Lady GaGa's Exclusive Interview for The Rage Monthly
Lady GaGa
It’s All About The Fame or Is It?
Interview by Bill Biss
Refreshingly candid and remarkably talented as a songwriter/musician and singer, Lady GaGa was in Paris promoting her debut called The Fame and also performing there. If you haven’t heard her song, “Let’s Dance” it’s quite possible that you don’t own a radio, computer or television. Her debut album drops here in the U.S. on October 28 and when talking with this sensational new singer… it’s quite evident that there is just no stopping Lady GaGa. She is a force of nature and is simply the real deal when it comes to her skills as a songwriter and entertainer.
Rage: Is this your first time in Paris?
Lady GaGa: No it’s my “deux fois.”
Rage: I really like your musical influences of Queen and Bowie and that whole performance art thing.
LG: Thank you.
Rage: You have a song I heard on YouTube called “Brown Eyes.” It reminds me of the simplicity of something that Lennon/McCartney would have written around the time of The White Album.
LG: Awesome. What a f#@king compliment! That record means a lot to me. I was really inspired by Queen, John Lennon and David Bowie. I really like glam ‘70s and you know, like a really simple and honest love song. So, I appreciate that. Thank you.
Rage: You don’t seem like the kind of entertainer that will ever get stuck in a groove. Where do you see yourself in five years?
LG: On the phone with you baby. (laughter) Talking about my latest album.
Rage: Ah, that’s cute.
LG: I’ll still be the same girl. It’s funny. People say to me a lot, “What’s your goal?” And I’m thinking, what I’m doing right now dammit. I’m in Paris, I’m talking on the phone about my record, performing live on television and performing in shows for 5,000 people. It’s like I’m living my dream. And then I fly back to L.A. for a few days to rehearse the New Kids on the Block tour and then to shoot the video for my next single. This is my dream. My dream is not to be rich and famous. My dream is to be doing what I love and making art for a very long time.
Rage: What has been the most challenging part of launching this debut record?
LG: Gosh. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’ve been doing this for such a long time. This is a funny answer but I think sometimes I don’t let myself really enjoy what’s going on. That might be the most challenging part. I’m so wrapped up in fighting for this record. Sometimes when good things happen, I don’t allow myself to take a minute and have a drink to just kind of enjoy it. Like someone will call and say, “You’re number one in Australia today!” And I’ll be like, “Okay great. How’s it going in France?” For me, we’re not even close to done. My work is not even in the stratosphere of being finished.
Rage: You obviously have a great talent for songwriting. How difficult was it to pick out what you wanted on this debut album?
LG: It’s funny. In a way it was easy and in a way, it was hard. I have a lot of really great songs to choose from but in another way, I wrote my best work in the last months that I was writing. I’ve been working on this record for two years. I sort of reached a creative pinnacle in January and I wrote, “Just Dance,” “Poker Face” and “Love Game.” And “The Fame” and “AA.” I wrote those in a three-week period of each other… like really f#@king fast.
It was because I was so hungry. When I think back to my life in New York. I was sitting in New York City in my bedroom with nothing but me, my piano, my talent and a dream. That’s it. I had nothing. When I tell you that I f#@king fought like f#@k from the bottom to where I am now, I really did. I’m living proof that you can do anything you want in life. I hope that I’m inspiring to my friends on the lower East Side of New York who are still making art and still persevering because I never gave up. I was told, “No.” “You’re too theatre. You’re too pop. You’re not thin enough. You’ve got a big nose. You’re not pretty. You’re too pretty.” Whatever. There was always something. I was signed. I was dropped. Yes and no. Kicked around and I’ve always been really in love with the process of making music.
Rage: That’s great. You taught yourself piano at the age of four?
LG: Yeah. I don’t know. I really wanted to perform. There was a piano in the living room of my parent’s house and I just got my ass up there.
Rage: Isn’t lighting hairspray on fire slightly dangerous?
LG: Don’t do it at home. It’s actually pretty indicative of my personality. Even with no money in my pocket I was able to figure out how to do pyrotechnics on stage.
Rage: If you had to pick just one song of someone else’s that annoyed the crap out of you. Which song would it be and why?
LG: Oh god. I don’t want to say. I don’t want to badmouth other artists.
Rage: It doesn’t have to be a current song.
LG: Okay. You know what I could say. You know that record by Jeff Buckley. The song is “Hallelujah.” I was hanging out with this guy once. He was the sweetest guy and he liked me so much. If he’s reading this article and he figures out that it’s him, I hope he knows that I thought he was lovely and so cute and I just think the world of him. But, he wanted to make love to that song. For me, I’m so not that kind of girl. I want to have sex to Led Zeppelin. I want to get screwed listening to Black Sabbath. So, I just remember he said that and it ruined that song for me. Every time I hear that song, I’m like “No!” But, he was lovely and he was an excellent physical partner. So that song didn’t do it for me but it wasn’t his fault.
Rage: How was it making an appearance on The Hills?
LG: It was fun. It was cool. I thought I looked a bit like Justin Timberlake was hanging out with Marilyn Manson… just me with those girls. They are really nice. I think the show is just very riveting in a lot of ways. I respect it because it’s the art of reality television. They have really taken it a step further than other TV shows and really produced it like a soap opera.
Rage: When I listen to your voice, it’s a combination of Pink, Gwen Stefani, Wendy O. Williams from the Plasmatics and Terri Nunn of Berlin all in one. That’s pretty amazing.
LG: Nice. Actually that’s pretty good. I’m not mad at you. I’m not mad. Thank you so much. You’re so sweet.
Rage: No problem. Knock ‘em dead and take care.
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Category: INTERVIEWS
