- I was bad in high school.
You know, I used to do coffee houses and sneak out
and go down to the village when I was in high school.
- So your album, your debut album, the Fame,
has been compared to a lot of pop music from like
the disco days, and even you've compared it to that.
Sort of like that fun like carefree
like free spirit attitude.
What's your reaction to that?
- I think that that's great, you know.
It's not really rocket science, you know.
The music is intended to inspire people
to feel a certain way about themselves.
Be able to encompass in their own lives a sense
of inner fame that they can project to the world.
And I think that the carefree nature
of the album is a reflection of that aura.
- [Kim] Do you feel like that kind of spirit
is sort of like lost on pop music these days?
- [Woman] Excuse me one second, can you guys
just try and always just keep your knees facing this way
so you're not getting too much profile?
- [Kim] I'll put my knees this way.
- You got it. - Yeah.
- [Woman] Thank you.
- [Kim] Do you feel like that kind of like free spirit like
carefree nature is kind of lost on pop music these days?
- I wouldn't say that it's lost, I think more of what's
been lost in pop music these days is the combination
of the visual and the imagery of the artist
along with the music, and both being as important.
So even though the carefree nature is something
that people are latching onto right away about my stuff,
I'm hoping that they will take notice of the interactive
multimedia nature of what I'm trying to do.
- [Kim] How did you achieve that
in your video for Just Dance?
- Well in Just Dance, you know,
there's the performance aspect of it, pop performance art.
You know, a lot of the things that I like
to do and the theatrics that I like
to incorporate into the choreography.
But also, you know, it's a party.
It's a lifestyle, and it's all about
making the lifestyle the forefront of the music.
- [Kim] Yeah, I mean I love your video,
I mean it's most videos you sort of like
watch it and you like want to be there.
- Yeah, right, man.
- [Kim] Like I totally want to be partying in this video.
And I don't know, I saw Akon in it.
But how did you get hooked up with Konvict Muzik?
- Well, Konvict, I didn't initially get signed
to Konvict Muzik, I was signed to Interscope Records,
Jimmy signed me, Vincent Herbert to Streamline, Interscope.
And then I got hired to work as a writer
on a project for Tami Chynn.
Akon's artist.
So, I met Akon through that project,
and he was just like, I love your stuff,
I think you're crazy, I love your writing style,
and we started to do some stuff together with RedOne.
And then the Fame was born.
- [Kim] And then Colby also came into it from that as well.
He's a Konvict artist.
- Yeah, Colby I've actually known for a long time,
I knew him before What You Got came out.
And he just has an incredible voice, and sonically
I just loved the way he sounded on the record, so.
- [Kim] Tell me about some of the other tracks
on the record that you know, or ones that you
really like to stick out and have fans appreciate.
- I would say Paparazzi is like a real favorite of mine.
The record's not really about wooing the press,
as much as that's sort of the campy, you know, overtone,
it's really about the struggle between love and fame
and can you have both, and I just,
it's something I, you know, is personal in my life.
And also the song Brown Eyes.
It's probably the most vulnerable record.
It's a real tribute to Queen, Bowie.
Very theatrical, I love it, every minute of it.
- [Kim] So I mean you talk about, you know, like we talked
about the disco days and you talked about Queen and Bowie.
I mean you, I'm guessing you weren't alive
in the '70s, right? - No.
- [Kim] So what made you love the '70s so much?
I mean what brought you to that sort of influence?
- Well it's so interesting, like I get asked that a lot.
And I really kind of arrived upon it.
I didn't really make a decision to try to be like
any one kind of artist, I just started making music.
I was really into theater,
really into pop music,
and really into composing.
So I just one day said, let's put it all together.
And once you mix pop and theatrics, you know,
it comes out a bit disco and a bit '70s.
Then I fell in love with Bowie, and my life was over.
- [Kim] (laughs) Exactly.
And I mean I get that like your video
for Just Dance totally exemplifies that,
your attitude. - Thank you.
- [Kim] And what are your plans for future videos?
- Future videos, I'm really excited.
The House of Gaga, which is the team of people
that I've put together, I really pride myself in being able
to find the most talented artists of the future.
And for the next video, we're gonna be coming up with new
technical devices, very futuristic, never been seen before,
art direction, it's gonna be a real performance art video.
- [Kim] So I mean, performance art is obviously,
you know, something that you've mastered and something that,
you know, everyone really appreciates
when they watch your videos and hear your music.
What, you know, other topics do you,
I mean obviously, like you know, like I said,
like when I watched your video, I mean I like
want to be there and I want to be like a part
of like that crazy party, that looks like a blast.
What other topics are you hoping
to sort of cover in your lyrics?
- In my lyrics, well, the album is a concept record.
So this idea of the fame is through and through.
But it's through and through in a couple different ways.
It's in there as somebody who, if you have nothing,
you know, whether you've got no money, no fame,
you know, you can still feel beautiful dirty rich.
- [Kim] Right, right, right.
- Right, because it's about making choices,
about being passionate and having references.
Things that you pull in your life that you believe in.
But it's also about, you know,
self discovery and being creative.
The record is slightly focused, but it's also eclectic.
- [Kim] I mean I understand what you're saying,
where you know, no matter what your sort of like
social status, and you know, what you wear and what you do,
I mean you can achieve like sort of fame.
And that's sort of what you're talking about.
And I know your sort of catch phrase,
what I've heard a bunch of times,
like you're changing the world one sequin at a time.
- Yeah.
- [Kim] What--
- That like plagues me forever, though.
That one thing I said.
- [Kim] I understand that.
No, but I mean I think it's like a really interesting
sort of thing to compare with your music and your videos
and I don't know, I'm sort of wondering, like,
what effect does fashion have on your music
and on your conceptualizing your sound?
- It's everything.
I mean it's absolutely everything, when I'm writing music,
I'm thinking about the clothes I'm gonna wear.
Or if I see a jacket that looks like this,
I think about the kind of song I would write.
- [Kim] It's amazing, by the way.
- Thank you, it's Margiela. - Really, really incredible.
- Thank you.
It's just, it's all about everything altogether.
Performance art, pop performance art,
for me, is everything coming altogether
and being a real story that will bring back the superfan.
- [Kim] Right.
- Because I think we lost it.
You know, you remember, like NSYNC and Britney and all
of that, being in Times Square, you couldn't even get in.
- [Kim] Absolutely.
- You couldn't get near TRL.
And it doesn't happen anymore.
And I think it's because, and not to compare myself to them,
'cause we're a very different focal point in pop music.
But I wanna bring that back, I want the imagery
to be so strong that the fans want to eat
and taste and lick every part of us, just go in.
- [Kim] So you think achieving that is about like
the imagery and about sort of like time, like you said?
- Yeah. - Like the music to the image.
- Oh totally, like you know,
just coming up with things that have contrast,
things that are interesting.
I want of funnel of pop, you know,
I want to funnel an interesting idea
to the world through a pop lens.
- [Kim] Who are some of your favorite
fashion designers or fashion houses?
- Right now I'm super into Margiela, I can't even breathe.
- [Kim] And that's what this is.
- Yes, and Versace,
huge, you know, the Italians in general.
I'm an Italian girl from New York,
so I have a certain affinity for that.
That style.