Lady Gaga: “Nobody writes lyrics like I do”

In the fall of 2008, Winq editor Martijn Tulp spoke with a then much less known Lady Gaga at the MTV office in Amsterdam Noord. Here is the full interview from our archives!

You must have seen a new blonde singer on MTV, wearing sunglasses with small TV screens in them. Meet Lady Gaga; this New Yorker writes her own songs, makes her own clothes, and has developed her own style. She was born in 1986 as Stefania Gabriella Germanotta and is currently one of the most sought-after songwriters in America. She has already written lyrics for the Pussycat Dolls, the reunion album of the New Kids On The Block, and for Britney's new album. Her own album The Fame is currently taking over the world, and Mrs. Gaga doesn't hide her pride. We spoke to her at the MTV office while enjoying some Coke Zero (“I love it because it's black. Just like death.”).

You've been in Amsterdam for a few days, what have you been up to?

“Enjoying the city!”

Probably smoked a lot?

“A little bit... Of course! Why not? I mean, on my way here I was thinking I wouldn’t, because I’m working. But we actually didn’t have much to do for a couple of days. And I haven’t had a break for three of four months, so I hadn’t had any alcohol for a few months either. So I was like ‘screw it, I’m just going to have a good time!’. I’ve been walking around a lot, went to red light district last night. I hid my camera in my overcoat, and I got some really amazing footage of the girls. It’s just so amazing, because a lot of cabaret theater was inspired by the red light district. I’ve been doing theater since I was very young and the red window with the girl in it is this very iconic imagery. So it was great to finally see the source of all this inspiration. So I kind of became like Andy Warhol, undercover, and I got some really great footage that I want to use during my live performances as a background video. It’s going to be awesome.”

Those girls usually prefer not to be filmed.

“No, they don’t. That’s why I hid my camera. There was no way for me to explain in a quick moment that it’s art, I’m not using it to exploit them. I actually thought about going back later with some money. I don’t want them to do anything sexual, I just want to talk to them and film it. So I think I might do that later.”

You have a fairly classical background, and those kinds of people usually don't end up making pop music. Why did you?

“I  just love pop music! When I was in high school I used to do stuff that was a little bit more alternative, like Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, folk kind of music. Because I played the piano, and when you have a classical background in music, it sort of leads you into that direction. But I was more into Elton John and Billy Joel at the piano, rock ‘n roll and Madonna. At a certain point I just looked myself in the eye and asked myself ‘what do you really want to do? Not just what you’re good at. What kind of art do you want to make?’ And I want to make fun stuff, stuff that make people smile and dance. And then I wrote 'Beautiful Dirty Rich', my first Lady Gaga song. There’s still piano in almost every song on the record, but it’s synthesized or moved around. I just started looking at the piano in a different way.”

You've been writing a lot for Britney Spears lately. Aren't you ever afraid of becoming like her; a phenomenon instead of an artist?

“No, I don’t worry about that stuff. She’s such a lovely person. I was twelve or thirteen when she became famous. I was there, so I know how powerful she was as a pop figure. It’s easy to forget about all of that stuff after a lot of time has passed. When somebody fucks up in front of the camera, it’s seems to be all everyone can talk about. And whether you liked her music or not, you can’t deny the fact that there were 25.000 screaming Britney fans, blocking traffic in New York City. When was the last time we saw that happen? Certain bands that we give a lot of respect today don’t block traffic anywhere. People like Britney were mobilizing young people to beg their mom to stand outside at a record store before midnight, just so they could get the first copy of the new album on the day it was released. Britney is very smart and I think she’s gonna surprise a lot of people. And truthfully, all that stuff about her private life hasn’t affected her record sales at all. Her last album went platinum, so she’s fine. I’m delighted to be attached to her as a songwriter. It’s a huge honor.”

As a woman in the music industry, have you ever noticed people doubting your skills as a writer and producer?

“That’s interesting. Nobody has challenged me and asked me if I really wrote my album. In America I actually took the time to go to every major club around the country and shake hands with every DJ that was spinning my record. Because we couldn’t get it on the radio right away. So all the stuff I’ve done -performing on So You Think You Can Dance, the Miss Universe competition, and being number 25 on iTunes-, it all comes from live performance. My gay fans are especially loyal. I’ll play show after show, and everything is spiking in sales and I get more and more exposure. When female artists look down upon other female artists, I just want to slap them. I mean, come on, this is your own sex. As a woman, you have to be supportive of other women, I believe in that very strongly. Sure you can assume that there’s a puppet behind certain records. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t great. There are a couple of Madonna songs that she didn’t write, but those are still great records. She performed the hell out of them, and she still inspired so many people. I couldn’t give a damn about whether or not people believe I wrote my own record. It’s doing really well, so I must be doing something right. And I think you can tell, nobody writes lyrics like me.”

What do you think of pop music these days?

“I think it’s a bit lazy. I’d like to see more of how it used to be. I’d like to see more screaming fans, knocking down doors, super fans with people’s names written on their face, crying. That’s what really makes pop music and music in general so emotional; the drama. I remember sitting down to watch the MTV Awards, having a party with some friends and it was a really big deal. Now I don’t think MTV has a lot to choose from, but it’s not their fault. MTV can only do so much as a network to put out good music. We, as artists, need to make it so that the audience expects a lot from us. Right now, I don’t think fans expect very much from a pop artist. When I give some people my album and when they’ve only heard the first single, Just Dance, they say they thought that that would be the only good song on the record. They’re surprised of what I sound like when I sing live, and that I make my own clothes. But I’m hungry for that. Right now I think it’s cool to not try too hard. Rock bands show up at Award shows in jeans, they don’t really care. There’s no showmanship. To this day, if Michael Jackson goes to an award show, he’ll be so beautifully dressed, and there still is some showmanship. He is a legend. The White Stripes are a good example of a band that puts on dramatic shows, and they’re amazing. Franz Ferdinand also. I just want to see more artists like that again.”

You do your own styling and design your own clothes. What do you think of TV shows like Project Runway?

“I like that! By using reality television you’re inspiring young people to make their own clothes and look at fashion in a more every day kind of way. I think it’s especially good for Americans, because I think most Americans dress terribly. But at the same time, we all know there’s a level of prestige in fashion. You can’t just have a clothing line that sits next to Lanvin in a store overnight. It’s still an art form, you can’t just wake up one day and become a designer. But those shows give you the feeling that you could, in a way. It makes people want to be passionate about something. And I think that’s what’s most important, that young people are getting inspired by things like Project Runway instead of getting wasted with their friends.”

To what extent are you really Lady Gaga, and to what extent is it an artificial character with glasses with TV screens in them, props, fashion, and hairstyles?

“Well, I don’t really exist without those things. I dress like this all the time. Even hanging out in Amsterdam, going out to pubs; I look like myself. Lady GaGa is the result of a creative journey I’ve been on for many years. Writing music, playing clubs, making clothes... My producer called me GaGa in the studio, because of the Queen song. He said I was so dramatic when I was performing. So when it was time for me to go and perform again, after having finished the album, I felt very different than before; more like myself. After years of being in a catholic school, and coming from a very Italian family, there was a lot of repression. It wasn’t until I was on my own, that I could be the weird fucking girl I always was. The stage stuff is all me. The props, the glasses, the ideas... I’ve been e-mailing all morning with the stage and art director who’s working on my stuff. He’s the guy that communicates with the people from New Kids On The Block, to make my show happen before theirs. We’ve been e-mailing back and forth all day, exchanging ideas. I’m involved in everything, I don’t show up and get handed a microphone and just sing. I’m working all the time. Most people aren’t used to a girl like me. I don’t date anybody, I don’t go out to the movies with my friends. I’m an artist, I’m like this all the time.”

What do you think of artists who rely on all sorts of tricks to make their voices sound better?

“Well, there’s something that’s less honest. But in other way, it can be an art form. It just depends on how you use it. I don’t like it when artists over-sing. I’m not like a vocal Olympics kind of girl, leave that to Mariah, Whitney and Christina. That’s what they do, and they’re so good at that. Not everybody is meant to sing like that. Christina doesn’t really write a lot of her own stuff, and I don’t care that she doesn’t, because her artistry is really in the delivery. I perform to track when I perform live. Obviously, the more successful I get, I’ll be able to have a band and stuff. But when people hear my show, they want to hear my record. They don’t want to hear some live interpretation of 'Just Dance', they want to hear it the way it sounds on the radio, and that’s ok. I want to give that to them, and more. I don’t use auto-tune when I sing live. I sing in my voice, against auto-tune. Which is probably the most difficult fucking thing to do on television, because you’re trying to mimic something that’s so perfect. I’ve gotten a little bit better at it, but it’s very hard.”

What would you still like to achieve in your career?

“Well, I don’t know about you, but this really looks like a hit record to me. I don’t know why it does, but it just does. It sounds like one too. And it scares me every morning when I wake up. It’s really powerful. I want to revitalize the pop world, so that it doesn’t have to be this dirty fucking word anymore. I want pop to be something great again. The Jacksons were pop, David Bowie was pop, Madonna was pop. There are so many artists that did pop music and were not looked down upon. So I would really love to do that. And I absolutely enjoy what I do now; I’m going to Ibiza to shoot footage for video press, then I’m going to the UK to start promoting the single, then off to France. I’m living my dream by delivering my art to the world. I would love to keep doing this for the next twenty years.”

This article previously appeared in Gay&Night Magazine, September 2008.