Gone gaga over Lady Gaga

Philippines Premier Entertainment writer and Philippine Star Columnist Ricky Lo interviews Lady Gaga in her recent concert in Singapore. They talked about her diet, fashion sense, her musical influences, her being Catholic, getting a new tatoo, how fame changed her life and her love for her fans.

SINGAPORE —- Gaga! Gaga! Gaga! Gaga! Gaga! Gaga! Gaga! Gaga!!!

The crowd at The Dome at the Merchant Loop was already screaming at the top of their voices and yet, the two playful guy-hosts of the showcase pretended to be unconvinced.

“I can’t hear you!,” one of them screamed back. “Do you want Lady Gaga?”

The Dome shook with a collective YES!!!!

“Louder, please! Louder now!”, commanded the other host.

And so the crowd grew even wilder, screaming their hearts and lungs out.

Gaga! Gaga! Gaga! Gaga! Gaga! Gaga! Gaga! Gaga! Gaga!!!!!!!

And out came Lady Gaga amidst multi-colored smoke from a fog machine, looking like a sea nymph in...should I say, “outlandish?”...costume which has become her trademark, wearing a pair of black boots, her hair bright as gold and her false eyelashes so huge that they dominated her face.

To the deafening applause of the now-heated crowd,

Lady Gaga barked into the microphone, “Nothing is more important to me than my fans!,” eliciting an ecstatic response from her fans, and then adding, “And nothing is less important to me than money!” A thunderous roar of approval.

The showcase was for Lady Gaga’s debut album, The Fame (released locally by MCA Music, Inc.), which carries Just Dance and Poker Face, two of the six songs she did at The Dome.

You couldn’t help but become an instant Lady Gaga fan, especially when she started jumping around the stage, infecting the crowd with her inexhaustible energy, enjoying herself, having the time of her life like it was her last day on earth and, watch out now, played the piano while sitting on a stool and then squatting on it as she continued playing the piano, standing on it and bending forward and continued playing the piano, drawing ohhh’s and ahhh’s from the audience which was by now running out of breath.

And to think that, as she would do in her shows in the US, she didn’t have to strip down to her hand-crafted hot pants and bikini top, light cans of hairspray on fire nor strike a pose as a disco ball lowered from the ceiling to the orchestral sounds of A Clockwork Orange.

The lady shocks even just by being herself.

At the presscon earlier that day, she was asked if it’s true that she “hit” on a member (unnamed) of the Pussycat Dolls (a recent Manila visitor for whom Lady Gaga wrote songs) and she paused, saying, “I’m sorry but I don’t kiss and tell.”

And during an exclusive Conversation that same afternoon, when asked what her real full name is (yes, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta), she replied with a blank look in her face and said, “My name is Lady Gaga.” Of course! She got that moniker from the Queen song Radio Gaga and it clicked.

Do you know what gaga means in Filipino?

“Oh yes, somebody told me what it means. Crazy, right?”

Crazy...and more.

(Laughs) “Well, I’m crazy in many ways.”

Is “exhibitionist” the right adjective to describe Lady Gaga?

(Turning serious) “No. I would say that the best way to describe me would be ‘a hot performance artist.’ But there is an exhibitionistic quality to the work that I do. It has an art exhibition and pop-art-fashion-music technology. I do make an effort to really involve my fans. For example, when I did the ‘bubble exhibition,’ it has a very exhibitionistic quality. I give the audience bubbles.”

You do a lot of very physical exertion onstage. Have you ever met an accident; have you ever been injured?

“Yes, I have. There have been a few accidents. But that’s the nature of my performance; it can be very dangerous. When I go onstage, I don’t really know what could happen.”

Not fall off the stage, I hope.

“I do hope not.”

For somebody who does this kind of artistic exhibitionism, you must know how to take very good care of your body. How do you do it? What sort of diet do you follow; what workout do you do?

“Well, I don’t eat.”

You don’t!?!

“I don’t.”

How many meals do you eat per day?

“Maybe one.”

Oh, just one. One full meal?

“Yeah.”

What about your body’s nutrient needs?

“I read books.”

That’s food for the mind.

“Yeah. You’re right.”

What about your body’s “physical” needs?

“My art feeds my soul.”

What kind of food do you like?

“Well, last night, I went out of the hotel (Mandarin Hotel) and crossed the street and found a noodle house. I finished a bowl-ful.”

You come from a very artistic family. I read somewhere that when you were a kid, you would sing along on your mini plastic tape recorder to Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper hits and then you got twirled in the air in your father’s arms to the sounds of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.

“Yeah. That contributed to my love for music. When I noticed that I had an inclination towards piano and classical music when I was little, they got me lessons. They were very supportive.”

You have a very...how do you call it?...unique fashion sense. From whom and from where did you get it?

“Ahhh...well, from my mother. She always dressed up every day. She was a very stylish woman. I used to sit on the toilet seat and watched while she fixed her hair and applied her make-up. Then, when I was 18, I moved to downtown New York and that opened up a whole new fashion world for me. You know New York, it’s very stylish. The street fashion is a way of life. My clothes become an extension of myself, a part of my work and a part of who I am.”

The title of your album is The Fame. How has fame changed your life and how do you deal with the changes?

“I am very, very grateful for my success and I suppose it would be very easy for me to be jaded but I’m not. I’m having a great time. It has been amazing! You know, I travel the world, I meet all my fans who are beautiful and incredible...I’m so inspired that I keep on writing new music. It’s a dream come true. It has been a marvelous journey.”

Aside from music, what makes you happy?

“Like I said, I live every minute of my life for music; I really do. For my show and for my music, I work very hard. I have a very strong spirituality. I think it’s an ugly thing when you focus on the negative things in life. It’s important to be grateful for what you have.”

You seem to look at life as one big party, right?

“Well, I don’t really know what’s that suppose to mean.”

Well, something to celebrate, something to be happy about, something to enjoy.

“Doesn’t everyone see life as a celebration?”

Well, not everybody. Sadly.

“Well, there are, of course, people in the world who have major problems — poverty, hunger, economy. I am 23 years old and I grew up in a part of the city that was obsessed with pop culture, pornography and fame. For me, to write music about hunger and poverty and to talk about them is, hmmmm, silly, I think.”

Do you ever have low moments? How do you deal with them? How do you spring back to life?

“I simply believe in myself. I write music. I listen to music. I design. I read the Andy Warhol diary.”

Aside from Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper, who are your other role models, your musical influences?

“My mother. What do I like about my mother? Well, hmmm...she’s my mother. I have a really wonderful relationship with my family.”

What are you like away from the limelight?

“I’m just like this. I’m terribly self-assured.”

Don’t you have time for leisure?

“No.”

How do you pamper yourself, as a person and not so much as an artist?

“I spend time with really goodlooking guys.”

Oh, you do. How nice. Do you have a boyfriend?

“No.”

Why not?

“I like to keep my options open.”

During the presscon, you said that you have seven tattooes and you’re planning to have one more on your back. What kind of tattoo would that be?

“I want to have the face of the Virgin Mary on my back. I am a big fan of Scott Chapal, the photographer, who is an incredible inspiration for me. He has a lot of pop-art photography based on putting a celebrity image into the image of icons.”

Are you Catholic?

“Yes, I am.”

Madonna is also Catholic and she’s known for her references to religious images in her act, one time using a huge crucifix as prop. How do you feel being called the “new Madonna?”