Though born as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, you know her as pop’s avant-garde It Girl Lady Gaga, whose debut record, The Fame, is still blasting out of car windows and underground clubs after being released last year. Here, the leotard-loving 23-year-old talks fashion, her next album, and why she has nothing to hide.
ELLE: You dropped out of NYU at 19. Why didn’t you want to finish?
Lady Gaga: I loved NYU, but I thought I could teach myself about art better than the school could. I really felt New York was my teacher and that I needed to bite the bullet and go it alone. I wasn’t interested in going to frat parties and doing those sorts of collegiate things. I was really interested in the music scene and waitressing and cleaning toilets, or whatever the fuck it was I was doing.
ELLE: What experiences did you draw from to create The Fame?
LG: I write about what I know: sex, pornography, art, fame obsession, drugs, and alcohol. I mean, why would anyone care to listen to me if I wasn’t an expert in what I write about? And the album itself is the story of me and my friends, and, again, our lives in New York—and you either want to know about it and be a part of it or you don’t. I am completely 100 percent honest in what I do and who I am, and I’ve got nothing to hide.
ELLE: What can we can expect from your next album?
LG: Well, let’s just say that right now I’m quite obsessed with 1950s sci-fi monster movies.…
ELLE: Good tease. Obviously, fashion plays a huge part in your live performance. How do you approach it in regard to your music?
LG: I think they’re in tandem. Music and visual performance have to influence each other. Designers and musicians have to be the nexus of all things pop culture, so I think about designers when I’m making music.
ELLE: If you had to perform in one outfit for the rest of your career, what would it be?
LG: Oh! Curse you! I wouldn’t want to hurt all of my other outfits’ feelings. It would probably be a black catsuit. Even though that’s very difficult to dance in. Or maybe my Hussein Chalayan bubble dress. That’s even more difficult to dance in.
