If you’re like us, you’ve been waiting for that new Lady Gaga album for what seems like an eternity. With Born This Way set for its U.S. release on Tuesday, the days get longer, and the struggle gets more maddening with every secondhand tick.
Fortunately, online game developer Zynga has us covered. Yes, the Gaga-ster is heading to the farm…FarmVille to be exact. The newly branded “GagaVille” will be your go-to place for new songs before the album hits stores. And, it features her own bevy of crops including rubies, rhinestones and diamond-encrusted flowers. But wait, there’s “more.” If you listen very carefully to your favorite Clear Channel station this Thursday, you will hear a code for a special limited edition Lady Gaga special item for your farm. If the above spot from EVB and Moxie Pictures director Seth Gordon is any indication, those of you who already feel stupid for playing FarmVille every day can be rest assured that you’ll feel even more so after playing GagaVille.
Pop starLady Gagamay not want to form an exclusive arrangement withTarget Corp., but other music stars aren't following her lead.
Target announced Monday that Grammy Award-winning singerJennifer Hudsonhad signed an exclusive deal with the Minneapolis-based retailer for a deluxe edition of her new album, "I Remember Me."
The deluxe edition, which includes four additional songs and bonus video material, will only be available at Target starting Tuesday, the company said in a news release.
It was widely reported earlier this monththatLady Gagahad ended her deal with Target for exclusively selling a deluxe version of her new album, "Born This Way."Lady Gagasaid Target wasn't doing enough to help gay and lesbian causes.
Target was still offering customers the opportunity to pre-order the deluxe version on its website on Monday. But so were other retailers, such asAmazon.com. The album will be available May 23.
Last month, pop superstar Lady Gaga partnered with Target to offer fans a special edition of her forthcoming album Born This Way. Gaga hoped that the partnership would also offer her the opportunity to work with Target to improve the company's policies toward gay rights, but apparently her hopes did not come to fruition as she has recently decided to sever ties with the company. Before Gaga completely frees herself of this bad romance, she should speak out against forced and child labor by joining almost 22,000 Change.org readers in calling on Target to agree to responsible sourcing policies for its gold.
When Target made large contributions last year to virulently anti-gay politicians in Minnesota, LGBT advocates, includingmany Change.org readers, put pressure on Target to end this support. Despite tepid apologies, Target reportedly has continued to finance anti-gay candidates. A supporter of equal rights, Gaga had stated, "Our relationship is hinged upon their reform in the company to support the gay community and to redeem the mistakes they've made supporting those [antigay] groups." If Gaga is not able to push Target to do more to support gay rights be sitting at the table with the company, she is right to end the partnership. Before she slams the door, there's one more thing she can do to change Target's policies for the better.
As we have written about on the Human Trafficking blog, Target is lagging behind other major retailers and jewelry companies in committing to responsibly sourcing the gold in its products. In many countries, gold mining is tainted by the use of child labor and forced labor, not to mention other human rights and environmental abuses. Over 70 major companies have endorsed the No Dirty Gold campaign's Golden Rules that include protecting internationally recognized labor rights and ensuring safe working conditions in addition to making environmental improvements and respecting human and land rights.
Target has indicated that it is considering endorsing the Golden Rules for its gold sourcing, but until those internal discussions result in concrete improvements for the workers around the world whose rights are being abused to mine gold, advocates will continue to pressure Target to responsibly source its gold. As one of the biggest voices in pop culture, an artist with several certified gold records and someone who has Target's ear, Lady Gaga's support for the campaign to clean up Target's gold would go a long way pushing the company to improve its policies. So, Mother Monster, as parting words to Target, why not mobilize your "Punk Art Pop Revolution" to support workers in the gold industry globally?
In the mean time, you can send an e-mail to Target and recruit your friends to join here. Keep checking Change.org for updates and new ways to take action to support this campaign in the coming days!
Lady Gaga may adore cult pop icon Grace Jones, but Ms. Jones won’t picking up her t-t-telephone calls any time soon.
The 61-year-old Jamaican-born model/actress/fashion radical, best known as a club performer, Warhol muse, Bond girl, hair maverick, and all-around fabu freakshow, was recently asked by London’s Guardian newspaper what she thought of the world’s current preeminent mistress of carcinogenic eyewear. Jones’ reply? “I really don’t think of her at all. I go about my business … I wouldn’t go to see her.”
And would they ever work together? “She did [ask], but I said no. I’d just prefer to work with someone who is more original and someone who is not copying me, actually.”
Mild-ish words, actually, from the woman who gave the world Strangé—and one wonders why she doesn’t call out her other obvious acolyte, Rihanna—but she can hardly be blamed for drawing the comparison.
As stated on The Future on February 5, 2010, Gaga’s genealogy has never been much of a mystery: She is unabashedly built from the DNA of many stars who came before her—including but not limited to Madonna, David Bowie, Roisin Murphy, Prince, Cher, Labelle, Freddie Mercury and of course the original cult-of-personality maestro himself, Mr. Warhol.
Like the recent M.I.A.-chugs-the-Lady-haterade episode, this one will surely be met by Gaga loyalists‘ insistence that the Lady is, like, ten billion times more amazeballs than Jones, who is just too jealous/old/All About Eve-ish to acknowledge her younger and more commercially successful rival.
If they do, they may be touching on some truth (sometimes, Strangé get cranké), but they’re missing the larger point: Gaga, definitively, could not exist without Jones, Madge, and Mercury, and she seems very much aware of that. In fact, she acknowledges them ad nauseum in her album liner notes and interviews and in, basically, the way she lives her outsized life-as-performance-art existence (bedazzled face crustaceans for brunch! Personal head planetarium for Ellen!) every day—if not in the fairly straightforward and markedly commercial (much more, at least, than Grace’s ever were) pop songs that anchor it all. I AGREE and I am the BIGGEST GRACE JONES FAN AROUND!!! Lil Mogul...
If progenitors like Jones are sometimes a little bothered that Gaga sails so easily down the far-out road they paved—and with a much fatter wallet tucked in her triangle pants—is that jealousy, or just humanity? I call it LIFE!!!
Lady Gaga poses with fans before heading into the NBC studios to tape the 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'. (Bauer Griffin)
Lady Gaga's paternal aunt Joanne Germanotta tragically died of lupus at the age of 19, but Gaga believes she's living on through her and inspiring all of her music and art.
Lady Gaga told WWD: “I really believe I have two hearts. I think I actually carry two souls in my body, and that I’m living out the rest of her life and her goodness -- she died a virgin, she died never having experienced all these things that we all get to love and experience in our lives. I think that I work in her image. I work in this life as part pop singer and part humanitarian, and to do great things for people because she was a good person and I don’t think she had enough time to do enough good.”
The 24-year-old singer insists the thing that is driving her career is her desire to help “disenfranchised” people, and she says she wrote her new track "Born This Way" -- which has been described as a pro-gay anthem -- to help her fans.
Lady Gaga, who won three Grammy awards last weekend, explained: “I have so many young fans. I feel not only connected to them, but I feel responsible for them in many ways. They’re very smart. They’re very full of life. And it’s an important thing for me to listen to them. And when they say, ‘I feel disenfranchised,’ I speak for them as much as I can.
“I don’t do this for the money -- I want to make a difference. And I am making a difference with my music, which is why I wrote my new song, ‘Born This Way.’ It’s a song that’s much bigger than me or my understanding of fame. I want to continue to make a difference in every way that I can.”
Lady Gaga's Studio Style: Bra, Beret and See-Through Tights
Always keeping it interesting when it comes to her clothing choices, Lady Gaga showed off another unique ensemble while leaving a Manhattan recording studio on Wednesday (February 16).
The "Bad Romance" hitmaker was clad in a studded beret, black bra, leather jacket, see through tights and high heel cowboy boots as she looked quite focused following the music-making outing.
With a lot going on career-wise these days, Gaga's choreographer Laurieanne Gibson recently spoke with MTV about what fans can expect from the upcoming music video for her new single "Born This Way". Gibson dished, "I can't tell you, but I will tell you it is a life-changing experience. You can expect the highest level of execution in vocal music art and dance ... but you will be shocked."
Also commenting on the decision by the singer to arrive at the Grammy Awards in her plastic pod, Laurieanne told, "Well, actually it's a vessel. When Lady Gagaplayed me the record, it took me quite some time to feel the direction and the inspiration, and when she played it for me two weeks later, I was like, 'I think I got it.' I said, 'We have to birth a new race, a race that cannot hate.' And, of course, as genius as she is, she runs with it."
Celebrating her three Grammy wins, Lady Gaga paid a visit to “The Tonight Show” last night (February 14).
The “Born This Way” songstress wore a see-through black outfit overtop black underwear and a black bra as she chatted with Jay Leno.
Of her post-Grammy celebrations, Lady Gagashared, “I don’t remember very much. I know it was fun. I do remember being called drunk-y GaGa at one point.”
As for the comparisons between her new single and Madonna’s “Express Yourself,” Lady Gagaexplained, "There is no one that is more adoring and a loving Madonna fan than me. I am the hugest fan personally and professionally. The good news is that I got an email from her people and her sending me their love and complete support on behalf of the single. If the queen says it, it shall be."
Gearing up for one of the biggest nights in the music world, Lady Gaga was spotted arriving at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (February 13).
The “Bad Romance” star showed up to the red carpet in quite the unique form - as she was carried by a clan of helpers while inside an egg-shaped plastic bubble pod.
As for the ceremony ahead, Lady Gaga is up for best female pop vocal performance while facing off against Katy Perry, Norah Jones, Beyonce and Sara Barreilles.
She’s up for the Album of the Year Award, as well, and is set to take the stage for a what’s sure-to-be-a-fabulous performance.
She’s always had a certain shock value, and Lady Gaga didn’t pull any punches while chatting with Anderson Cooper recently.
The “Bad Romance” songstress did an interview for “60 Minutes” in which Cooper asked her if anyone calls her by her given name Stefani.
Lady Gaga replied, “Yeah, some people do. Especially in bed.” Anderson added, “You don’t want somebody yelling out ‘Lady Gaga!’”
The Lady also showed Anderson the lowly East Side apartment where she lived before her massive rise to stardom. Unfortunately, the current resident declined to let them in.
