Lady GaGa Interview: Take a Ride on Her Disco Stick!

 

I imagine she has gay groupies, but Lady GaGa may be starting to wonder about me: After interviewing the New York disco-popstress  last week - who rocks her signature 'disco stick' at all her concerts - I've basically been following GaGa around on her series of New York gay bar shows. (I'll be seeing her yet again, as she's an official performer for the upcoming NewNowNext Awards.)

Lady GaGa's debut album, The Fame, comes out this summer, and if you haven't heard single "Just Dance" by now, stop, drop and watch the video below...

 

 

Her music's shameless disco extravagance, and her live show is a mix of druggy burlesque and ultra-mod Kylie Minogue. Well, that's my take. GaGa describes herself as 'Freddie Mercury, Boy George and John Lennon in a wig and fishnets at Studio 54.'

 

Check out our Q&A after the jump. GaGa and I talked about going from Manhattan Catholic school girl to Lower East Side gay club favorite, in addition to her pop-culture inspirations and that raunchy music video...

 

Of course I love Lady GaGa's "Just Dance" video, but I don't know how I feel about that Colby O'Donis guest spot - it was better when rapper Cazwell sang Colby's part at GaGa's show at L.E.S.'s 40C before she dry-humped him on stage - but everything else about the video is just ridiculously smutty and wonderful, so I'm sold.

 

And now for the interview ...

 

I'm so excited to meet you! I've been listening to "Just Dance" on a loop.

Oh my god, that makes me so happy. Thank you.

I saw the music video more recently... What was your concept going in?

I absolutely wanted it to be a reflection of my lifestyle - but through a more pop lens. That's sort of my whole idea: I really want to filter all of my ideas through a pop, commercial lens in order to reach more people – and kind of make a contribution, you know? And for this video, I wanted it to be a house party instead of just doing a typical night club video, which is I think what one might expect from hearing the song. So I wanted to give something that was a bit of a contrast and said something about me and included some of my iconic references – and was also just a really good video that kept it about the song.

The world that I live in, it's run by music and art and fashion, and this idea of The Fame - it's something that comes from within. It's not because you're a celebrity or because the media is following you or you have the paparazzi on your coattails; it's a self-proclaimed, inner-confidence and sense of self - and passion about something, no matter what it is. It doesn't have to be music or fashion. It could be, you know ... fishing.

That idea appeals to me so much ... and I think it's me as a gay man.

Well actually, it's funny, I never really thought about it in that way, but I am surrounded by a lot of gay men, gay women, transgendered ... I'm surrounded by it all. So I guess it sort of comes with you, if that makes any sense. I was just so inspired by the world around me that what ended up coming out in the music and in the visuals was really just an organic performance ... you know, of this life.

 

I'm probably too excited to meet Lady GaGa and her backup dancers. I'll give her, she never breaks out of her cat-walking, disco-robot character. And she's totally her backup dancers' pimp: She even has the cane!

 

And I know you'll be performing at gay bars this weekend, and at LOGO's NewNowNext Awards...

I am. I'm very excited. The gay clubs are my favorite.

You've performed for all gay audiences before?

Oh, yeah! A ton.

Do the gay audiences tend to respond differently?

I just love the gay community. There's a lack of pretension. It's almost like you're going to court ... you're guilty before you're proven innocent. I always feel like for a gay audience, I'm already innocent. But they'll prove me guilty if I f*ck it up, you know. They're definitely not easy to please, 'cause you guys have a ton of really amazing ... just, like, references from the past, things that you guys believe in ... in fashion, in art and in club-culture. In a way, the gay community has an even more strategic eye, but there's a lack of pretension, like I said.

And I go out there and it's really incredible, overwhelming ... it's really emotional for me.

Any life lessons from gay men?

Umm ... yes. A friend of mine - who will remain nameless - who is a gay man, he actually taught me to put baby powder in my bangs when I get sweaty. It makes them look fabulous, because I get gnarly when I perform. That was probably the best ever...

Did you go to gay bars in New York in your teens?

Oh, yeah. I would always go to, like, Kenny Kenny’s party at Sebastian and Rated X, Michael T. ... Just in general, the environment that I lived in was a lot of gay-straight mixed. Always. I mean, I've been a dancer for many years ... a lot of gay friends, a lot of gay parties. It's just a part of my life. To me, it's just totally normal. When people ask me, I'm like, I guess so. Yeah. [laughs.]

 

Bang, bang! When GaGa's not brandishing that Disco Stick, she breaks it down with her dancers to those crazy-danceable tracks.

 

Maybe you've heard this, but the gay love, the Lower East Side scene - you're just like Madonna right now!

Yeah, it's so funny - I never really thought of myself as the new Madonna or anything, and then people around me just started to say it. I mean, look at me, we have a lot in common: the Lower East Side thing; I'm Italian; I was a brunette and I went blonde ... I'm very exhibition-istic. So we do have a lot in common, but I also think I bring something new.

But I appreciate the comparison, because I do think she's probably one of the most powerful female performers in a long time.

Now, you grew up in New York...

Every minute. My whole life. I was born in Lenox Hill Hospital.

I also read you went to the Convent of the Sacred Heart. I want to know the craziest thing you ever got busted for.

I used to get in trouble a lot for wearing very low-cut shirts and see-through stuff with bras. And there were definitely some girls that would, you know, drink in the cafeteria and sh*t like that, and they would get thrown out of school. I never got caught for anything like that.

But we were definitely bad kids in a good environment. I mean, I was actually a very good student. I just sort of stuck out like a sore thumb - no different than today. But I value my education a lot. It's interesting because even though in a social way, it was kind of a weird environment to grow up in, in a lot of ways it was great because I'm a really great musician as a result of it. [She also attended the Tisch School of Arts at NYU.]

Totally. I didn't mean to imply you must have been dying to leave or anything!

No, not at all. I didn't take it that way at all. It's super bizarre - I can't even properly articulate it, because the way that I felt about it then is very different from the way that I feel about it now. My life completely changed, and I made the decision to live a different a life.

How did you get involved with Akon?

Well, actually, I was signed first to Interscope, and as I was making my album, I was getting hired as a writer to work on other female artists' projects, and Akon hired me to work on a writing project he was doing for an artist on Universal, Tami Chynn. I wrote a few songs for her, and he just really took a liking to me and he heard my stuff and he was like, 'Oh my god, this is so fresh, it's so new. I want to be a part of it.'

It also creatively almost my eyes up because I thought, Well, if Akon digs it, maybe the urban community will wrap their arms around it. He's such an iconic, world music, urban artist. So he actually spoke with my label and just told them he wanted to be a part of it, and we created this big, giant family.

So I'm actually signed Streamline Records, Interscope Records and Kon Live.

 

Doin' it for The Fame!

 

With your album title and songs like "Dirty Rich," I'm curious what you think of the music industry and of our culture that's so celebrity-obsessed?

The Fame was more about celebrity-obsessed culture and what people will do for the spotlight and also about con art-ing your way to the top. But the "Beautiful Dirty Rich" was more about my experience as an up-and-coming Lower East Side artist ... the drug scene.

The way that I came upon the idea of The Fame was a false sense of ... fame, but it's real. It's you and your friends doing drugs and everybody gets happy, and then all of a sudden we're famous - with our tight pants and our fabulous hair – and we go out and we're rock stars. And it's manufactured, but I realized through that, you don't really need the drugs, and the whole idea in itself is very powerful. You know, you're not really famous, but you believe that you are, and whatever you're projecting from within, other people are buying.

You know, I've literally been standing outside night clubs and the people just say, Come in. And they believe I'm somebody that I'm not. Now, today, it's a little bit different; sometimes they know who I am. But in the past, it's more about ... you know, Oh, the way that she carries herself, the way that she dresses - it's like, Who is she? And I want to encourage other people to be that way.

 

Yes, the show is as kooky and amazing as this looks. (I also have a major crush on GaGa's DJ SpaceCowboy - who you can sort of see here...)

 

Totally. I remember reading you said even something like your body language on the street can have so much power.

Absolutely, you can walk like a king or walk like ... a snake. You have to really believe that you're great. I want people to genuinely believe in their heart that they're great – and have that be your passion. Be passionate about yourself, you know?

I know artists such as David Bowie and Freddie Mercury inspire you. What about the persona appeals to you?

Well, for me it's all about the theatrics, musically and performance-wise - just the dramatics, the theater - it's almost like a more emotional interpretation of the music. But it's so visual and strong that you can almost watch it muted - or without picture - and still feel it so heavy in your heart.

I just want all of the components of what I'm doing to be very strong, whether it's the music, or the visual, or it's the Web site, or the blog or the technical device that I'm designing for the stage. I just want everything to be very strong and have a very big message and image. I almost feel like the audience deserves that. If they're going to listen to my record, they deserve all the balls that back it up, you know?

 

And courtesy of Lady GaGa's Interscope Records page, check out the woman herself on the set of her The Fame photo shoot. Changing The World One Sequin at a Time!

 

 

Comments

[hannah]

i love stefani, she's lyke my idol. yer so lucky to interview her. she seems really wicked.