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December 02, 2009

Lady GaGa before she became Lady Gaga


Up until this evening I've had only the faintest awareness of a new pop star, "Lady Gaga," apparently all the rage, so far as I can tell as much for her outrageous so-called fashion sense and style as for her music. I am not much impressed by spectacle and glitz when it comes to singers, preferring simplicity and artistry as a means of revealing the talent presumably waiting to be seen and heard.

So these two videos present an interesting juxtaposition, a contrapuntal display of before and after, with fame being the line of demarcation, the DMZ between Wow! and Uh, whoa!

In the video above, Stephani Germanotta (the pre-fame woman who would mutate into Lady GaGa) performs at New York University's annual talent show, the song one of her own composition. I like it; jazzy, with a throaty vocal that every so often hints at a growl, she reminds me of Norah Jones, and the performance succeeds, not on the basis of design or fashion, nor of hours spent in a soundbooth tweaking the multi-layered tracks and overdubbing, but on the strength of her voice and talent at the piano.

Compare and contrast it with the video below from an upcoming album, recorded a mere four years after her NYU gig.



From the tattoos and rubber, latex and other assorted fetish accoutrements, to the artificial, over-processed sound and pounding techno beat, I'm gobsmacked at the thought that this is the same woman who sat at a piano and won over a crowd in Gotham.

I'd buy a CD recorded by Stephani Germanotta.

Lady GaGa?

Ah, no.

Posted by Mike Lief at December 2, 2009 11:57 PM

Comments

Maybe something wrong with me but I does like the freaky vid. That one entertanes me much and gives me happy.

Posted by: Ergo the Foot Fetish at December 3, 2009 07:19 AM

I thought the dog, or cat, or whatever it may have been, was an appealing touch of warmth.

Posted by: The Little Coach at December 3, 2009 07:50 AM

Any performer who uses the word "Lady" as part of her stage name is going to be ... just wrong. Even more so if the performer is male.
On the other hand, the most beautiful stripper (it was at a bachelor party and not mine! I swear!) used "Lady" so maybe I should make an exception to that generalization.

Posted by: BlogDog at December 3, 2009 04:55 PM