Going Gaga

Ra ra rah ah ah roma ro mama Gaga, ooh lala. There you have it. The stimulating first fifteen syllables to Lady Gaga’s hit song, “Bad Romance”. With over 903 million hits on YouTube alone, some people have literally gone gaga for this rising 24 year-old pop star. But why?   Some would argue that it’s her “intriguing character” or “sensational singing voice” that provoked her claim to fame. But what I really think... is that everyone is secretly pleased with the fact that there’s someone out there weirder than they are. Now, don’t get me wrong, Lady Gaga can sing- and well! And her personality sure is something! However, if it weren’t for her erratic and exotic behavior, she wouldn’t be as much fun! For instance, Lady Gaga has her signature hair bow, a bow made of her platinum blonde hair. She refers to all of her fans as monsters, always features two Great Danes in each of her music videos, and carries a glow in the dark disco stick during each performance. Still, more questions remain. Let’s put on our poker face and unearth the curious past of Lady Gaga, her ascent to glory, and the musical footprint she’s leaving on the world.
Gaga was born in Manhattan in 1986, a natural brunnette with the name Stefani Germanotta- and that’s where the normality stops. When Stefani was a little girl, she would sing along on her mini plastic tape recorder to Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper hits and get twirled in the air in daddy’s arms to the sounds of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. The precocoious child would dance around the table at fancy West Side restaurants using the breadsticks as a microphone. By age four, Stefani had taught herself to play the piano by ear. She then went on to write her own piano ballad by age thirteen, and by fourteen, Stefani began performing at open mic nights. The following year, she had spread her wings and explored the halls of her Manhattan Roman Catholic high school. Ironically, the same school Paris Hilton attended. After four years of...