[OLDER] ADEM CHATS WITH GAGA
3/3/09 // 6:30 PM
SOURCE
Hello Lady GaGa, how are you?
Very well thanks Adem how are you?
Very well. The day has been kind?
Oh yeah, it’s been a great day, just really busy is all.
Let’s get on with it shall we?
Sounds good.
You’ve been likened to Madonna, Deborah Harry and even David Bowie. Obvious influences then yes?
I would absolutely consider Madonna, Deborah Harry and David Bowie as influences. You know, Madonna for her provocative stage show, David Bowie for his provocative imagery and the high concept of his visuals, and Debbie Harry for being a blonde icon with a rock and roll heart.
So aside from those three, what other music did you immerse yourself in as you grew up?
I listened to a lot of classical music when I was really little, my parents used to play it at home. But as I got older I discovered rock & roll and listened to Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones and then, after I dropped out of college after a year, I got into metal, and I just started really falling in love with theatrical rock, or rock opera. Lots of dramatic pop music, so I started to really analyse Queen’s work, Bowie’s work, even Black Sabbath. Just the way they incorporated theatrics into their performances, it changes the way you hear the music and how it affects the way that you write the music.
“Just Dance” sounds like a song that was either written personally for many of us or someone in our circle friends.
(Laughs) It’s a very relatable song.
Oh absolutely.
The song was written in about five minutes, it happened really really quickly, Red One and Akon were in the studio with me, and Red One played that synth (starts humming the “Just Dance’ synth) and I went (starts singing lyrics from “Just Dance.”) And I looked at him and said ‘What if this song is about getting drunk? Like being too drunk at a party, and he was, like, that’s fucking brilliant. We hear a lot of records singing about “let’s get drunk,” or “last night I was drunk” (laughs) but there’s not a whole lot of that, there’s not a real documentation of that truly shitfaced moment (laughs again.)
So the lyrics are somewhat autobiographical then?
Oh god yeah, definitely! That was my lifestyle in New York, my friends and I would have parties, get dressed up for ourselves; it was our way of feeling ‘the fame’ (!?), very autobiographical. It just was really, like, honest, and came out really fast.
It really details the arse end of a Saturday night for most of us…
(Laughs again) I think every young person on the planet can relate to that particular lyric “where are my keys I’ve lost my phone” (More laughter.)
The video clip is pretty brilliant. How long did it take you to whip that up?
22 years! (Laughs.) That video was my first, and I knew that I wanted it to not be in a dance club, I wanted it to be something that was a little more confusing, fusing great party life with performance art. It’s funny because people find the video to be kind of provocative and I’m just acting what the songs about, you know?
And then there’s the whale…
I always thinks it’s funny how people watch my video on youtube and they comment “why is she humping a whale?” It’s hysterical.
It’s the greatest moment in that clip.
I love it because, when have you ever seen that? You just haven’t. It’s completely sexual, provocative and wrong, but for me it’s performance art. And, uh, I hope I’m really challenging the way people see sexuality. I’m not very sexy in that video, but if you were to play my video next to any other pop female artists that is sexy in her video, it’s a very different type of sexy. It’s not conventional sexy. Which is probably why people say “She’s got a catchy song, great video, but she’s a little weird.” (Laughs.) People don’t know what to think, I love that.
How healthy do you think the combination of sex and fashion is with pop music?
I don’t really think of it in terms of heart rate (laughs for an extended period of time, seems quite pleased with her joke.) I think that it’s got more to do with how it’s used in the medium. Sex and fashion and self expression, as opposed to a cheap sell.
Knowing what you’re doing…
Exactly. It’s like, you just have to figure out how to use the ideas in an innovative way.
If you were to summarize the sound of your debut album, “The Fame,” what would you say?
Theatrical future pop. Definitely.
In the age of Internet Download and file leaking, how detrimental do you think early leaks for tracks or album tracks are to the overall outcome of someone’s record?
I don’t really think that it matters, honestly. Look at Lil’ Wayne, he leaked his whole album on purpose (laughs) and he’s sold 2 million copies already. You can’t download a superstar, you know? You can download a song, but you can’t download the lifestyle. I would really encourage my fans, just as a tip off from the artist, I’m really close to my work, I noted all of the mixing and the mastering, I wrote everything, I was part of the production on a lot of the record, and just as a side note, all of the material from my album that has leaked is all unmixed and unmastered, some of it hasn’t even ended up on the final album, you know? It’s all mp3 files that were stolen from engineers, and um, you know, I want people to hear it the way I intended them to. It’s more of an artistic thing than telling people “I want you to buy my record.” I want them to hear the music the way I intended for them to hear it, in all its brightness and sonic perfection, I really put so much thought into it and I hope that people see that. And go to the stores, I know you can buy my record digitally on iTunes when it comes out, but I really want my fans to go to a record store, the packaging is an experience as well. Put it in your hands, feel it, look through the lyrics.
The early leaks certainly didn’t hurt your case, did they?
I don’t think that the leaks hurt at all, in fact, as a new artist I think it’s pretty incredible that, I’m not even on the radio in America, and, I’m leaking (laughs.) That’s kind of cool!
Do you think legal digital downloads are on the way of bumping out the physical CD?
I hope not. I intend to do away with that! (Laughs.) I don’t want that to happen I think that’s very sad. There’s so much that’s being deleted, and it’s our jobs as artists when the industry and culture starts to delete stuff that we have to bring it back. So how do we do something else to balance out the equal Librium? When you take away the hard copy, the artist isn’t tangible anymore you know? And does that then mean we’re going to stop doing live performances? What’s gonna happen? We can’t just let that stuff happen. Just Dance is not the only song on the record and it’s certainly not the best. There are, like, so many amazing songs on the album, if I did a good job, people will wanna hear the whole thing.
Things seem to be changing on the US charts; more pop-focused music as opposed to the Urban sound the States have been churning out for years. What do you think has changed?
I think people really miss how they used to feel. I mean I know that I do. My god, I feel like I might start crying talking about this…
Oh dear…
(Long Silence.) I really don’t think that right now music is very inspiring. I think there are still a few artists that are inspiring, but I just remember when I was 11 to like 15 years old, I remember the craze of pop music. And I just remember times square being shut down because you couldn’t get near the TRL studios because some pop star was on the show, and every fan in New York wanted to see their finger. It was just so intense, and I used to sit in front of the TV with a giant blanket wrapped around me like a ball gown and watch the award shows, and I knew exactly who was performing, and I used to watch it and video tape it, then learn the choreography in my room. And it wasn’t just me, it was me along with every other young person in the world.
It’s certainly been quite the opposite in recent years…
Music was everything, it wasn’t just about the hit songs, and I think what’s happening is that people are hungry for that. They miss it. It’s very sad right now, it’s not about sales.
How so?
I don’t know everything, I mean, for real, I don’t know everything, but what I do know about is pop culture, and society as it’s affected by music and art. It’s very sad, it’s subliminal, and, as a culture right now, we’re subconsciously beckoning for change.
Let’s lighten things up a bit! What’s the funniest joke you know?
(Long pause.) It’s a Groucho Marx quote from the movie Annie Hall. It’s something like “I wouldn’t want to go to a party that somebody like me was invited to.” A self loathing, over-intellectual artist, I love it, so funny.
Oh, so more of a movie quote then a joke.
(Silence.) Yeah.
On the topic of all things cinema, If there was to be a Lady Gaga movie, who would you have play your role and why?
Marisa Tomei. Every time I watch My Cousin Vinny, I feel like she’s me. That was almost, like, written about me.
Thank you for our hearty discussion Lady GaGa. Any final thoughts?
(After about 3 minutes of umm-ing and aahh-ing) Pop is back. Take a big whiff.
