Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta to affluent parents in Manhattan, the star-in-the making showed her potential early on – learning to play the piano at the tender age of four, and performing at open mic nights by 14. “I was always an entertainer,” she acknowledges. “I was a ham as a little girl and I’m a ham today.”
So where did the strange Lady Gaga moniker come from? Producer Rob Fusari, who in 2010 launched legal proceedings against the star for alleged non-payment of merchandise and song royalties, claims to have helped Stefani strike upon the now-legendary stage name.
“Every day, when Stef came to the studio, instead of saying hello, I would start singing Radio Ga Ga. That was her entrance song,” he explained. “[Lady Gaga] was actually a glitch. I typed ‘Radio Ga Ga’ in a text and it did an autocorrect, so somehow ‘Radio’ got changed to ‘Lady’. She texted me back, ‘That’s it.’ After that day, she was Lady Gaga. She’s like, ‘Don’t ever call me Stefani again’.”
Well folks, it’s here: Lady Gaga’s highly anticipated sixth studio album Chromatica has finally been released.
It had a pretty stilted run up — the first single leaked online, and then the entire album’s release was delayed due to the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. But we were also served some stunning singles, with ‘Stupid Love’ and ‘Rain On Me’ quickly asserting themselves as some of the year’s best tracks.
At 16 tracks long, there’s a lot to unpack in Chromatica — even if the run time is only just under 44 minutes. So let’s get our paws up, and dive in.