Perfect Celebrity: Unmasking the many faces and facets of Lady Gaga
Perfect Celebrity: Unmasking the many faces and facets of Lady Gaga
Ever since she rose to fame in the late 2000s, American pop star Lady Gaga has continuously showcased a variety of talents and interests, from fashion to acting to a fixation with fame and pop culture.
Before she caps off her four-night concert run at Singapore's National Stadium on May 24, The Straits Times correspondent Yamini Chinnuswamy and executive artist Billy Ker explore the many personas and facets of the 39-year-old singer-songwriter.
★ Stefani
PHOTO: CONVENT OF THE SACRED HEART
To her loved ones, Lady Gaga is known as Stefani Germanotta, an Italian-American who was born and raised in Manhattan, New York City.
While Lady Gaga is a larger-than-life performer, Germanotta has been described as soft-spoken, shy and introverted by fans who have met her in the wild.
★ Poker Face
Lady Gaga played Italian former socialite Patrizia Reggiani in the crime biopic House Of Gucci (2021).
PHOTO: MGM / COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION
Lady Gaga made her first foray into acting with horror series American Horror Story: Hotel (2015 to 2016) as a villainous vampire.
It was in 2018 when she came into her own as the female lead in the romantic drama A Star Is Born – earning a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role as fledgling singer-songwriter Ally Campana.
She also won acclaim for playing Italian former socialite Patrizia Reggiani in the crime biopic House Of Gucci (2021), directed by English film-maker Ridley Scott.
★ Spin That Record
PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/LADY GAGA
Lady Gaga's music chops are legitimate, having been trained in classical piano since she was four. Over the years, she showed off her skills with the guitar, keytar and drums while on stage.
She also won much acclaim for her two collaborative jazz albums with the late American singer Tony Bennett: Cheek To Cheek (2014) and Love For Sale (2021).
In 2014, she said at a promotional press event: 'It's funny, but jazz (is) a little more comfortable for me (to sing) than pop music.'
★ Queen of Artpop
PHOTOS: ST FILE, HOONG QI HAO, MAC COSMETICS
Art is a vehicle for Lady Gaga's music, an idea that she openly expressed by naming her third solo album, released in 2013, Artpop.
She even hand-picked a team of designers and artists – the Haus of Gaga – to help her make her performances, music videos and album visuals as arresting and avant-garde as her music.
Her most iconic style choices over the years have been fuelled by the idea of clothing as art, over conventional ideas of what is trendy or considered 'fashion'.
As she told The New Yorker in 2009: 'The objective is to always be (crafting an outfit) that belongs in a museum.'
◆ Holy Fool
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM YOUTUBE
Lady Gaga was raised Roman Catholic, and many of her popular songs and music videos grapple with key motifs and biblical imagery from Christianity and Catholicism.
Most famously, Judas (2011) is named after the treacherous disciple of Jesus Christ and includes the lyrics: 'Jesus is my virtue, and Judas is the demon I cling to.'
In 2010, she admitted in a television interview with American talk show host Larry King to struggling with her' feelings about the church', but added: 'I believe in God, I'm very spiritual, I pray.'
◆ Poison On The Inside
Lady Gaga's music video for Marry The Night (2011).
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM YOUTUBE
'I would say that my mental health always played a really powerful role in making music,' Lady Gaga mused in an interview with Teen Vogue in March.
The music video for Marry The Night (2011), which she has described as being autobiographical, is partly set in a psychiatric hospital.
In 2019, she told Elle magazine about experiencing post-traumatic stress in the wake of a prolonged period of sexual assault, saying 'I fully dissociated'.
◆ Fame Monster
PHOTO: INTERSCOPE RECORDS
From the beginning, Lady Gaga has interrogated pop culture and the concept of fame and celebrity in the modern age. Her debut album, released in 2008, was called The Fame.
One of the big hits off that record was Paparazzi, which she once described as 'a love song about fame or love – can you have both, or can you only have one?'
A year later, The Fame was reissued as The Fame Monster, with bonus tracks intended to explore the darker side of fame.
One of the tracks on her latest record, Mayhem (2025), is called Perfect Celebrity, and her film A Star Is Born is a cautionary tale about the perils of popularity.
◆ The Beast
PHOTO: INTERSCOPE RECORDS
A recurring motif in Lady Gaga's work is her preoccupation with the supernatural. The Fame Monster (2009) track Teeth features vampiric imagery, while Monster off the same record likens a love interest to a monster that 'ate my heart'.
The Beast, off Mayhem, draws parallels between her Gaga persona and the human-beast duality of werewolves.
She has also proudly dubbed her fans Little Monsters, with herself as Mother Monster, often calling on them to 'put their paws up' during her concerts.
◆ Rainbow Spirit
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Lady Gaga has staunchly supported the LGBTQ community from the beginning.
Her iconic meat dress, worn to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, was a statement against not the meat industry but the US military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, which barred openly gay and bisexual people from service.
Her 2012 anthem, Born This Way, urged her fans and listeners to love themselves regardless of their race, religion, gender or sexual identity.
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