Fame

Lady Gaga wants you

Christine Spines 

There are tonnes of questions we want to ask Lady Gaga. After all, she’s one of the most fascinating music artists we’ve ever seen. And unlike most people who are given that title, she actually manages to live up to it—she’s a true artist— while still singing ultra-catchy pop songs that make it impossible not to dance. She’s kind of a genius… but she’s also kind of bizarre. Who is she, really? We plan to find out.

But as we wait for her to meet us at a chic Las Vegas sushi restaurant, we’re completely preoccupied with the most obvious question of all: what the hell will she be wearing? That translucent bubble dress, a bra that shoots sparks, lingerie that oozes fake blood— Gaga never looks boring. In fact, we’d be shocked if she’s so much as touched a pair of sweats in her life. Sadly, there are no pyrotechnics when we spot her strutting toward us in a pair of black shades, a skimpy bustier, and an impossibly tight vinyl miniskirt. Just as we realize we have no idea what to call her (though we bet ‘Stefani’ will get us slapped), she stretches out a pale, delicate hand in our direction and declares “Gaga.” Of course.

We offer her a cocktail, but she has a soldout concert in a few hours, and she doesn’t want to drink before the show. Instead, she orders rice-less sushi and dressing-less salad. For Gaga, life is all about being in the spotlight...and why would she do anything to jeopardise that? “My friends joke that I’m dead until I get onstage,” she says. “I’m dead right now as you’re speaking to me.”

She seems pretty lively to us, but it is true that she explodes with a whole new kind of energy while performing later that night. “I’m like Tinker Bell,” she tells the adoring crowd as she lies belly-down on the stage with her feet kicked up behind her. “You know how she dies if you don’t clap for her?” Gaga then leaps to her rhinestone-booted feet. “Scream for me!” she roars. “Do you want me to die?!” The crowd explodes...