Lady GaGa came dressed in a condom-inspired outfit for her Good Morning America appearance today, and spent most of her time talking about safe sex. With MAC, she wants to raise $50 million for the fight against AIDS in 2011.
"I want to get people started at home at a younger age with their children talking about HIV, talking about AIDS, talking about safe sex."
GaGa's mother was in the studio to hear her daughter's lively advocacy. Robin Roberts asked her if she considers herself to be an activist as well as an artist:
"Yes, I'm most certainly an activist for equality and an activist for youth protection and social justice."
She got a big laugh when she again asserted (improbably?) that she was in her Grammys egg for three days, apparently because she made a comic, put-upon face that wasn't shown as B-roll of the event aired. She also admitted she steals ideas from her creative fans.
Angry that Esperanza Spalding won the Best New Artist Grammy tonight—beating Drake and Florence and the Machine, not to mention indu$try golden boy Justin Bieber, Bieber's bitter fans have been having some fun with her Wikipedia page:
Too bad, though, that some of the "fun" included calling her a "reatard" and asking the "bitch" to "please die."
Curveball!Lady GaGa deservedly won for Pop Album (besting the likes of Justin Bieber and Katy Perry), but in her otherwise sweet and normal acceptance speech, she saw fit to suddenly thank Whitney Houston because while she was writing "Born This Way," she couldn't imagine herself singing it so she imagined Houston singing it.
First problem: When half of the pop planet is calling for her head for ripping off Madonna, she's crediting the woman who old-school Madonna fans remember as allegedly having maligned La Ciccone on more than one occasion.
Second problem: "Born This Way" is the last song in the world Whitney Houston would ever sing...how can Whitney sing "Born This Way" when she won't even admit she IS this way!
Lady GaGa arrives in an alien egg. Love this spin on being "Born This Way" (and not necessarily on this planet). Stunts like this are so fun—pop should be fun! Plus, despite her many parallels to Madonna, this kind of brain-scrambling entrance is so not Madonna's bag. (Wracking my brain, the closest I can think is being carried in to see Letterman last visit, but that was just fun hauteur, not performance-art WTFness.)
Perhaps it's an early indication that she'll be trying to avoid any semblance of Madonna-homaging in her performance. I just hope she's seen Madonna's "Bedtime Story" at the Brit Awards—Mama Bear has done futuristic alien shit, too!
How long before you bitches start tweeting stuff about Madonna being the mother hen?
Accused cocaine dealer and antagonist of the gay community Buju Banton gets a disappointingly warm profile in Vibe (April/May 2010) that I missed until now. In the piece, by Rob Kenner, Banton's unconscionable 1992 song "Boom Bye Bye" is at least correctly identified as "homophobic," but gay activists' continuing objection to that song and to Banton's tours is slammed as "embittered."
Terence Koh, who designed the dual-sided Baldwin piano played by Lady & Lord (Elton John) GaGa for the Grammys has spoken with writer Russ Hall about the creation of the instrument:
"I was approached by Lady GaGa to help visualize the duet between her and Elton. Since they would be singing and playing the piano together, I had the idea that they should be playing at the same piano, facing each other. I was given a lot of freedom as an artist...The hands were based on sculptures of hands I had done in a previous exhibition. Lady GaGa and I then thought it would be great for the hands to be claw-like, in dedication to her fans making a claw-shaped 'monster hand.' It was an homage to when you go to her concerts and you see a wave of those hands, which Lady GaGa calls her 'little monsters.' It was about a sea of love and affection."
Also, if you're into trivia, the second piano had been used in that Poseidon Adventure remake Poseidon, which sank faster than Shelley Winters.
In case you were wondering who this person was when you spotted her at the Grammys, she wasn't someone's confused auntie who'd mistakenly wandered in front of the cameras. She is Nadeea, a Russian popstar very serious about her music and she really wishes you would stop staring at her so rudely.
One thing that's different in recent years—it seems like major, established artists trip over themselves to be seen and/or perform with newcomers. Pet Shop Boys, Madonna, now Elton John...who HASN'T performed with Lady GaGa? (Okay, it's only three names, but still—the red carpet was not rolled out for newcomers so freely in the past.)
Loved GaGa's mash-up with Elton John. As I thought, it was "Speechless"—not "Bad Romance"—that they did. I liked that part more than the beginning, which almost got silly.
She is, of course, a giant talent and can sing, but I found Beyoncé's too effortful and defiant...yet she has nothing to prove, so I didn't get it. I mean, we already know she can sing anything. Perhaps there was some one-upping of GaGa going on? I'm sure each will reap the rewards of these appearances.
Pink's performance was gorgeous, but I had two thoughts: (1) Is near the illusion of nudity okay? Would it be okay if it were Adam Lambert? and (2) Is she ever performing again without the suspension?
It's already the best Grammys in ages, but...
...Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks did NOT sound good together. At all. And I'm sick of Michael Jackson. But pretending that I love Michael, that's a pretty bizarre mix of singers (Smokey Robinson was fun to see again) and having his kids speak was pretty shameless. They are poor, scared little robots. They have no reason to be speaking in public or worrying about their dad's legacy. And Zac Brown = puke and Jamie Foxx = an untalented clown.
Twitter told me Roberta looks like Mother Jefferson...but I'd say the late Weezy (inset).
It's nice that Maxwell is allowed on the Grammys, let alone Robert Flack. (This is the first time ever I saw this version of her face.) Let alone together and near the end!
Taylor Swift is a nice girl, but I would have voted for GaGa or Beyoncé.
Okay, that's it. Even with what wound up being a lot of overblown performances, it was a shockingly relevant show with lots of vitality in spite of Eminem.
