Lady Gaga’s ‘The Fame’ Turns 5: Stan & Deliver

Bradley Stern | August 19, 2013 5:30 am

Name: Claire C. | Location: Kansas City, MO | Twitter: @imclairemonster

3. Paparazzi: Being a Monster for over 3 years now, my favorite Lady Gaga song to this day is “Paparazzi” from the Grammy award-winning album, The Fame. A love song to the media, Gaga lives for the fame and glamour within the flash of a camera. A reoccurring theme of Gaga’s work, “Paparazzi” is still my favorite creation of the idea. The song, performances, and video tell the story of the rise and fall of the icon.

The music video presents Gaga as a glamorous celebrity falling from her balcony to her death, with paparazzi capturing the ultimate tragic shot for the tabloids. In the background can be heard knife stabs in synchronization with the snaps of the camera. The scene follows with Gaga now crippled, getting out of a limousine to a wheel chair and dancing in a Thierry Mugler chrome piece with crutches. Newspaper headlines flash applauding the artist once again, screaming “She’s Back!”. The video and lyrics mirror one another and the beat is unforgettable and pop perfection.

The prevailing reason I am a Lady Gaga fan is not just for the music, but the whole show. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards Gaga performed “Paparazzi” and ended the act hanging from the ceiling bleeding in the center of stage. She lives for performance art and bleeds her artistry. I think I speak for the masses when I say the 2009 VMA performance of Paparazzi is the holy grail of all performances to Little Monsters.

The fact that Gaga is coming back to perform this year after hip surgery and being bound to a wheelchair after months of aggressive rehabilitation is not only extremely ironic, but iconic.

Lady Gaga is a total artwork.