Going Gaga
Will it take more the "The Fame" for Lady GaGa to save pop music?
Lady GaGa has The Fame. And it’s about to make her famous.
Lady GaGa isn’t a singer – she’s an artist. A dance-pop superstar in the making from the New York underground scene, she’s exploded onto the charts with her single “Just Dance” that makes you want to do just that – dance. So what is “the fame?” The collection of songs all somehow contribute to the overall idea, but GaGa can sum it up quite simply.
“We equate fame with importance,” she explains, saying it’s not something you are, it’s something you have. “It’s a conviction of speech – an artistic arrogance almost” Tracks range from The Fame range from catchy dance hooks to softer ballads. She describes tracks like “Paparazzi” as a beautiful pop song with a complex idea, and “Brown Eyes” as the love song everyone can relate to. But she has no poker face when it comes to hiding which track is her favorite.
“Poker Face” is friggin’ incredible - pop perfection!” GaGa says enthusiastically. “It’s a metaphor for the first time you’re meeting a guy, and you like him and want to be with him, but you don’t want him to know how much you like him? You got your poker face on, you know?” But she’s about more than just making music. She’s about making a statement and bringing music back. “I want music to make a comeback,” she confesses. “Forget about the industry – I want MUSIC to come back.”
“Music is lazy right now,” she continues, with a hint of irritation in her voice. “Artists are only looking for that one hit single, and the rest of the album is terrible. They don’t think about their style – they hire stylists. It’s lazy.” And Lady GaGa is anything but lazy. Everything she does is part of a vision. From the clothes she wears to the choreography to the video – her stance is that anyone can make a good song, but it takes an artist to come up with a concept and present it in an interesting way.
“You can have a hit song, but no one will buy the album if they don’t believe in the artist,” she explains simply. “I don’t want to name names, but a lot of artists put out an album, and the single sold like crazy but no one bought the album, because no one cares.”
And make fun of pop music all you want, but according to GaGa, it’s pop artists like Britney Spears that understood what it took to not only make it big in the business, but to stay big in the business.
“Nobody has any clue what it takes to make a pop record,” she says emphatically. “The truth is what makes a record a hit is the artist.”
If the artist is any indication, The Fame is going to be a hit indeed.
