Interview: Paul Lester Talks About Lady Gaga Looking for Fame - The Life of a Pop Princess - Page 4
Paul responded, "She did! She did! She pretty much said, without that, she wouldn't be where she is. Which is a difficult message to communicate, because it's giving carte blanche to people that are undecided whether to try it. She had, I think it was, her 'cocaine phase'. She did it--and now she doesn't want to answer to it. The thing is... she had her fun. But that's typical of rock stars, they always like to have their fun, and when they talk of it afterward say 'Well, yeah. But it's not good for you to try it.'
Well, you did it. Why shouldn't we?
A lot of musicians clam up about drugs and sex. If Lady Gaga gave a massive long interview it might help to sell more records, I don't know that it would influence young people into trying drugs. I've never met a person so thick, so dense, that they'd read an interview with a musician and then go and do exactly what the musician says to do. I don't believe people are that stupid, but that's just me."
Is Lady Gaga truly a "genius" at manipulating the publicity machine as so many have implied?
"I don't know how clever Lady Gaga is. I know there's a lot of talk about how 'genius' she is. It goes back to the idea that this is a strategy from day one, and it's meticulously planned and there's an almost scientific quality to it all, but I don't get that from her. I actually don't think she's that clever. I think maybe that's why she's successful, because a really 'brainy' person probably wouldn't be able to do it, they'd over-think it.
She's definitely not a genius. I've been observing pop music and musicians for a long time--she's definitely not a genius--she's clever and lucky. That's a good combination, that's actually probably a better combination. It's better to be clever and lucky than be a genius if you want to sell a lot of records, I mean, not many geniuses sell a lot of records.
Madonna is not a genius, she's clever and lucky. She made good connections and she knows who to work with; what producers to employ, and I think Lady Gaga is probably like that... but a genius? No."
Paul talked also of how Lady Gaga would have done if she had to compete with some of the legendary artists in music history.
Continued on the next page
Follow Technorati