- A lot of people would,
I mean, when they will see this huge collection
and look at me, they'll be like,
"You probably have some mental issues".
- [Cory] I think in total, I've spent 60, $70,000.
(upbeat hip hop music)
- [Narrator] Welcome to MTV's
"Lifestyles of the Biggest Standoms".
In each episode, we'll step
into the massive merch and memorabilia world
of some of the most dedicated stans across the country.
This week's episode is anything but shallow
as we dive deep and get dirty
with stans of pop queens,
Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera.
Will Cory's collection of everything Christina
bring you back to a Y2K dream
or leave you clutching your wallet in a $75,000 monster
of a nightmare?
Speaking of monsters,
let's take a look at Lady Gaga impersonator Nick's
ra-ra-remarkable Gaga centric studio
in Hell's Kitchen, New York.
(upbeat pop music)
- Hi guys, my name is Nick Gaga.
I am Lady Gaga's premier impersonator
in the States, and her biggest stan.
And this is my studio.
I am a full-time drag queen, so I am working,
performing, entertaining people as Gaga,
but then I invest everything back.
If I count all the money that I've spent, oh God,
it's definitely over 50 grand on merch
another 50 grand on wigs and outfits.
When it comes to wigs,
I definitely have over 40, 50 specific replications.
When it comes to outfits,
I would definitely say that it's over 40, 50 outfits.
Looking at Gaga not being scared
to put out things or outfits or looks
or makeups that might scare people,
never being able to have this freedom, always inspired me.
This is probably one of the hardest replications
I've ever made.
This is a gown that was originally made
by Alexander McQueen,
but this is a replica.
I made the jewelry pieces.
I hand painted them myself.
I added all of those little flower embellishments
on top as well.
This outfit took about three to four weeks to replicate.
And I would say the fabrics and small materials cost,
I would say about $1,000.
This is from 2016.
When Gaga appeared on a red carpet of the Grammys
doing her tribute to David Bowie.
And this is one of the most expensive outfits
in my collection.
This, just the materials
was definitely over 1,500.
Coming from a very, very dangerous place in the world,
being in the gay scene, I was brutally attacked once.
So I ended up in a coma for five days.
After I came out, out of coma,
I remember that I saw a psychiatrist, and I was like,
"I have only one question, why, while I was in the coma,
"the one song that was stuck in my head was 'G.U.Y'?"
I'd like to say that, thanks to Gaga,
I made it through that coma
because I was listening to that song on a repeat
without anyone playing it.
Of course, the best part about Lady Gaga is her music.
I have almost every CD,
some very rare pieces,
especially this "Fame: Monster Edition".
I know that this is really hard to find,
and someone sold it to me for $200.
When it comes to certain remixes albums,
these are really hard to find because they're very limited,
especially this little box, the singles collection,
this box set from the "Born This Way" era,
which was also limited and deluxe and special.
What takes a very special place in my heart
is one CD that was signed, including the song book.
She signed both of these at the show when I met her.
Back in 2012, as soon as I got the news
that she's coming to Moscow,
I had no money, I had to create a GoFundMe,
but in person in my college.
And I was like, "Guys, I want to see Gaga.
"Let's see what we can do".
It was freezing cold in Moscow, but to get to the pit zone,
I have to stand in line for over two days
in the freezing cold.
And then right before the show, one of the managers,
he was like, "You come up here",
and he put me right into her face.
She took us backstage and we had a full on conversation
for, like, at least an hour.
And I told her that I want to move to the States
to become an actor.
And she told me immediately right away,
she was like, "You will".
Since that moment,
I realized that there is a special connection.
Here I am, my fifth year in drag,
and I am one of the biggest Gaga impersonators in the world.
Most of these are actually fully made by me.
This dress cost me 1,500.
It was worn in the music video "Telephone".
One of my favorite replicas,
the top layer of her Met Gala outfit.
This is the replica from "Artpop" era.
This is probably the most exciting head piece.
This head piece was worn in the music video "Telephone".
It took me two years to figure out the construction.
Those phones was really hard to find.
I'm confident to say that I'm the only one who has
the exact replica of this headpiece.
It will easily go for over five grand.
I want to keep doing Gaga because I am the only one
who does it right.
If I want to be better than anyone, if I want to be bigger,
I make more outfits, I buy more wigs.
I don't know, I'm just a money spender.
That's what it is, I just spend too much money.
- [Narrator] We can hardly bottle up our excitement
as we head over to Phoenix, Arizona
to take a glimpse at Cory's Christina Aguilera
CD wall, you'll want to stay tuned for this one.
- Hey guys, my name is Cory.
I live in Phoenix, Arizona,
and I'm Christina Aguilera's number one stan.
Let me prove it to you, come check it out.
I would consider myself to be probably one
of the biggest stans.
I mean, it's pretty visually obvious.
I remember very specifically when Christina Aguilera
released her debut album, I went to Atara Records.
I remember just being so wowed by it,
like, seeing huge posters of her, standees,
and they had this huge, beautiful display of Christina.
And so that really kind of fueled the inspiration
behind my collection.
Yeah, so right now we're in my Christina Aguilera room.
I've kind of modeled this
after my own personal Christina Aguilera store.
And so, this wall right here is the one wall
in my whole collection that people always get wowed by,
because it is the debut merchandise.
Back in the day, I used to spend probably at least four
or five hours a week,
like, looking for Christina Aguilera stuff.
On the debut era merchandise, I've spent about $10,000
collecting those items.
Those are her official calendars,
a book bag, musical posters,
that you would hang on your wall and they play music.
We've got Christina's computer game,
temporary tattoos, to sticker collections, to magnets.
So this makeup is about 20 years old.
Here are some really cool bubble gum CDs,
and they're still sealed, and if you look here,
you can actually see that the bubble gum is still inside.
A couple of watch sets.
This one plays her music video,
in, like, a very digital pixel version of it.
That's a cereal box featuring Christina Aguilera,
a microphone, binoculars from her concert,
some of her shoe collection,
the lids of the boxes actually turned into a picture frame.
I, well, probably have been a stan
of Christina Aguilera's for so long,
really kind of started with that "Stripped" album.
You know, Christina was going through a transitional period
in her career and it was coming through in her music.
And at the same time I was going through
a transitional period.
I was dealing with the fact that I thought
that I could be gay.
Christina Aguilera spoke to me and really kind of helped me
accept myself and make the decision to come out
and live authentically.
In my CD collection, total,
I have just about every single CD in promo
that exists in the world.
It's one of the best areas in my collection.
Some of my standouts, with the "Back to Basics" era,
this one's from Taiwan, Australia, French Canadian,
Best Buy exclusive, and this is a Japanese tour edition.
A "Stripped" promo DVD.
I think I spent about $500 for it.
"Bionic" era, which is one of my favorite eras.
I've got the CD singles that were officially released.
The promo is going to be around 300 bucks.
And I would say I've spent probably a little over $10,000
collecting these over the years.
So one of the craziest things that I've done
to obtain a Christian Aguilera item,
when Christina launched her Inspire fragrance,
I knew it was coming out.
And so I accepted a job at Macy's
because it was launching there.
And I got in with the fragrance team
and I had my in, and I obtained a lot of items through that.
It kind of starts off with her signature fragrance,
Definition, Inspire, Experience, Expose,
which, it's taken me about 15 years
to collect all four bottles.
And I've spent anywhere from $75 a bottle
up to $200 for the bottle.
With my fragrances,
I've spent about $10,000 collecting all of those items.
So my Christina Aguilera lifestyle
is really kind of unique, I think.
I know her dancers, her band, even.
So when we go to shows, it's almost like a family reunion.
How cute is that, right?
I don't have a baby, but sometimes I put my dog in this.
This is Christina Aguilera's standee
on her fight to end world hunger for UNICEF.
I actually saw it at a taco bell.
So I swiped one,
I've spent five to $6,000 collecting magazines
ever since the year 2000.
This is the infamous Christina Aguilera Maxim magazine.
This one alone probably cost me $250.
I think I've spent about $60,000 in total in my collection.
And then if you factor in the shows,
like the meet and greet,
it would definitely be closer to 75,000.
I've probably spent three, $400
in collecting these different DVDs,
the cassettes, it's probably, like, $2,000.
These are a line of beauty products.
I've spent three, $400 getting them from, like, Europe.
I actually got this online and I spent about $250
to obtain it.
This is to help promote "Back to Basics" album.
And it's actually a bar of soap,
and I spent $60 to get this item.
Some Pepsi cans, these are from Thailand.
They cost me about $250.
You know, my biggest fear is that Christina wakes up one day
and says, "Well, I'm tired of this
"and I don't want to do it anymore".
So I think when I go out and I purchase this merchandise
and I buy tickets to her show,
it encourages her to continue on
or inspires her to start another project.
- [Narrator] And cue the "Applause".
Thank you for joining us
in this episode of "Lifestyles of the Biggest Standoms",
we hope you've been inspired to dust off your old CDs
and "Just Dance" to some of your favorite artists.
Tune in next time as we "do it again"
with three super stans of pop icon Britney Spears.