Lady Gaga at CFDA 2011

On June 6, the whole fashion world gathers in New York at CFDA 2011 Fahion Awards - Council of Fashion Designers of America - the most important event in fashion. This award is often called the Oscars of Fashion and designers who topped usually get it. The most important award - Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award - is given to those designers, who contributed greatly to fashion. Great designers in their time got this award: Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta, Karl Lagerfeld.. I can go on, but let's go back to 2011. This year's award went to Louis Vuitton's creative director Marc Jacobs.

Lady Gaga attended the ceremony. But not as a guest. She got Fashion Icon Award! Look how she looked like. With her blue hair. Mile-long red claws. And spiked breasts. Enjoy yourselves.

How you like Gaga putting out a claw?

Photos from Twitter

Lady Gaga's First V Magazine Article

Finally we can read Gaga's article, after V Magazine announced she would be their columnist. It's going to be very interesting, because it's Lady Gaga. Enjoy yourselves..

HERE.

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Lady Gaga: Interview for MSN Canada

The interview was taken at the end of April by Kevin Ritchie, before her concert at the Bell Centre in Montreal on April, 25. Some facts are not so 'exploding' already. And it was before Judas music video debuted. But Gaga's interviews are always involving, so I decided to post this one. Here she talks about her religious beliefs, her latest music video Judas and her upcoming record. So, enjoy yourselves.

Where are you at with the new record? Is it done yet?
Actually, yes it's in mastering right now. We just finished cleaning up all the mixes and I had a really nice spiritual experience last night. I pulled the car over and just sat in the car by myself and listened to the whole album and I called everybody and I said I think it's done. So it's in mastering right now and I'm so happy with it. I'm really proud and it feels good to finally give birth to it. It's been many weeks of labour pains.

Where were you driving yesterday?
It was in New York. I was leaving Manhattan to drive to Montreal.

You have a new single out, "Judas." Growing up you went to Catholic school, is that correct?
Yes.

How did your Catholic background inform the songwriting for that track and the album?
Well, I wouldn't necessarily say that my schooling informed the songwriting on that record in particular. "Judas" is a metaphor and an analogy about forgiveness and betrayal and things that haunt you in your life and how I believe that it's the darkness in your life that ultimately shines and illuminates the greater light that you have upon you.

Someone once said to me, "If you have no shadows then you're not standing in the light." So the song is about washing the feet of both good and evil and understanding and forgiving the demons from your past in order to move into the greatness of your future. I just like really aggressive metaphors -- harder, thicker, darker -- and my fans do as well. So it is a very challenging and aggressive metaphor, but it is a metaphor.

How will that metaphor play out in the music video?
Well the video, in essence, suggests that [pauses] forgiveness and betrayal are hand in hand and that... how do I say this? The video puts destiny above all things and postures that the mistakes in your life are in fact not mistakes at all, they are just part of your overarching potential and your destiny.

What's the concept?
Well, I want to allow the video to speak for itself but I will say that the theme of the video and the way that I wanted to aesthetically portray the story was as a motorcycle Fellini movie where the apostles are revolutionaries in a modern-day Jerusalem. And I play Mary Magdalene leading them into the town where we meet Jesus and I will leave the rest for you to see. But it's meant more to celebrate faith than it is to challenge it.

You talked about "Judas" being about forgiveness. Can you forgive the person who leaked it a week early?
Yeah! You know, I don't care. It's OK. At the end of the day the song was finished and it was ready to go so it's always difficult on the promotional end because we have to hurry up and get everything ready to go but we were prepared. I'd already shot the video and it went exactly as I'd wanted it to and it looks really beautiful and I'm just excited the fans got to hear the music. I don't obsess about things like that.

I have a question from one of our Facebook fans named Chelsea. She would like to know if the magnitude of your success has dawned on you yet?
It hasn't entirely dawned on me but the magnitude of the fans and their love is something that is very clear to me and that's what I focus on more than anything. I just love and cherish them so much. I, in many ways, still think of myself as the underdog. I don't feel that I've even begun to show the fans or the world what I'm capable of as a musician so I'm excited for the future. I don't believe I've even put a dent in the pot, to be honest.

What ways did you challenge yourself with the songwriting and music on the new album?
I really pushed myself musically. My favorite thing about the album is the songwriting is really, really beautiful and the melodies and choruses -- any one of the songs could be stripped off the track and played at a piano and it's just a really awesome piece of music. We spent so much time orchestrating the record, it's very epic and dramatic and theatrical. Start to finish one may even imagine that it's a soundtrack to a musical. It's really special to me and I put my heart and soul into it and I feel I've grown so much as a songwriter.

What's the wildest idea that you've had but couldn't pull off?
Most of them we pulled off eventually. Sometimes we just don't have the time to get it all finished. I have so many ideas that sometimes I fear that I'll never get them all out before I die. Haus of Gaga is really amazing and I love my friends so much for committing to our vision together and we almost always get everything out there and polished and ready. What's most important to me is that the ideas are executed well.

This album continues the same sort of fascination with pop culture as religion. It's just a much deeper and in-depth association with pop culture as religion. On "The Fame" and "The Fame Monster" I was analyzing fame in the context of the way that only I could understand it as somebody who didn't have it yet. So it was more the art of fame and now that I have my fans and I have quote-unquote The Fame, the album is more about pop culture as religion, young voices and generation as religion, secular thinking as religion, moving forward and modernity as religion. So going back to your earlier question about Judas as a religious reference, it's less of a reference to institutionalized religion and more of a cultural reference in relation to pop culture as religion.

How will you represent those ideas in the forthcoming tour in support of the album?
Well, I'm fascinated with iconography and I'm fascinated with the way that iconography is taught in terms of education to the world, whether it be through institutionalized religion or through symbolism or through movies or through music. If I could put it in one sentence I would say, if they were not who you were taught that they would be, would you still believe? In a lot of ways it's about faith and hope but not in the religious sense. It's about faith and hope in culture especially in a time all over the world where many are in need of hope, in need of understanding, in need of love, in need of lack of prejudice, in need of no judgment, in need of acceptance. How can we look to culture for faith?

What icons have you put faith in throughout your life?
I put my faith in my fans everyday.

Pay attention to the last line. You know, once, quiet long ago, I really liked one singer. Well, once, I met him and talked to him. If only you knew, what he told me. That was one of the biggest disappointments in my life, because it was we, who made him, and he behaved that disgusting way. And Lady Gaga is so devoted to her fans, so true to them. She always speaks about them, and we can feel, when read or watch her interviews, how much she appreciates their support and faith. That's noble. This word is seldom used now, but it really is so. For sure.

MSN

Lady Gaga 'Judas' at the Cannes Film Festival 2011

Lady Gaga performed at the Cannes Film Festival with her latest song Judas. We remember Judas video's religious topic, and Lady Gaga, posting the link to her Cannes performance, tweeted  'Amen, Magdalene Fashion!'. I affect her approach to music. Don't you? Enjoy yourselves (click 2:35 if you want to watch the performance itself).

It's Gaga. Lady Gaga.
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Lady Gaga on V Magazine The Asian Issue cover - Making Of

Not so long ago - comparatively - we found out that Lady Gaga became a V Magazine columnist. Now every issue of V will contain Gaga's thoughts about everything - she's unpredictable, we all know that. The first one with her column V71 The Asian Issue has - we had no doubts - Lady Gaga on its cover. She is of course wearing Thierry Mugler, with her We Pray For Japan wristband and her hair reminding us of Japanese teens who rush to school. Good choice. See the cover.

V Magazine also released Lady Gaga For V71 The Asian Issue video by by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, which shows how the cover was shot. She's an artist. Enjoy yourselves..

 ..HERE.

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Lady Gaga 'Judas' music video

“Well, I want to allow the video to speak for itself but I will say that the theme of the video and the way that I wanted to aesthetically portray the story was as a motorcycle Fellini movie where the apostles are revolutionaries in a modern-day Jerusalem,” Gaga explained to MSNBC. “And I play Mary Magdalene leading them into the town where we meet Jesus and I will leave the rest for you to see. But it’s meant more to celebrate faith than it is to challenge it.”

  

It's Lady Gaga.
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Lady Gaga on NME Cover

Lady Gaga appeared on NME magazine cover, wearing almost nothing. "I am not full of sh*t. Are you?" - provocative, but we like that.

She's all about freedom, isn't she?
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Lady Gaga will visit Ukraine

Lady Gaga is going to come to Ukraine! In recent years so many famous and talented artists visited Kiev, now the day has come, and we'll see Lady Gaga here! Truly great news. On July, 16 come to Palats Sportu in Kiev to enjoy the astonishing (undoubtedly) performance by Mother Monster!

Geometria

Lady Gaga: Harper's Bazaar Interview

Earlier we posted about Lady Gaga for Harper's Bazaar. Here comes the interview she gave the magazine. You won't regret if you read it. As usual, her interview is very interesting, it brings you somewhere far-far away from where you are. To be honest, I read her different interviews over and over again, and this way see the transformation of Gaga, but at the same time her unchangeable devotion and loyalty to herself. Strong.

By Derek Blasberg


Anticipation isn't the right word. I'm sitting in a small recording studio's lounge in New York, waiting for Lady Gaga to arrive and play her about-to-be-released album, Born This Way, for an hour. We're on Gaga time here.

Then, in an instant, she appears. The 25-year-old former Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta is petite in stature but gargantuan in charisma. She is scantily dressed in tights, black underwear, and a black bra under a studded, slashed, and shredded military jacket. Her accessories include fingerless gloves, winged boots, and a spike-covered Hermès Birkin. And, yes, the horns that she debuted Grammy week--and the ones you see in this story--are on full display, protruding from her cheekbones and forehead.

"Gaga!" she announces, extending her black-clawed hand in a ladylike manner. "It is an absolute pleasure to meet you." She points toward a studio, spins around, and marches off.

When we are ensconced in this dungeon of sound, the first topic of conversation is the single "Born This Way," which, when it was released in February, set a new iTunes speed record for going to number one (less than three hours) and was Billboard's 1,000th number-one hit. "It broke all the records!" Gaga cheers, bopping up and down, adding that what she found most remarkable was that the song attracted new fans. "I was happy with the fans I've already got. But it opened this new fan base of people who love the simplicity and joyfulness of it."

As the millions of people who have seen the video for "Born This Way" can attest, Gaga devotes as much artistic energy to her visuals as she does her audio. But today she's still editing the Nick Knight--directed opening sequence, where we meet her newest creation, Mother Monster. She offers a sneak peek but warns, "You're not ready!" presumably referring to its awesomeness. "Nick Knight? He's such an asshole," she proclaims, which means he's a genius. And her inspiration for the video's out-of-this-world surrealism? "A lot of weed."

Gaga is happiest, as she says, "living every day somewhere between reality and fantasy at all times." The only tense part of our conversation occurs when I try to transition her fantasy into reality, asking about the new look--a series of sharp bones that protrude from Gaga's shoulders, cheekbones, and temples. How long does it take to apply the makeup and prosthetics to her face and arms?

"Well, first of all," she says, "they're not prosthetics. They're my bones."

Okay, so when did the bones appear?

"They've always been inside of me, but I have been waiting for the right time to reveal to the universe who I truly am."

Did she will them to come out for this album?

"They come out when I'm inspired."

Is she worried that this new look will inspire other people to "grow" similar bones?

"We all have these bones!" she says tersely. "They're the light from inside of us. Do you mean body modification?"

Yes.

"No, I'm not concerned about that."

The reason I'm pushing this is that in the past, Gaga has spoken openly about her drug use while at the same time being quick to clarify that she doesn't endorse it. So one can't help but wonder if she has considered that some of her Little Monsters, as she calls her fans, may actually hurt themselves trying to emulate her transformation.

"I haven't hurt myself," she says. Then, with her darkened eyes narrowed, she continues, "I want you to be careful how you view this."

Help me view it then.

It's artistic expression," Gaga says. "It's a performance-art piece. I have never, ever encouraged my fans or anyone to harm themselves, nor do I romanticize masochism. Body modification is part of the overarching analysis of 'Born This Way.' In the video, we use Rico, who is tattooed head to toe [including a skull on his face]. He was born that way. Although he wasn't born with tattoos, it was his ultimate destiny to become the man he is today."

And this was Gaga's destiny?

"I have never had plastic surgery, and there are many pop singers who have. I think that promoting insecurity in the form of plastic surgery is infinitely more harmful than an artistic expression related to body modification."

Touché.

"And how many models and actresses do you see on magazine covers who have brand-new faces and have had plastic surgery, while I myself have never had any plastic surgery? I am an artist, and I have the ability and the free will to choose the way the world will envision me."

But can she acknowledge that some people will misinterpret a woman putting horns on her face?

"Trust me, I know that. I think a lot of people love to convolute what everyone else does in order to disempower women. But my fans know me. They would never hurt themselves. And if they have hurt themselves, they come to me and say, 'Gaga, I want to stop, and your music helps me want to stop. Your music makes me want to love myself.' I am in no way promoting sadomasochism or masochism."

That settled, conversation reverts to safer territory: avant-garde fashion. In her early music videos, before she became the darling of the fashion industry and could show up on morning TV dressed in a condom-inspired latex ensemble (to raise awareness for safe sex, of course), Gaga pushed boundaries. Three years ago, before she was a pop icon, she was known as the singer who refused to wear pants. Her relationship with the stylist Nicola Formichetti is one of fashion's great love affairs; she even closed his first womenswear outing as the creative director of the house of Mugler in March dressed as a club-kid bride. She also greatly admires Hussein Chalayan, who designed her "vessel" for the Grammys and who she describes as "an incredible mind and a genius human being. He truly leads the way in the avant-garde world."

Her other fashion hero is the late, great Alexander McQueen. When McQueen comes up, Gaga leans back and a sense of wonder glows from her face. She thinks that after his suicide, McQueen began working through her. "I think he planned the whole thing: Right after he died, I wrote 'Born This Way.' I think he's up in heaven with fashion strings in his hands, marionetting away, planning this whole thing." Supporting Gaga's claim was the decision by the label--not Gaga herself--to move up the release date for "Born This Way," ultimately to the exact day of the one-year anniversary of McQueen's death. "When I heard that, I knew he planned the whole damn thing. I didn't even write the fucking song. He did!"

If McQueen, from beyond the grave, did help Gaga with this record, he had his work cut out for him. After she unlocks her iPod (with some difficulty, given those claw fingernails), she blasts the entire album. It is epic. Gaga wants the listener to be intoxicated by every song, but in different ways. "'Born This Way' is the marijuana to the heroin of the album. The [album's] experience gets massively more intense as you explore it. All the different songs are different kinds of highs."

The song "Marry the Night," which Gaga wrote once she was this superstar she had always dreamed of being, is particularly memorable. She says that once she had become a household name--after winning Grammys, after wrestling with Madonna on Saturday Night Live, after countless magazine covers--she felt pressured to move to the pop-culture mecca that is Los Angeles. "I had all these number-one records, and I had sold all these albums, and it was sort of this turning point: Am I going to try and embrace Hollywood and assimilate to that culture?" Suffice to say, it didn't work out. "I put my toe in that water, and it was a Kegel-exercise vaginal reaction where I clenched and had to retract immediately," she says in a very vivid metaphor. "I ran furiously back to New York, to my old apartment, and I hung out with my friends, and I went to the same bars."

On a list of Gaga's passions, there's music, then fame and, somewhere lower, material comfort and cash. When she came back to New York, she returned to her studio apartment, which she says is the size of the recording studio we're sitting in, and it's where she still lives. Asked what she spends her money on (upwards of $62 million a year, according to Forbes), she says it goes to her live shows and her friends. She flew about 20 people to L.A. for the Grammys, and if anyone on tour needs equipment, it comes out of her piggy bank. "I spend my money on my props and my creations. I'm an inventor."

Financial freedom has been a tonic for any emotional fatigue. "The true luxury of my success is that I can do it all on my own terms now, even though the roller-coaster ride is still going." But now she owns the roller coaster. "I own the whole theme park, actually."

What Gaga has realized, and what she is extolling in Born This Way, is that there is more to life than the paparazzi (even though she wrote an entire song devoted to the glamour of being stalked by photographers) and fortune. Is it hard to give up the glamorous life? "It's not if it doesn't mean anything to you," she says. "What means something to me is my music. I don't want to make money; I want to make a difference."

She says she doesn't read tabloids but is amused that they have such a vested interest in her personal life. (She's happy to respond to recent claims: "I'm not engaged, and I'm not a drug addict, but thank you for asking.")

But in getting people's attention, Gaga has been universally sensational. In an early video interview, she looks into the camera and uses the word gaga as an adjective. "I've always wanted to be an adjective," she says with a smile. But she adds, "Back then, I was just delusional. I'm going to make a T-shirt that says, I'M NOT A PROPHET, I'M DELUSIONAL."

And what if it hadn't worked out? What if she was still struggling Stefani? Gaga says she'd be just as happy as she is now. "I would still be living next door to my friend Jennifer, playing at the clubs I've always played at. It was never not going to work out for me because I was already living my dream when I was playing music."

Born This Way will have a tour, and after that tour will come another album "and another Grammy performance, and the cycle continues," Gaga says. Is she worried about reaching a saturation point with the media? Nope. "You can quote me on this: People love you when they think you won't be around for very long, and people hate you when they can't get rid of you. But I'm not going anywhere."


Beautiful job, Gaga!

Harper's Bazaar

Lady Gaga on Harper's Bazaar May Cover

Lady Gaga becomes a V Magazine columnist, then the famous Vogue cover. This time follows Harper's Bazaar May Issue, Shopping Special. Well, a Diva.

Guess who was the photographer? Of course, our beloved Terry Richardson. Enjoy exclusive photos below.

Lady Gaga's on the pedestal, isn't she?

Harper's Bazaar

Lady Gaga breaks into the Indian market

Today Lady Gaga released a Bollywood-inspired remix of her hit single "Born This Way," produced by Salim and Sulaiman.

Or watch it here.

Created and produced by Culture Shock, this version of "Born This Way" fuses Bhangra with elements of Dub step and features both Lomaticc and Sunny Brown's vocals. Last year Culture Shock produced Urban Desi remixes for Rihanna and Sean Paul.

Lady Gaga's manager, Troy Carter, tells DH!, "We collaborated with Indian music producers from across the globe to show our respect and appreciation for our Desi fans and the music community. We're looking forward to more Desi collaborations in the near future."

 

 Salim and Sulaiman

Sulaiman says of this remix, "When we started working on "Born This Way" there was a feeling of excitement and a bit of nervousness. This was the no. 1 track in 23 countries and to remix it and give it an Indian touch was something that we were very conscious about. The sitar was the instrument of choice for us when it came to creating a melodic riff. Of course there was the dholak and the dhol that always create the atmosphere of party and euphoria, but what really rocked it all was Salim's voice to add that Indian flavor."

The Culture Shock Trio reveals that this was no easy task. Lomaticc says that he thought to himself, "how do we strip down a global smash to its bare properties and rebuild it Culture Shock style?" Sunny Brown, whose job in the group was to give it a Punjabi flavor, says of the remix, "the song when you listen to it is epic! Very gospel! Bigger than life, how do I incorporate the Punjabi flavor to a choir song?"

This is the first step Lady Gaga has taken to break into the Indian market, and what a hot way to do it!

Desi Hits!

Lady Gaga is now a V Magazine columnist

V Magazine are proud to announce their newest columnist: Lady Gaga! Each issue, Mother Monster will put pen to the page, bringing us an editorial window into her fashion multiverse.

Gaga asked V to hold a contest to find the picture, which will be put alongside Gaga's column, DRAWN THIS WAY. Lady Gaga must be styled as an editrix, but in any medium you wish: pencil, watercolor, collage, even a sculpture is countable.

The first column will appear in V Magazine summer's issue, which will be on newsstands May 12, 2011. Don't miss it!

Source: vmagazine.com