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| Lady GaGa offers San Francisco three opportunities to preview her debut album The Fame. |
Many artists shy away from the “pop music” label. Few admit to consciously shaping a “hit record.” Lady GaGa has no problem with either. “I really wanted my first album to be just ‘pop-tastic,’” admits the New York club favorite, “I wanted this fire-breathing pop record, just smash-after-smash, the kind of record you can put on in your car and play tracks one through eleven and never skip a song.”
So far, Lady GaGa’s on-track for exactly that! Kicking off her debut album The Fame, which hits retails in July, is new single “Just Dance” featuring red-hot chart sensation Colby O’Donis. With clubs and radio embracing the track, audiences across the country are going goo-goo for GaGa.
Next week, the the Bay Area gets its taste of Lady GaGa. The now-20-something singer/songwriter lands at San Francisco’s Tuesday night legend Trannyshack May 27 and delivers back-to-back performances at Mecca and The Crib Thursday, May 29.
(Bay Times) What kind of drunken night out inspired your first single “Just Dance”?
Oh, many, many a drunken night out. I think you have to have many nights like that for it to come out. It’s so funny. When I wrote it, it was organic. Literally the first lyric I wrote was “I’ve had a little bit too much.” Then I looked over at my cowriter and said, “Should I write a song about being drunk?” Around the time that I wrote “Beautiful Dirty Rich,” I was doing a lot of partying and heavy creative wandering in New York and in the club culture. The song is inspired by that experience.
How did you get hooked up with Colby O’Donis for this track? He’s recently exploded into the Billboard Top 20.
I know. I’ve actually known Colby for a while, since before he released “What You Got.” He was working with Akon, and I was writing with Akon for another artist. I met Colby, and he has an incredible voice. He’s young and fresh. We were talking about who to put in that section of the record. I just love his voice, and he’s doing really well right now. Yippee! I love it!
What was it like working with the newly-reunited New Kids on the Block?
I love them. I just love them so much, I can’t really talk about it. When I first met them, I just almost had a heart attack. It’s really humbling and incredible. Donnie [Wahlberg] took a liking to my work and writing style and loved my vibe. We wrote a song together. I sang on another song they did. It’s been a really incredible experience. I’m really a pop girl. I’m not afraid of the word. I sort of strive to be similar to the way Andy Warhol made pop art that he wanted – and it is considered to day – fine art. He wanted to be taken seriously for making commercial work. That’s what I want to do. I love working with pop acts. I love writing pop music. It’s totally my thing. I’ve 100-percent conceptualized endlessly, day-after-day, new ways to make pop fresh and new and not such a dirty word.
Musicians want to be “edgy” or “underground,” certainly not “pop.”
It’s so funny, because I still get the “edgy” and “underground” licks all the time. I don’t consider myself to be particularly “underground” at all, other than maybe the sense that I came from the underground. The underground discovered me first. To me, it’s just not a bad thing. It’s emotional. This is not at all the kind of music I’m trying to make, but there was something powerful about the whole Mickey Mouse Club thing that happened around 2000 with Britney, ‘N Sync, Backstreet Boys and Christina. If they were in New York, you absolutely couldn’t step foot near Times Square. Everything was just shut down – all to see Justin Timberlakes hand. Since then we’ve lost the desire to eat the artist, and it’s something I want to bring back but in a cool way.
Many of your West Coast tour dates are in gay clubs. Why do you think your performances appeal to LGBT audiences?
There are straight clubs and appearances, too, but gay audiences were the first ones to embrace me really. They get it a little more. Sometimes in straight clubs, the girls give you the “Who the hell are you in your panties?” look. It’s like the minute I’m in these clubs, for whatever reason, the gay community sees the concepts. They see the references. I can see them pointing out, “Oh, that’s the Madonna shoulder pad!” Or “That’s the this or that.” I just love it.
Your performances are described as more “performance art” than “concert.”
It’s definitely changed. My old schtick in my underwear, lighting things on fire with hairspray is gone. Now I have the ‘couture’ version of the show, which is exciting, and I get to put my own vision into place now. It’s absolutely performance art. I’ve never really had the resources before to do exactly what I wanted to do. That’s why it was a lot of hairspray and homegrown bubble machines and sequinning bras myself. Now I get to do sketches of the clothes I want. I get to design the props. And I’m working with people I’ve discovered in the arts community that I want to feature. Really, I feel like I’m giving birth. I’m so excited, I can’t even breathe.
For more information, visit: http:/www.LadyGaGa.com
