Stefani Germanotta

We all know the Lady Gaga who sings "Pokerface," and "Lovegame," and who does crazy performances like at the VMAs and wears the most ridculous outfits (like oats made from Kermit the Frog) but little actually know of Stefani Germonotta, the woman behind Lady Gaga. I kind of see Stefani Gemonotta as the Clark Kent, and Lady Gaga as the superman, the person who we all know, but at the same time is hidden behind this sort of front. Stefani Gemonotta was actually an NYU student, who studied music. In a weird way, she was one of us. She lived at Third North, and performed in the Ultra Violet Live (where apparently she came in 2nd place). On youtube, there are clips of Stefani Gemonotta performing in 2006 when she was a student here, and she is definitely no Lady Gaga. Her sound is different, she has long brown hair, she's wearing actual clothes. She looks like a person who could sit next to you in any of your classes, or stand next to you on a ride in the Silver elevator. There is another clip of her when she appeared on MTV's show Boiling Points, and she definitely does not seem like this crazy zany person we have come to know. In fact, she comes off as a typical moody college kid.

But when we watch Lady Gaga I think that the Stefani Gemonotta is lost. I feel that Lady Gaga was created by Gemonotta because there are so many Gemonotta's out there: average college kids who can sing and write music. But there are really no other Lady Gagas- she is the Madonna of recent years, providing a shock value that Gemonotta did not. In turn, I feel that Lady Gaga was an image perfected by Gemonotta in an attempt to stand out and get recognized. And it definitely worked- people everywhere talk about her and her craziness. But I think it is important to realize that when it comes down to it, Lady Gaga is just an image created by some typical college kid looking to stand out in a world where it's not an easy thing to accomplish. And to her credit, it definitely worked, but one has to wonder what Stefani Germanotta gave up when she became Lady Gaga.


Video Clips of Stefani Germonotta:
-Performing in 2006 at the Bitter End: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b2C20qN4Ps
-On MTV's "Boiling Points" in 2005: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SIK-yzlxiU

Video Clip about Lady Gaga at the VMAs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRV0w7aW8vI&feature=fvw