Lady Gaga has been primarily influenced by pop singers Michael Jackson and Madonna, as well as glam rock stars such as David Bowie and the band Queen. The Queen song "Radio Ga Ga" inspired her stage name. Artist Andy Warhol, poet Rainer Maria Rilke, fashion icon/actress/singer Grace Jones, and fashion as a whole, have all been cited as inspirations as well. Gaga's vocals have drawn frequent comparison to Madonna and Gwen Stefani, while the structure of her music is said to be reminiscent of classic 1980s pop and 1990s Europop.[56] In reviewing her debut album The Fame, The Sunday Times asserted "in combining music, fashion, art and technology, Lady [Gaga] evokes Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa Hollaback Girl, Kylie [Minogue] 2001 or Grace Jones right now." Similarly, The Boston Globe critic Sarah Rodman commented that Gaga draws "obvious inspirations from Madonna to Gwen Stefani... in [her] girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats." Madonna herself had once commented to Rolling Stone that she sees "[her]self in Lady Gaga." The entertainer explained, "[w]hen I saw her, she didn’t have a lot of money for her production. She’s got holes in her fishnets, and there’s mistakes everywhere it was kind of a mess, but I can see that she has that it Factor. It’s nice to see that at a raw stage." Baby A. Gil of The Philippine Star asserted that Gaga's voice is "just right for the mix of dance and rock that she does." As an artist, Alexis Petridis of The Boston Globe commented that although Gaga lacks originality, "pop music doesn't have to be blindingly original or clever to work: it needs tunes, and Lady [Gaga] is fantastically good at tunes." Though Gaga's lyrics are said to lack intellectual stimulation, "[she] does manage to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace."
Gaga has stated that she is "very into fashion" and that it is "everything" to her. Her love of fashion came from her mother, who she stated was "always very well kept and beautiful." She claims that: "When I'm writing music, I'm thinking about the clothes I want to wear on stage. It's all about everything altogether—performance art, pop performance art, fashion. For me, it's everything coming together and being a real story that will bring back the super-fan. I want to bring that back. I want the imagery to be so strong that fans will want to eat and taste and lick every part of us." She has her own creative production team called the Haus of Gaga, which she handles personally. The team creates many of her clothes, stage props, and hairdos. Gaga has six known tattoos, among them a peace symbol which was inspired by the late John Lennon who The Guardian stated was Gaga's "hero," and a curling German script on her left arm which quotes the poet Rainer Maria Rilke:
In the deepest hour of the night, confess to yourself that you would die if you were forbidden to write. And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer, and ask yourself, must I write?
—Rainer Maria Rilke
Gaga described Rilke as her "favorite philosopher," commenting that his "philosophy of solitude" spoke to her. In response to Gaga saying that she considers Donatella Versace her muse, Melissa Magsaysay of Los Angeles Times commented, "[Gaga's] aversion to wearing a top and bottom at the same time swigging champagne and being fanned by oily men in Speedos [is] very Donatella-esque." Toward the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashions of Gaga and recording artist Christina Aguilera, noting similarities in their styling, hair, and make-up. Aguilera later claimed she was "completely unaware of [Gaga]" and "didn't know if it [was] a man or a woman." Afterward, Gaga released a statement in which she welcomed the comparisons due to the attention providing useful publicity. Gaga said, "She's such a huge star and if anything I should send her flowers, because a lot of people in America didn't know who I was until that whole thing happened. It really put me on the map in a way." Gaga is a natural brunette, but her hair is bleached blonde because she was often mistaken for fellow musician Amy Winehouse.
Gaga attributes much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered to be a rising gay icon. She claimed difficulty in the early stages of her career in getting her songs to receive radio airplay and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not an easy thing to create a fanbase." Gaga thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBT marketing company with whom her label Interscope works, in the liner notes of her debut studio album, The Fame, saying, "I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible team."
After The Fame was released, she revealed that the song "Poker Face" was about her bisexuality. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she spoke about how her boyfriends tended to react to her bisexuality, saying "The fact that I’m into women, they’re all intimidated by it. It makes them uncomfortable. They’re like, 'I don’t need to have a threesome. I’m happy with just you'." One of Gaga's first televised performances was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBT television network Logo, where she sang her song "Just Dance." In June of the same year, she performed the song again at the San Francisco Pride event.
When she appeared as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in May 2009, Gaga praised DeGeneres for being "an inspiration for women and for the gay community," and while accepting the Best New Artist trophy at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, she dedicated the award to "God and the gays." She proclaimed that the October 11, 2009 National Equality March rally on the national mall was "the single most important event of her career." As she exited, she left with an exultant "Bless God and bless the gays" similar to her MTV Video Music Awards speech a month earlier.
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