RS: I heard you say this quote I loved, and I'd love for you to
explain it – you 'make music for the dress.'
Lady Gaga: Yes, absolutely. I mean I don't write records and then
decide what the video will look like. I instantaneously write things
at the same time so it's a complete vision, the song and the visual,
the way that I would perform it on the stage. It's something that all
comes to me at once. So when I say I make the music for the dress,
the dress is a bit of a metaphor for 'I make the music for
everything,' for the entire performance vision.
RS: What's the story behind the song "Paparazzi," because there's
been a few interpretations of it?
Lady Gaga: Well I'm so glad there are a few different
interpretations, that was the idea. The song is about a few different
things – it's about my struggles, do I want fame or do I want love?
It's also about wooing the paparazzi to fall in love with me. It's
about the media whoring, if you will, watching ersatzes make fools of
themselves to their station. It's a love song for the cameras, but
it's also a love song about fame or love – can you have both, or can
you only have one?
RS: I read somewhere that you went to school with the Hilton sisters?
Lady Gaga: I did.
RS: Did they have any affect on you?
Lady Gaga: They're very pretty, and very clean. Very, very clean. You
know, I never saw Paris, she was older than me, and it's funny that
the press always write that I went to school with the Hilton sisters,
but I actually only went with Nicky. Paris, I believe, left and went
to Dwight. But, you know, it's impressive to be that perfect all the
time, these girls. I was always a weird girl in school, who did
theatre and came to school with lots of red lipstick on or my hair
perfectly curled, or whatever I was doing to get attention. It's
funny as it's almost like they were there to make me aware, because so
much of what I do now is that I try to twist my world into the
commercial community. So I guess they've been quite an influence on
me. Not them in particular, but the idea of the self-proclaimed
artist.
RS: You're making dance music, but you're signed to a more
hip-hop artist program. There's often been a lot of conflict between
hip-hop and dance.
Lady Gaga: Right.
RS: How are you bridging the two?
Lady Gaga: Oh, I actually wouldn't consider myself a dance artist. I
think I'm bridging the gap in a few different ways, and it's mostly
from a music conceptual standpoint, mixing the dance beats one second.
Mixing retro dance beats with more urban melodies, and a certainly
pop chorus. It's really about, in a very methodic way, almost choosing
exactly what pieces of what I want to have in the record, and then
watching it cross over, with my fingers crossed.
RS: What's the story behind "Dirty Rich?" I love that song.
Lady Gaga: I was doing a lot of drugs when I wrote "Dirty Rich." It
was about two years ago, and it was about a few different things.
First and foremost the record is about – whoever you are or where you
live – you can self-proclaim this inner fame based on your personal
style, and your opinions about art and the world, despite being
conscious of it. But it's also about how on the Lower East side, there
was a lot of rich kids who did drugs and said that they were poor
artists, so it's also a knock at that. 'Daddy I'm so sorry, I'm so, so
sorry, yes, we just like to party.' I used to hear my friends on the
phone with their parents, asking for money before they would go buy
drugs. So, that was an interesting time for me, but it's funny that
what came out of that record – because it's about many different
things – but ultimately what I want people to take from it is
"Bang-bang." No matter who you are and where you come from, you can
feel beautiful and dirty rich.
RS: I saw some performances online of you at Lollapalooza. What
was it like playing there?
Lady Gaga: It was a blast. I mean, it was a bit nerve-wracking; we
had tremendous technical difficulties on the stage. That was not a
performance that I choose to really remember so fondly. But if
anything, what I loved the most about it was that the sea of hippies
and so forth that were there were not expecting what they saw and I
loved the shock art aspect of it. Actually I'm hoping to incorporate
some pretty interesting things into the show that capture their
reactions and stuff. You'll see more of that in the future.
RS: OK. Lady Gaga, what would you like to say to all of your new
fans out there?
Lady Gaga: I would just want to say thank you, I love you, I
appreciate so much the support that you all give me. You listeners,
the ones who found me first are, I believe, the future of great art
thinkers. Because anyone that's found me now I really think is
grabbing on to the ideas that I have, more than anything. It's about
the music but it's also about the story. So thank you guys for loving
and reading the story and being as into it and as passionate as I am.
Posted - June 10, 2008