The Genius of Lady Gaga (2 hr. int.)

Lady Gaga, we have asked you to be the ninth participant in our series of In Camera interviews because, more than any other contemporary musician, your work feels inextricably connected to fashion. What function does fashion serve for you?  Do you use it to underline your musical themes, or is it another outlet for a different type of creative expression? - Asked by Alexander Fury, London.

Sunday May 30, 2010 12:03 Alexander Fury

Lady Gaga:  It's all of the above, but I think more importantly on a cultural level I think music and fashion have always mirrored each other as part of a creative context. They cannot be separate. I need fashion for my music, and I need music for my fashion. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:03 Lady Gaga

Alexander Fury:  You are such an inspiration, from what you wear to how you sing. But where do you get your inspiration from? - Asked by Ricky White , New York, New York. / Laura Bowery, Merseyside / Alexander Gray, Massachusetts / Allie johnson, Columbus, GA / Lorna Leigh, Portsmouth UK / Sunny, France / Tudor, Romania / Marie-Helene, Canada / Alana, Sanatana-AP / Aurie Akers, Arkansas / Tondo, Slovakia, Martin Sunday May 30, 2010 12:08 Alexander Fury

Lady Gaga:  From capital HIM. I think there are two different kinds of artists. People who need to be plugged into a cultural movement, in music, fashion or the latest fishing techniques. But I think for some of us - and I would perhaps say the same about my friend Nick Knight - it's a much more innate gift. A much more spiritual experience. We don't have to be plugged into a particular movement to be part of it. It's transcendent, it's an inspiration that we're born with. To be perfectly honest, right now my biggest inspirations are my fans. I feel they subconsciously submit their freedom and love and joy into me. It's almost like we have our own little spiritual connection separate from anything else. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:09 Lady Gaga

12:10

Alexander Fury:  Did Rainer Maria Rilke's theory that artists should not accept criticism help you stay determined when you were starting out? - Asked by Meadhbh Nic Nuadhait, Ireland. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:10 Alexander Fury

12:10

Lady Gaga:  Yes. I love Rilke, it's no secret that I live my life in almost utter submission to him. I think it's important to be objective about your own work, and it's important what I've learned from Warhol to use the people around you to feed your creativity. If you have an incessant need for validation from an outside place, that's when criticism can be detrimental and even life-changing. You don't want the world to dictate your work, you want to be a funnel. In short, I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:10 Lady Gaga

12:11

Alexander Fury:  Do you find it difficult to deal with negative criticism in the media? - Asked by Heather Hunter, Virginia, United States / Jessica Hebert, Lafayette, LA Sunday May 30, 2010 12:11 Alexander Fury

12:11

Lady Gaga:  No. It can always be personal, because my work is personal. But you have to believe in yourself and what you're doing, and almost refuse criticism and negativity. It's like the wrong organ was given to you in an operation. You've got to reject it. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:11 Lady Gaga

12:13

Alexander Fury:  Your little monsters know that when you began your career in New York City, the music you were making and playing was sonically very different from the music you make now. What was the shift for you? Why did you decide to start making dance music? - Asked by Perez Hilton, Los Angeles, California. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:13 Alexander Fury

12:13

Lady Gaga:  I started out when I was very young, playing classical music when I was four. When I turned eleven that's when I started to write pop music, and I wrote jazz, and I got into ragtime. Then I got into sort of folky jam music, Bob Dylan, and then I got into Queen and Bowie. And then disco. It was my intellectual evolution, and my love of music started to change and form. When I was living downtown alone I was able to look into myself and ask myself if I must create music. And I must! And if I must, why? I resigned myself to make the kind of music I wanted to listen to, what I thought was great - what I thought would be groundbreaking where I was living. Indie music was the norm in New York, and pop music was seen to be corporate. And in true Gaga fashion, I decided to make pop music in a town where there was none. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:13 Lady Gaga

12:15

Alexander Fury:  Your fans do so much for you, from rallying together to vote you to the top of the charts to holding mass requesting sessions on radio stations. Why do you think so many little monsters care and support you the way that they do? — Asked by Farrah Marie, Santa Barbara, California. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:15 Alexander Fury

12:15

Lady Gaga:  I don't know. I feel so blessed, it's so unexplainable the love that I feel for my fans and how they treat me. The videos, the notes, the artworks - the other day I spent hours reading through all this and raving about how talented and lovely my fans are. Love is a symbiotic thing, especially when it's real. Perhaps it's just very real - I put love into my fans, and they give love to me, and we continue to give love back and forth forever. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:15 Lady Gaga

12:18

Alexander Fury:  Traditionally pop stars engage in one-way communication with their fans, but your relationship with your "little monsters" is more like a digital conversation: is this a conscious or instinctual gesture? — Asked by Vikram Alexei Kansara, New York. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:18 Alexander Fury

12:19

Lady Gaga:  Instinctual. I am the way I want to be with my fans. We have a very special and honest relationship. It's almost comical to talk about. Just the other day, I revealed to my fans that my grandpa was sick, and the next day I went to say hello to my fans on Twitter and saw there were all of these lovely messages from them. That has nothing to do with my music or my clothes, that's just pure friendship. My new album that I'm creating, that is finished pretty much, was written with this new instinctual energy. My fans protect me, it's now my destiny to protect them. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:19 Lady Gaga

12:22

Alexander Fury:  If you were able to travel through time where would you go – backwards or forwards and why? - Asked by John Galliano, Paris. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:22 Alexander Fury

12:22

Lady Gaga:  My first instinct is to say to go to the past, because I would love to experience and see all that has influenced and shaped my vocabulary. However, I will decline the past, I would say if I had to choose I would go to the future. The reason is quite selfish: because Alexander McQueen used to say, you must never look back, you must always be going forwards. I would go to the future - selfishly - to feed my work and make me a better artist, to crate more forward-thinking, innovative, magical and poetic work, like he did. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:22 Lady Gaga

12:24

Alexander Fury:  Your looks are so extreme. Is this a reaction to something? Are you questioning or altering the status quo of women's style? - Asked by Mario Testino, London. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:24 Alexander Fury

12:25

Lady Gaga:  Yes. Yes I am. I am a feminist. I reject wholeheartedly the way we are taught to perceive women. The beauty of women, how a woman should act or behave. Women are strong and fragile. Women are beautiful and ugly. We are soft spoken and loud, all at once. There is something mind-controlling about the way we're taught to view women. My work, both visually and musically, is a rejection of all those things. And most importantly a quest. It's exciting because all avant-garde clothing and music and lyrics that at one time were considered shocking or unacceptable are now trendy. Perhaps we can make women's rights trendy. Strength, feminism, security, the wisdom of the woman. Let's make that trendy. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:25 Lady Gaga

12:26

Alexander Fury:  What is the process by which you and stylist Nicola Formichetti put together an outfit? - Asked by Jordan, Louisiana. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:26 Alexander Fury

12:26

Lady Gaga:  Nicola!! It's really easy. He's one of my best friends, and Nicola knows exactly who I am as a musician, an artist and a girl. And the whole Haus of Gaga works together - Matthew has been creating clothes for me for years We have a cigarette and whiskey and look through racks of clothing and then go. It's organic, there's no pretense or preconception. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:26 Lady Gaga

12:30

Alexander Fury:  What are your favourite and least favourite outfits we created together? - Asked by Nicola Formichetti, London. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:30 Alexander Fury

12:30

Lady Gaga:  My favourite? That's quite a difficult question! One of my favourites was the red McQueen lace archive dress, and the tall red crown for the MTV Video Music Awards. My favourite that we made was the performance outfit that bled on its own - it was such a strong statement about clothing being alive, it lives and breathes. That was incredible. The least favourite... I don't have one! You're amazing Nicola, you always nail it. No regrets. We've done so much together, it's difficult to say my favourite and least favourite. It's like saying I don't like my arm! Sunday May 30, 2010 12:30 Lady Gaga

12:31

Alexander Fury:  Can you describe your style in one word? - Asked by Paulette Wilson, Baltimore, Maryland. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:31 Alexander Fury

12:31

Lady Gaga:  Free. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:31 Lady Gaga

12:34

Alexander Fury:  What do you like about wearing a hat? - Asked by Philip Treacy, London. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:34 Alexander Fury

12:34

Lady Gaga:  It is a nice barrier. The bigger the better. The more interesting and outrageous the better. For me it keeps the devil away. I always like when I have a hat that's big enough to keep people away at pretentious parties. It's protection. It's a sense of home away from home. But what I like about a Philip Treacy hat is that they're like nobody else's. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:34 Lady Gaga

12:34

Alexander Fury:  What do you think hats can do for you that clothes can't? - Asked by Stephen Jones, London. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:34 Alexander Fury

12:34

Lady Gaga:  They protect me in a different way. A social canopy, a hat is a social canopy. I love Stephen Jones too! Sunday May 30, 2010 12:34 Lady Gaga

12:36

Alexander Fury:  Is there one observation you have made about the zeitgeist that has gotten the most powerful reaction from people? - Asked by Marcus, Sydney. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:36 Alexander Fury

12:37

Lady Gaga:  A few. One being the hair-bow, and the second being 'Bad Romance' at the end of the Alexander McQueen show, and then the clothing in the video, and that show becoming what is sadly now known to be his crescendo. I wish it wasn't as powerful as it's become. I wouldn't say it was necessarily a zeitgeist moment, it's more destiny. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:37 Lady Gaga

12:38

Alexander Fury:  If you could be anyone else for a day who would you trade places with and what you do in their place? - Asked by Jefferson Hack, London. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:38 Alexander Fury

12:38

Lady Gaga:  I would be Iman! She's my friend, I can say that. I'd do whatever Iman does in a day. That's probably the most selfish answer I could give! What a fabulous woman. Sunday May 30, 2010 12:38 Lady Gaga

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