue 2001 or Grace Jones right now" and a critic from
The Boston Globe
to comment that she draws "obvious inspirations from Madonna to Gwen
Stefani... in [her] girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats."
[141][142] Music critic
Simon Reynolds wrote that "Everything about Gaga came from
electroclash, except the music, which wasn't particularly 1980s, just ruthlessly catchy naughties pop glazed with
Auto-Tune and undergirded with
R&B-ish beats."
[143] The follow-up
The Fame Monster (2009), saw Gaga's taste for pastiche, drawing on "Seventies arena glam, perky
ABBA disco and sugary throwbacks like
Stacey Q" while
Born This Way
(2011) also draws on the records of her childhood and still has the
"electro-sleaze beats and Eurodisco chorus chants" of its predecessor
but includes genres as diverse as opera, heavy metal,
disco, and
rock and roll.
[138] "There isn't a subtle moment on the album, but even at its nuttiest, the music is full of wide-awake emotional details," wrote
Rolling Stone, who concluded: "The more excessive Gaga gets, the more honest she sounds."
[139]
Music videos and performances
Gaga, recognized for her unconventionality, during a "blood soaked" performance (2010)
With constant costume changes,
backup dancers, and provocative visuals, Gaga's music videos are often described as short films.
[144]
"Being provocative is not just about getting people's attention. It's
about saying something that really affects people in a real way, in a
positive way," she professes.
[144] Exploring
bondage and
sadomasochism
in addition to highlighting prevalent feminist themes, "the three
central themes that shape Lady Gaga's music videos are sex, violence,
and power."
[145] "
Vaudevillian and
carnal,
Lady Gaga has got the knack of sending rape-like fantasies—in songs and
videos that double as catch club hits—to the top of the charts," wrote
one critic.
[146]
"Whether it is physical violence or sexual exploitation, these videos
offer vivid depictions of male power over women's bodies," wrote
another.
[145]
While she labels herself "a little bit of a feminist" (she rejects
man-hating feminism) and asserts that she is "sexually empowering
women,"
[146] Gaga strives to empower young women to stand up for what they believe in.
[145] She also attempts to liberate her fans so they can feel "less alone."
[147] "She not only reiterates her assertion of total originality," professed pop critic
Ann Powers,
"but also finesses it until it's both a philosophical stance about how
constructing a persona from pop-cultural sources can be an expression of
a person's truth—
a la those drag queens Gaga sincerely admires—and a bit of a feminist act."
[148] In summation of her videos,
Rolling Stone used the
rhetoric: "does anyone look to a Lady Gaga video for restraint?"
[93]
Her performances are described as "highly entertaining and
innovative"; the blood-spurting performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009
MTV Video Music Awards was described as "eye-popping" by MTV.
[149]
She continued the "blood soaked" theme during The Monster Ball Tour, in
which she wore a revealing leather corset and was "attacked" by a
performer dressed in black who gnaws on her throat, causing "blood" to
spurt down her chest, after which she lies "dying" in a pool of blood.
Her performances of that scene in England triggered protests from family
groups and fans in the aftermath of a local tragedy, in which a taxi
driver had murdered 12 people.
[150]
"What happened in Bradford is very fresh in people's minds and given
all the violence which happened in Cumbria just hours earlier, it was
insensitive," said Lynn Costello of Mothers Against Violence.
[151] Her unconventionality continued at the
2011 MTV Video Music Awards: performing in
drag as her male
alter ego, Jo Calderone, and delivering a lovesick monologue before a performance of her song "You and I".
[152] Some have defended her flamboyant and provocative behavior. "Well, she's Lady Gaga,"
Chris Rock said. "She's not 'Lady Behave Yourself.' Do you want great behavior from a person named Gaga? Is this what you were expecting?"
[153] As Gaga's choreographer and creative director,
Laurieann Gibson
provided material for her shows and videos for four years. However, the
pair parted in November 2011; Gaga replacing her with Gibson's
assistant Richard Jackson.
[154]
Gaga admits to being a perfectionist when it comes to her elaborate
shows. "I'm very bossy. I can scream my head off if I see one light
fixture out. I'm very detailed – every minute of the show has got to be
perfect."
[144]
Public image
While
Rolling Stone named Gaga the "Queen of Pop" in 2011, public reception of Gaga's music, fashion sense and persona are mixed.
[155]
Her status as a role model, self-esteem booster for her fans,
trailblazer and fashion icon who breathes new life into the industry is
by turns affirmed and denied.
[156]
Gaga's albums have received mostly positive reviews and critics have
pointed out her unique place in pop music, the need for new movements in
popular culture, the attention Gaga brings to modern social issues, and
the inherently subjective nature of her art.
[157] In view of her influence on modern culture and her rise to global fame, sociologist Mathieu Deflem of the
University of South Carolina
has organized a course titled "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame"
since spring 2011 with the objective of unravelling "some of the
sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga."
[158]
When Gaga briefly met with US president Barack Obama at a Human Rights
Campaign fundraiser, he described the interaction as "intimidating" as
she was dressed in 16-inch heels making her undoubtedly the tallest
woman in the room.
[159]
Gaga performing "Born This Way" at
Europride in 2011.
Contrary to her outré style, the
New York Post described her early look as like "a refugee from
Jersey Shore" with "big black hair, heavy eye makeup and tight, revealing clothes."
[18] Gaga is a natural
brunette; she bleached her hair blonde because she was often mistaken for
Amy Winehouse.
[6] She has nine tattoos on the left side of her body (her father has banned etchings on her right): a
unicorn
head with a ribbon wrapped around its horn that says "Born This Way"; a
small heart with "dad" written inside it; several white
roses; a
treble clef; three
daises; "Tokyo Love" with a little heart; "Little Monsters" written in
cursive; a
peace symbol, which was inspired by
John Lennon, whom she stated was her hero; and a curling
German script on her left arm quoting the poet
Rainer Maria Rilke, her favorite writer, commenting that his "philosophy of solitude" spoke to her.
[111][160]
In a question posed about the necessary procedure to attach the
prosthetics to give the unconventional appearance of recent horn-like
ridges on her cheekbones, temples, and shoulders, Gaga responded,
"They're not prosthetics, they're my bones." She also clarified that
they were not the result of
plastic surgery,
believing such surgery to only be the modern byproduct of fame-induced
insecurity to which she does not subscribe. The interviewer's further
probing brought Gaga to the conclusion that they are an artistic
representation of her inner inspirational light and part of the
"performance piece" that is her musical persona: an inevitability of her
becoming who she now is.
[161]
Towards the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashions of Gaga and recording artist
Christina Aguilera that noted similarities in their styling, hair, and make-up.
[14] Aguilera stated that she was "completely unaware of [Gaga]" and "didn't know if it [was] a man or a woman."
[14]
Gaga released a statement in which she welcomed the comparisons due to
the attention providing useful publicity, saying, "She's such a huge
star and if anything I should send her flowers, because a lot of people
in America didn't know who I was until that whole thing happened. It
really put me on the map in a way."
[162][163] When interviewed by
Barbara Walters for her annual
ABC News special
10 Most Fascinating People in 2009, Gaga dismissed the claim that she is
intersex as an
urban legend.
Responding to a question on this issue, she stated, "At first it was
very strange and everyone sorta said, 'That's really quite a story!' But
in a sense, I portray myself in a very
androgynous way, and I love androgyny."
[164] In addition to Aguilera's statement, comparisons continued into 2010, when Aguilera released the music video of her single "
Not Myself Tonight". Critics noted similarities between the song and its accompanying music video with Gaga's video for "Bad Romance".
[165] There have also been similar comparisons made between Gaga's style and that of fashion icon
Dale Bozzio from the band
Missing Persons.
Some have considered their respective images to be strikingly parallel
although fans of Missing Persons note that Bozzio had pioneered the look
more than thirty years earlier.
[166]
While devout followers call Gaga "Mother Monster", Gaga often refers
to her fans as "Little Monsters" which has been tattooed on "the arm
that holds my
mic" in dedication.
[167][168] Her treatment of her "Little Monsters" has inspired criticism, due to the highly commercial nature of her music and image.
[169] To some, this
dichotomy contravenes the concept of outsider culture.
Camille Paglia in her 2010 cover story "Lady Gaga and the death of sex" in
The Sunday Times
asserts that Gaga "is more an identity thief than an erotic taboo
breaker, a mainstream manufactured product who claims to be singing for
the freaks, the rebellious and the dispossessed when she is none of
those."
[170][171] Writing for
The Guardian,
Kitty Empire
opined that the dichotomy "...allows the viewer to have a
'transgressive' experience without being required to think. At [her
performance's] core, though, is the idea that Gaga is at one with the
freaks and outcasts. The Monster Ball is where we can all be free. This
is arrant nonsense, as the scads of people buying Gaga's cunningly
commercial music are not limited to the niche worlds of
drag queens and hip night creatures from which she draws her inspiration. But Gaga seems sincere."
[172]
Philanthropy
Besides her career in music, Gaga has also contributed to various
charities. For natural disasters, Gaga has helped various relief
efforts. Although declining an invitation to appear on the single "
We Are the World 25" to benefit victims of the
2010 Haiti earthquake, she donated the proceeds of her January 24, 2010 concert at New York's
Radio City Music Hall to the country's reconstruction relief fund.
[173]
All profits from her official online store on that day were also
donated. Gaga announced that an estimated total of US$500,000 was
collected for the fund.
[174] Hours after the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011, Gaga
tweeted
a message and a link to Japan Prayer Bracelets. All revenue from a
bracelet she designed in conjunction with the company was donated to
relief efforts.
[175] As of March 29, 2011, the bracelets raised $1.5 million.
[176]
However, attorney Alyson Oliver filed a lawsuit against Gaga in Detroit
in June 2011, noting that the bracelet was subject to a sales tax and
an extra $3.99 shipping charge was added to the price. She also believed
that not all proceeds from the bracelets would go to the relief
efforts, demanding a public accounting of the campaign and refunds for
people who had bought the bracelet. Gaga's spokesperson called the
lawsuit "meritless" and "misleading".
[177] On June 25, 2011, Gaga performed at
MTV Japan's charity show in
Makuhari Messe, which benefited the
Japanese Red Cross.
[178]
HIV and AIDS
Gaga also contributes in the fight against
HIV and AIDS, focusing on educating young women about the risks of the disease. In collaboration with
Cyndi Lauper, Gaga joined forces with
MAC Cosmetics
to launch a line of lipstick under their supplementary cosmetic line,
Viva Glam. Titled Viva Glam Gaga and Viva Glam Cyndi for each
contributor respectively, all net proceeds of the lipstick line were
donated to the cosmetic company's campaign to prevent HIV and AIDS
worldwide.
[179]
In a press release, Gaga declared, "I don't want Viva Glam to be just a
lipstick you buy to help a cause. I want it to be a reminder when you
go out at night to put a condom in your purse right next to your
lipstick."
[180] The sales of Gaga-endorsed Viva Glam lipstick and lipgloss have raised more than $202 million to fight HIV and AIDS.
[3]
Born This Way Foundation
As a humanitarian, she has launched her own non-profit organization,
the Born This Way Foundation, which focuses on youth empowerment and
issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring, and
career development. "My mother and I have initiated a passion project.
We call it the Born This Way Foundation," Gaga said in a statement about
the foundation, which takes its name from the 2011 single and album.
"Together we hope to establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as
well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the
face of bullying and abandonment." The foundation will work with a
number of partners, including the
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,
The California Endowment and the
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
[181] She also jumped into the debate surrounding
SB 1070, Arizona's recently-enacted anti-immigration law, after premiering her
Born This Way
song "Americano" on the Guadalajara stop of The Monster Ball Tour in
Mexico, telling the local press that she could not "stand by many of the
unjust immigration laws" in the US.
[182] A devoted advocate for the
LGBT community, Gaga is also an outspoken activist for
LGBT rights worldwide.
[183] On February 29, 2012, Gaga and
Oprah Winfrey visited Harvard University to launch her Born This Way Foundation.
LGBT advocacy
Gaga attributes much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her
gay fans and is considered to be a gay icon.
[184] Early in her career she had difficulty getting
radio airplay,
and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got
so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me
up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not
an easy thing to create a fanbase."
[185] She thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based
LGBT marketing company with whom her label Interscope works, in the liner notes of
The Fame,
saying, "I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this
project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will
always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible
team."
[186] One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the
NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBT television network
Logo, where she sang her song "Just Dance".
[187] In June of the same year, she performed the song again at the
San Francisco Pride event.
[188]
After
The Fame was released, she revealed that the song "Poker Face" was about her
bisexuality. In an interview with
Rolling Stone,
she spoke about how her boyfriends tended to react to her bisexuality,
saying "The fact that I'm into women, they're all intimidated by it. It
makes them uncomfortable. They're like, 'I don't need to have a
threesome. I'm happy with just you'."
[33] When she appeared as a guest on
The Ellen DeGeneres Show in May 2009, she praised DeGeneres for being "an inspiration for women and for the gay community".
[189] She proclaimed that the October 11, 2009
National Equality March rally on the
National Mall was "the single most important event of her career." As she exited, she left with an exultant "Bless God and bless the gays,"
[190] similar to her
2009 MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech for Best New Artist a month earlier.
[191] At the Human Rights Campaign Dinner, held the same weekend as the rally, she performed a cover of John Lennon's "
Imagine"
declaring that "I'm not going to [play] one of my songs tonight because
tonight is not about me, it's about you." She changed the original
lyrics of the song to reflect the death of
Matthew Shepard, a college student murdered because of his sexuality.
[192]
Gaga attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four service members of the
United States Armed Forces (Mike Almy, David Hall, Katie Miller and Stacy Vasquez), all of whom, under the United States military's "
Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy, had been prohibited from serving
openly because of their sexuality.
[193] In addition, Gaga wore a
meat dress to the ceremony which was supplemented by boots, a purse and a hat that were all fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal.
[194] Partly awarded in recognition of the dress, Vogue.com UK named her one of the Best Dressed people of 2010 while
Time
magazine's named the dress the Fashion Statement of 2010, it received
divided opinions – evoking the attention of worldwide media but invoking
the fury of animal rights organization
PETA.
[195][196][197]
She denied any intention of causing disrespect to any person or
organization and wished for the dress to be interpreted as a statement
of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community, adding that
"If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for
our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat
on our own bones."
[198]
She later released three videos on YouTube urging her fans to contact
their Senators in an effort to overturn the policy. In late September
2010 she spoke at the
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's "4the14K" Rally in
Deering Oaks Park in
Portland,
Maine. The name of the rally signified the number – an estimated 14,000
– of service members discharged under the DADT policy at the time.
During her remarks, she urged members of the U.S. Senate (and in
particular, moderate Republican Senators from Maine,
Olympia Snowe and
Susan Collins) to vote in favor of legislation that would repeal the DADT policy. Following this event, editors of
The Advocate commented that she had become "the real fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians, one that Barack Obama had promised to be.
[199][200]
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