There is a lovely video of Lady Gaga in Brussels, Belgium yesterday (see bottom of page) at a press conference for the release of ‘Cheek to Cheek‘, her collaborative album with Tony Bennett.
Wearing a stunning blue one shoulder dress and matching turban, the singer appeared hand in hand with Bennett, and then sat down to talk about how the album came about.
And I wanted to be able to watch it in the usual detached way I always watch Lady Gaga. Someone whom I have never been that enamoured of.
But I couldn’t and that is because, after years of ignoring Lady Gaga completely, now I think I love her.
And it is all because of a video.
This one.
Shown on American television last Sunday morning, it is a short interview with Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, both of whom talk about why they worked together and what they love about each other.
But that wasn’t the bit that interested me. Nor the piece that made me cry.
That came later at around 6:10 on the video, when the interviewer, now alone in a room with just Lady Gaga, makes the statement “You were quoted as saying last year “People think I’m finished”. Did you feel that people thought you were finished?”
And that is the first flicker of an eye you see that makes you realize Lady Gaga’s armour isn’t quite as intact as she would probably like it to be.
From there, the interview moves into territory that, from her body language, it is obvious she is not comfortable exploring. How her manager left her, how she felt abandoned and how he told the whole world that she left him.
Then, before you know it, Gaga is pressing her lips together to keep from crying.
And when she is asked “What do you want now?“, this little girl’s voice appears and she says “I just want to be happy“. Then she talks about singing with Tony Bennett, and she cries.
And now. Now I love her.
Because I am the type of person that cannot attach myself to someone who is in control, armoured up and completely blocking the world out.
And that is how Lady Gaga has always appeared to me — too locked away to ever be of any interest. But, if a chink in that armour appears and I can see what used to be covered, well me…….I am yours for life.
And so…..I am now Gaga’s.
Which means I now have to spend my time listening to all that Lady Gaga music I never bothered with before. Because, now I know she is human.
I know what to look for in her eyes and in her body language and, through her music, and so now I will get to know how she feels.