Lady Gaga Proves It’s the Heart That Matters, Not the Makeup

MAKE MUSIC, NOT WAR Photo: The Howard Stern Show

Howard wondered if the Lady Gaga persona–and the attendant obligation to dress outrageously–had become a burden, but Gaga didn’t think so: “There’s quite a few photographs of me with no makeup on…I’m not viewed as a normal person. So whether I wear no makeup or I wear tons of makeup, I don’t think it matters anymore.”

Gaga said she was “maybe a little sometimes” obsessed with staying thin but maintained that her songs spoke more than her body: “I think that talent comes from inside of you.”

A-List Friends

Gaga dismissed speculation that her relationship with Elton John was one-sided: “He’s really my friend…it is really real.”

Gaga said she regularly spoke with Elton (“When we’re not working. Which is never.”) and did everything she could to stay involved as his son’s godmother: “I don’t want to publicize [this]…but of course I do.”

Gaga the ‘Vagina Whisperer’

Asked about her creative process, Gaga regretted the drug-fueled songwriting she’d attempted early in her career: “I think that I was lonely and there was something about the drug that made me feel like I had a friend…and I regret every line that I ever did.”

Now, instead of coke, she listens to her crotch: “Whatever my vagina whispers to me, I say yes…inspiration, it doesn’t come all the time.”

Howard asked if her vagina spoke when she cleaned it, but Gaga joked that she was so rich, she didn’t have to clean her own vagina anymore–and then changed her mind: “It’s actually electronic. It cleans itself.”

Later, Gaga said she did a lot of her songwriting in the shower. If a melody or lyric stays with her for a couple days, she’ll record a short vocal demo with her Blackberry.

Asked to share a few of her demos, Gaga whipped out her Blackberry and cued up an early vocal sketch of “Highway Unicorn”: “It’s on the album. I didn’t use that end part. I probably should have. It’s pretty good.” In a second, Gaga could be heard slurring through a wordless melody: “I don’t know what that is. I sound pretty wasted.”

In others, she could be heard working out a couple melodies that later became “Judas.”