At first, who doesn't want to hate on Lady Gaga? Everything about her is extreme hyper-pop, she vaguely resembles old Christina Aguilera (or is it the other way around?), and it feels like her persona is about overproducing recycled New York/L.A. party monster looks from the past few years.
Whatever. Point is, Gaga is very, very hungry -- and entirely herself. That's something I can respect. From Rolling Stone:
Lady Gaga's devotion to being a star drove her to order bags of cocaine and spend hours perfecting her hair and makeup in a tiny Lower East Side apartment after she dropped out of NYU several years ago — well before she was actually famous. "It was quite sick," she admits. "I suppose that's where the vanity of the album came from." Her debut, The Fame, was almost entirely inspired by her relationship with a heavy-metal drummer named Luke, and their breakup profoundly changed Gaga. She tells Hiatt she's bisexual, but her attraction to women is purely physical. It's an aspect of her sexuality that makes boyfriends "uncomfortable," she says.
In December, Gaga told The Times of London, where she already has a large fan base:
"Some artists are working to buy the mansion or whatever the element of fame must bear, but I spend all my money on my show," she says of her impressive stage set. "I don't give a f*** about money. What am I going to do with a condo and a car? I can't drive."
When she started popping up on the radar stateside earlier this year, I asked my friend Nina Tahash about Gaga, commenting to her that this pop star looked very East L.A. to me, her attitude, her look. Nina replied: 'No she's real jersey tranny NYC clubkid fag hag.'
Fine by me. Pop is pop.
* L.A. designer Brian Lichtenberg is reportedly doing some of Lady Gaga's costumes. Above, Gaga doing a live acoustic version of "Fooled Me Again, Honest Eyes" on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles. More points: She writes her own music.
