Today, no one will say about the famous singer that she is another pop star, a seasonal curiosity. Lady Gaga over the following years, she proved her musical versatility, incredible vocal talent and unrestrained ability to create the most daring projects. Jazz, pop, rock, musical, he feels great in all these musical styles and still avoids being pigeonholed.
In June 2009, Billboard magazine proudly reported that the song of the young American star had conquered Great Britain, and at the same time “Poker Face” is one of the fastest and best-selling compositions in the history of the British recording industry. However, it took a little less time to become popular on the islands than in America. The hit song took several weeks before it became the British number one song on March 22, 2009, for another three weeks.
Before Lady Gaga started her way to the top Stefani Germanotta She has come a long way, full of disappointments and unfulfilled hopes, but also filled with the joy of discovering the charms of the New York music scene. She came from a good family, and her dad had made a small fortune selling WI-FI networks to hotels. From the very beginning, her parents supported their daughter's artistic development. Piano lessons, dancing, artistic classes, which she was initially somewhat forced to take, but over time became her life's passion. Seeing their daughter's talent, her parents wanted to enroll her in a prestigious school Juilliard SchoolHowever, Stefani preferred a private one Convent of the Sacred Heartwhich in her opinion allowed her to have a more comprehensive education.
It was there that she threw herself into school performances and musical recitals, and dressed extravagantly, which attracted the attention of her peers. It was not always favorable. As she recalled in an interview with Rolling Stone: “I was ridiculed for being ugly, chubby and having too big a nose. They mocked my make-up and the shape of my eyebrows, sometimes I didn't feel like going to school to face these taunts. I heard behind my back.” On the other hand, she had a devoted group of friends Paris Hilton at the forefront who supported her artistic interests.
When she enrolled in after high school Tisch School of the Arts and living alone in a dormitory, the nightlife in downtown New York absorbed her completely. She was 17 years old, so she obtained a fake ID that allowed her to enter nightclubs. It was there that the world of artistic bohemia, avant-garde art, filled with crazy concerts and performances shaped her aesthetic sensitivity. Apparently it was then that the idea of a new pop star for the 21st century appeared in her head, one that would combine performance, contemporary art, theater, glam rock glamor and sex into one explosive mix.
She played a major role in the transformation of the girl from a good home into a demonic star Lady Starlightwhich accompanied her on her musical journey through clubs Lower East Side and inspired with her look at fashion and art. It was she who introduced the girl to the world of burlesque, which the future star was delighted with. At that time, Stefania divided her time between playing with her rock band and performing independently on club stages. One story from those early years tells how one evening she was playing the piano in one of these places and no one was paying any attention to her. All the guests were busy talking and having their drinks. Then the future star took off almost all her clothes, leaving her in her panties and bra, screamed towards the audience and started her performance. For the next few minutes, no one spoke, and everyone was staring at the little girl who charmed with her voice and playing the instrument.
As we know, success always has many fathers and these appeared on the path of the young artist. Sometimes breaking her heart, like Antonio Reid, who first offered her a contract with Def Jam, only to break it after three months. On the other hand, he was a good spirit Akon. This famous musician had already been impressed by the young girl's talent and recommended her to the head of the Intercscope label Jimmy'emu Iovine'those. Initially, people from the label were not sure whether the new artist was suitable to be the face of the music project. A short, slightly chubby brunette who was mistaken for during one of her performances Amy Winehouse, she looked less like pop star material and more like a gothic princess. So Stefani started working on writing songs for others.
She caught the attention of managers when one day, during a recording session in the studio, she was to present one of the artists the vocal line of a song that she was about to record. After some time, everyone present realized that Stefani sang in a way that the star in the room would never be able to. Germanotta changed her hair color to blonde, gave up her two culinary loves – pizza and pasta, as she called them, her beloved demons, joined the gym and soon no one could say that she was chubby.
This Rob Fusari, the producer with whom she worked on songs that would soon become the basis for her debut, was behind her stage name. He was also the one who talked it up Lady Gagato give up her love for rock songs and focus on pop. Stefani struggled with it at first, but soon discovered new opportunities offered by the dance style. He helped her refine the sound that would soon amaze the world RedOne. Hiding under a sign Nadir Khayat, for many years he gained his experience as a producer in the hotbed of hit pop, which Sweden has undoubtedly always been. He had many successful musical projects under his belt, but when he moved to America in 2007, his phone was silent. When RedOne was slowly considering returning to Europe, he managed to work on a song Kat DeLunawhich brought him to the attention of the industry.
The meeting with Lady Gaga was another breakthrough in the history of both artists. The singer had a talent for writing neat melodies, and RedOne knew exactly how to package them to attract the attention of future listeners. Raised on Eurodance music, which was prevalent in Europe at the turn of the century, he had a perfect sense of which sounds would work well with Gaga's vocals. He was also able to skillfully introduce into new songs some flavors that were unknown to the American audience, and in Europe would be a nostalgic trip to the sounds of the past. Yes, the famous “ma ma ma ma” that opens “Poker Face” is a live chant from the song “Ma Baker”. Boney Ma disco project created in the 1970s by Frank Farianand the electronic riff, which is a characteristic motif of the recording, may evoke the memory of “Take Me Away” Culture Beat.
If “Just Dance” was a neat club hit on the charts, which became a big hit anyway, then “Poker Face” filled with production flavors became a global musical monster that swallowed new victims week by week. Interestingly, there are so many characteristic moments embedded in the song, worming their way into our ears and staying for hours, which could be shared with several other songs. We can hum “ma ma ma ma” or the endlessly recurring “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh”, or finally the famous phrase “Ppp-poker face”, or a smuggled version with the famous F-word.
In 2009, performing at the gala Wango Tangoorganized annually by the radio station KIIS-FM from Los Angeles, Lady Gaga addressed the audience from the stage: “KIIS-FM is the smartest radio station in the world and I'll tell you why. Because this song has been played all over the world on tens of thousands of radio stations, but only they told me they heard , which I sing in the chorus and I have to censor the song if I want them to play it on their airwaves. Others didn't mind.” The vulgar phrase in the lyrics is not the only problem the singer had to face. There were accusations of promoting bisexuality, which indeed happened Lady Gaga she didn't hide it. She claimed that she had many erotic fantasies about sex with a woman while being with her partner and decided to sing about it.
Throughout the year, Lady Gaga promoted her recording perfectly. Of course, in times when there was no need to watch music television anymore, because music videos were at your fingertips, or rather a computer mouse, the video for “Poker Face” additionally increased interest in the composition and the star itself. Appearance in the program “American Idol” turned into a demonstration show that was commented on for weeks afterwards. A week after this event, the song became number one in America. Joint performance with Elton John during the 52nd Grammy Awards went down in history as one of the unforgettable moments in the history of American music. Importantly, each performance showed that Lady Gaga is not only the author of a dance song from the radio, but a star whose talent goes far beyond the boundaries of popular music.
“Poker Face” broke all sales records around the world and opened the door to a career for Lady Gaga. The young artist became an inspiration for many other musicians who began to follow in her footsteps. Pop music has proven to be the perfect springboard to introduce artistic complexity to those who may not have had the chance to experience it. Thanks to subsequent successful productions, albums and hits, Lady Gaga took the world audience on a great musical journey that often went beyond established stereotypes and styles. Her restless, artistic spirit constantly provided us with elation and emotion, an example of which was the hit “Shallow” or the excellent collaboration with Tony Bennett.