Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (/ˈstɛfəni dʒɜːrməˈnɒtə/ (listen) STEF-ən-ee

JUR-mə-NOT-ə; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an

American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions
and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenager, singing at open mic
nights and acting in school plays. She studied at Collaborative Arts Project 21,
through the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, before dropping out to
pursue a career in music. After Def Jam Recordings canceled her contract, she
worked as a songwriter for Sony/ATV Music Publishing, where she signed a joint deal
with Interscope Records and KonLive Distribution, in 2007. Gaga had her
breakthrough the following year with her debut studio album, The Fame, and its
chart-topping singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". The album was later reissued
to include the extended play The Fame Monster (2009), which yielded the successful
singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone", and "Alejandro".

Gaga's five succeeding studio albums all debuted atop the US Billboard 200. Her
second full-length album, Born This Way (2011), explored electronic rock and
techno-pop and sold more than one million copies in its first week. The title track
became the fastest-selling song on the iTunes Store, with over one million
downloads in less than a week. Following her EDM-influenced third album, Artpop
(2013), and its lead single "Applause", Gaga released the jazz album Cheek to Cheek
(2014) with Tony Bennett, and the soft rock album Joanne (2016). She ventured into
acting, winning awards for her leading roles in the miniseries American Horror
Story: Hotel (2015–2016) and the musical film A Star Is Born (2018). Her
contributions to the latter's soundtrack, which spawned the chart-topping single
"Shallow", made her the first woman to win an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden
Globe Award, and Grammy Award in one year. Gaga returned to dance-pop with her
sixth studio album, Chromatica (2020), which yielded the number-one single "Rain on
Me". She followed this with her second collaborative album with Bennett, Love for
Sale, and a starring role in the biopic House of Gucci, both in 2021.

Having sold an estimated 170 million records, Gaga is one of the world's best-
selling music artists and the only female artist to achieve four singles that each
sold at least 10 million copies globally. Her accolades include 13 Grammy Awards,
two Golden Globe Awards, 18 MTV Video Music Awards, awards from the Songwriters
Hall of Fame and the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and recognition as
Billboard's Artist of the Year (2010) and Woman of the Year (2015). She has also
been included in several Forbes' power rankings and ranked fourth on VH1's Greatest
Women in Music (2012). Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential
people in the world in 2010 and 2019 and placed her on their All-Time 100 Fashion
Icons list. Her philanthropy and activism focus on mental health awareness and LGBT
rights; she has her own non-profit organization, the Born This Way Foundation,
which supports the wellness of young people. Gaga's business ventures include Haus
Labs, a vegan cosmetics brand launched in 2019.

Contents
1 Life and career
1.1 1986–2004: Early life
1.2 2005–2007: Career beginnings
1.3 2008–2010: Breakthrough with The Fame and The Fame Monster
1.4 2011–2014: Born This Way, Artpop, and Cheek to Cheek
1.5 2015–2017: American Horror Story, Joanne, and Super Bowl performances
1.6 2018–2019: A Star Is Born and Las Vegas residency
1.7 2020–present: Chromatica, Love for Sale, and House of Gucci
2 Artistry
2.1 Influences
2.2 Musical style and themes
2.3 Videos and stage
3 Public image
3.1 Censorship
4 Activism
4.1 Philanthropy
4.2 Born This Way Foundation
4.3 LGBT advocacy
5 Impact
6 Achievements
7 Discography
8 Tours and residencies
9 Filmography
10 See also
11 Notes
12 References
12.1 Citations
12.2 Literary sources
13 External links
Life and career
1986–2004: Early life
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was born on March 28, 1986, at Lenox Hill
Hospital in Manhattan, New York City,[1] to an upper middle class Catholic family.
Both of her parents have Italian ancestry.[2] Her parents are Cynthia Louise (née
Bissett), a philanthropist and business executive, and Internet entrepreneur Joseph
Germanotta,[3] and she has a younger sister named Natali.[4] Brought up on the
Upper West Side of Manhattan, Gaga said in an interview that her parents came from
lower-class families and worked hard for everything.[5][6] From age 11, she
attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private all-girls Roman Catholic
school.[7] Gaga has described her high-school self as "very dedicated, very
studious, very disciplined" but also "a bit insecure". She considered herself a
misfit and was mocked for "being either too provocative or too eccentric".[8]

Gaga began playing the piano at age four when her mother insisted she become "a
cultured young woman". She took piano lessons and practiced through her childhood.
The lessons taught her to create music by ear, which she preferred over reading
sheet music. Her parents encouraged her to pursue music and enrolled her in
Creative Arts Camp.[9] As a teenager, she played at open mic nights.[10] Gaga
played the lead roles of Adelaide in the play Guys and Dolls and Philia in the play
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Regis High School.[11] She also
studied method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute for ten
years.[12] Gaga unsuccessfully auditioned for New York shows, though she did appear
in a small role as a high-school student in a 2001 episode of The Sopranos titled
"The Telltale Moozadell".[13][14] She later said of her inclination towards music:

I don't know exactly where my affinity for music comes from, but it is the thing
that comes easiest to me. When I was like three years old, I may have been even
younger, my mom always tells this really embarrassing story of me propping myself
up and playing the keys like this because I was too young and short to get all the
way up there. Just go like this on the low end of the piano ... I was really,
really good at piano, so my first instincts were to work so hard at practicing
piano, and I might not have been a natural dancer, but I am a natural musician.
That is the thing that I believe I am the greatest at.[15]

In 2003, at age 17, Gaga gained early admission to Collaborative Arts Project 21, a
music school at New York University (NYU)'s Tisch School of the Arts, and lived in
an NYU dorm. She studied music there, and improved her songwriting skills by
writing essays on art, religion, social issues and politics, including a thesis on
pop artists Spencer Tunick and Damien Hirst.[16][17] In 2005, she withdrew from
school during the second semester of her second year to focus on her music career.
[18] That year, she also played an unsuspecting diner customer for MTV's Boiling
Points, a prank reality television show.[19]
In a 2014 interview, Gaga said she had been raped at age 19, for which she later
underwent mental and physical therapy.[20] She has post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) which she attributes to the incident, and credits support from doctors,
family and friends with helping her.[21] Gaga later gave additional details about
the rape, including that "the person who raped me dropped me off pregnant on a
corner at my parents' house because I was vomiting and sick. Because I'd been being
[sic] abused. I was locked away in a studio for months."[22]

2005–2007: Career beginnings

In 2005, Gaga recorded two songs with hip-hop artist Melle Mel for an audio book
accompanying Cricket Casey's children's novel The Portal in the Park.[23] She also
formed a band called the SGBand with some friends from NYU.[11][24] They played
gigs around New York and became a fixture of the downtown Lower East Side club
scene.[11] After the 2006 Songwriters Hall of Fame New Songwriters Showcase at the
Cutting Room in June, talent scout Wendy Starland recommended her to music producer
Rob Fusari.[25] Fusari collaborated with Gaga, who traveled daily to New Jersey,
helping to develop her songs and compose new material.[26] The producer said they
began dating in May 2006, and claimed to have been the first person to call her
"Lady Gaga", which was derived from Queen's song "Radio Ga Ga".[27] Their
relationship lasted until January 2007.[28]

A scantily-clad Gaga singing on a stage. She has a microphone and black stockings.
Gaga performing at Lollapalooza in 2007
Fusari and Gaga established a company called Team Lovechild, LLC to promote her
career.[27] They recorded and produced electropop tracks, sending them to music
industry executives. Joshua Sarubin, the head of Artists and repertoire (A&R) at
Def Jam Recordings, responded positively and, after approval from Sarubin's boss
Antonio "L.A." Reid, Gaga was signed to Def Jam in September 2006.[29][30] She was
dropped from the label three months later[31] and returned to her family home for
Christmas. Gaga began performing at neo-burlesque shows, which according to her
represented freedom.[32] During this time, she met performance artist Lady
Starlight, who helped mold her onstage persona.[33] The pair began performing at
downtown club venues like the Mercury Lounge, the Bitter End, and the Rockwood
Music Hall. Their live performance art piece, known as "Lady Gaga and the Starlight
Revue" and billed as "The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow", was a tribute to 1970s
variety acts.[34][35] They performed at the 2007 Lollapalooza music festival.[34]

Having initially focused on avant-garde electronic dance music, Gaga began to

incorporate pop melodies and the glam rock style of David Bowie and Queen into her
songs. While Gaga and Starlight were performing, Fusari continued to develop the
songs he had created with her, sending them to the producer and record executive
Vincent Herbert.[36] In November 2007, Herbert signed Gaga to his label Streamline
Records, an imprint of Interscope Records, established that month.[37] Gaga later
credited Herbert as the man who discovered her.[38] Having served as an apprentice
songwriter during an internship at Famous Music Publishing, Gaga struck a music
publishing deal with Sony/ATV. As a result, she was hired to write songs for
Britney Spears, New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls.[39] At
Interscope, musician Akon was impressed with her singing abilities when she sang a
reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio.[40] Akon convinced Jimmy Iovine,
chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records (a brother company for Def Jam),
to form a joint deal by having Gaga also sign with his own label KonLive, making
her his "franchise player".[31][41]

In late 2007, Gaga met with songwriter and producer RedOne.[42] She collaborated
with him in the recording studio for a week on her debut album, signing with
Cherrytree Records, an Interscope imprint established by producer and songwriter
Martin Kierszenbaum; she also wrote four songs with Kierszenbaum.[39] Despite
securing a record deal, she said that some radio stations found her music too
"racy", "dance-oriented", and "underground" for the mainstream market, to which she
replied: "My name is Lady Gaga, I've been on the music scene for years, and I'm
telling you, this is what's next."[7]

2008–2010: Breakthrough with The Fame and The Fame Monster

By 2008, Gaga had relocated to Los Angeles to work extensively with her record
label to complete her debut album, The Fame, and to set up her own creative team
called the Haus of Gaga, modeled on Andy Warhol's The Factory.[43][44] The Fame was
released on August 19, 2008,[45] and reached number one in Austria, Canada,
Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the UK, as well as the top five in Australia and
the US.[46][47] Its first two singles, "Just Dance" and "Poker Face",[48] reached
number one in the United States,[49] Australia,[50] Canada[51] and the UK.[52] The
latter was also the world's best-selling single of 2009, with 9.8 million copies
sold that year, and spent a record 83 weeks on Billboard magazine's Digital Songs
chart.[53][54] Three other singles, "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)", "LoveGame"
and "Paparazzi", were released from the album;[55] the lattermost reached number
one in Germany.[56] Remixed versions of the singles from The Fame, except "Eh, Eh
(Nothing Else I Can Say)", were included on Hitmixes in August 2009.[57] At the
52nd Annual Grammy Awards, The Fame and "Poker Face" won Best Dance/Electronica
Album and Best Dance Recording, respectively.[58]

A young woman on stage. She's wearing a leopard printed shirt.

Gaga performing on The Monster Ball Tour in 2010. It grossed $227 million and
became the highest-grossing concert tour for a debut headlining artist.[59]
Following her opening act on the Pussycat Dolls' 2009 Doll Domination Tour in
Europe and Oceania, Gaga headlined her worldwide The Fame Ball Tour, which ran from
March to September 2009.[60] While traveling the globe, she wrote eight songs for
The Fame Monster, a reissue of The Fame.[61] Those new songs were also released as
a standalone EP on November 18, 2009.[62] Its first single, "Bad Romance", was
released one month earlier[63] and went number one in Canada[51] and the UK,[52]
and number two in the US,[49] Australia[64] and New Zealand.[65] "Telephone", with
Beyoncé, followed as the second single from the EP and became Gaga's fourth UK
number one.[66][67] Its third single was "Alejandro",[68] which reached number one
in Finland[69] and attracted controversy when its music video was deemed
blasphemous by the Catholic League.[70] Both tracks reached the top five in the US.
[49] The video for "Bad Romance" became the most watched on YouTube in April 2010,
and that October, Gaga became the first person with more than one billion combined
views.[71][72] At the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, she won eight awards from 13
nominations, including Video of the Year for "Bad Romance".[73] She was the most
nominated artist for a single year, and the first woman to receive two nominations
for Video of the Year at the same ceremony.[74] The Fame Monster won the Grammy
Award for Best Pop Vocal Album, and "Bad Romance" won Best Female Pop Vocal
Performance and Best Short Form Music Video at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.[75]

In 2009, Gaga spent a record 150 weeks on the UK Singles Chart and became the most
downloaded female act in a year in the US, with 11.1 million downloads sold,
earning an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.[76][77] Worldwide, The Fame
and The Fame Monster together have sold more than 15 million copies, and the latter
was 2010's second best-selling album.[78][79][80] Its success allowed Gaga to start
her second worldwide concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, and release The Remix,
her final record with Cherrytree Records[81] and among the best-selling remix
albums of all time.[82][83] The Monster Ball Tour ran from November 2009 to May
2011 and grossed $227.4 million, making it the highest-grossing concert tour for a
debut headlining artist.[59][84] Concerts performed at Madison Square Garden in New
York City were filmed for an HBO television special, Lady Gaga Presents the Monster
Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden.[85] Gaga also performed songs from her albums
at the 2009 Royal Variety Performance, the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, and the 2010
Brit Awards.[86] Before Michael Jackson's death, Gaga was set to take part in his
canceled This Is It concert series at the O2 Arena in the UK.[87]
During this era, Gaga ventured into business, collaborating with consumer
electronics company Monster Cable Products to create in-ear, jewel-encrusted
headphones called Heartbeats by Lady Gaga.[88] She also partnered with Polaroid in
January 2010 as their creative director and announced a suite of photo-capture
products called Grey Label.[89][90] Her collaboration with her past record producer
and ex-boyfriend Rob Fusari led to a lawsuit against her production team, Mermaid
Music LLC.[a] At this time, Gaga was tested borderline positive for lupus, but
claimed not to be affected by the symptoms and hoped to maintain a healthy
lifestyle.[93][94]

2011–2014: Born This Way, Artpop, and Cheek to Cheek

In February 2011, Gaga released "Born This Way", the lead single from her studio
album of the same name. The song sold more than one million copies within five
days, earning the Guinness World Record for the fastest selling single on iTunes.
[95] It debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the 1,000th number-one single
in the history of the charts.[96] Its second single "Judas" followed two months
later,[97] and "The Edge of Glory" served as its third single.[98] Both reached the
top 10 in the US and the UK.[49][52] Her music video for "The Edge of Glory",
unlike her previous work, portrays her dancing on a fire escape and walking on a
lonely street, without intricate choreography and back-up dancers.[99]

Gaga performing onstage wearing black leather jacket and bodysuit. She has blue
hair
Gaga promoting Born This Way with performances in Sydney, Australia
Born This Way was released on May 23, 2011,[97] and debuted atop the Billboard 200
with first-week sales of 1.1 million copies.[100] The album sold eight million
copies worldwide and received three Grammy nominations, including Gaga's third
consecutive nomination for Album of the Year.[101][102] Rolling Stone listed it
among "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2020.[103] Born This Way's following
singles were "You and I" and "Marry the Night",[104] which reached numbers six and
29 in the US, respectively.[49] While filming the former's music video, Gaga met
and started dating actor Taylor Kinney in July 2011, who played her love interest.
[105][106] She also embarked on the Born This Way Ball tour in April 2012, which
was scheduled to conclude the following March, but ended one month earlier when
Gaga canceled the remaining dates due to a labral tear of her right hip that
required surgery.[107] While refunds for the cancellations were estimated to be
worth $25 million,[108] the tour grossed $183.9 million globally.[109]

In 2011, Gaga also worked with Tony Bennett on a jazz version of "The Lady Is a
Tramp",[110] with Elton John on "Hello Hello" for the animated feature film Gnomeo
& Juliet,[111] and with The Lonely Island and Justin Timberlake on "3-Way (The
Golden Rule)".[112] She also performed a concert at the Sydney Town Hall in
Australia that year to promote Born This Way and to celebrate former US President
Bill Clinton's 65th birthday.[113] In November, she was featured in a Thanksgiving
television special titled A Very Gaga Thanksgiving, which attracted 5.7 million
American viewers and spawned the release of her fourth EP, A Very Gaga Holiday.
[114] In 2012, Gaga guest-starred as an animated version of herself in an episode
of The Simpsons called "Lisa Goes Gaga",[115] and released her first fragrance,
Lady Gaga Fame, followed by a second one, Eau de Gaga, in 2014.[b]

Gaga began work on her third studio album, Artpop, in early 2012, during the Born
This Way Ball tour; she crafted the album to mirror "a night at the club".[118]
[119][120] In August 2013, Gaga released the album's lead single "Applause",[121]
which reached number one in Hungary, number four in the US, and number five in the
UK.[52][49][122] A lyric video for Artpop track "Aura" followed in October to
accompany Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills, where she plays an assassin named La
Chameleon.[123] The film received generally mixed reviews and earned less than half
of its $33 million budget.[124][125] The second Artpop single, "Do What U Want",
featured singer R. Kelly and was released later that month,[126] topping the charts
in Hungary and reaching number 13 in the US.[49][127] Artpop was released on
November 6, 2013, to mixed reviews.[128] Helen Brown in The Daily Telegraph
criticized Gaga for making another album about her fame and doubted the record's
originality, but found it "great for dancing".[129] The album debuted atop the
Billboard 200 chart, and sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide as of July
2014.[130][131] "G.U.Y." was released as the third single in March 2014 and peaked
at number 76 in the US.[49][132]

A man and a woman standing closely together. The man (left) is wearing a grey suit,
white shirt and a black tie while the woman (right) is wearing a black gown, black
gloves and a black headpiece. They both hold a microphone in their left hand.
With the Cheek to Cheek era, Gaga (seen here performing on the Cheek to Cheek Tour
alongside Tony Bennett) ushered in an overhaul of her image.[133]
Gaga hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in November 2013.[134] After holding
her second Thanksgiving Day television special on ABC, Lady Gaga and the Muppets
Holiday Spectacular, she performed a special rendition of "Do What U Want" with
Christina Aguilera on the fifth season of the American reality talent show The
Voice.[135][136] In March 2014, Gaga had a seven-day concert residency
commemorating the last performance at New York's Roseland Ballroom before its
closure.[137] Two months later, she embarked on the ArtRave: The Artpop Ball tour,
building on concepts from her ArtRave promotional event. Earning $83 million, the
tour included cities canceled from the Born This Way Ball tour itinerary.[138] In
the meantime, Gaga split from longtime manager Troy Carter over "creative
differences",[139] and by June 2014, she and new manager Bobby Campbell joined
Artist Nation, the artist management division of Live Nation Entertainment.[140]
She briefly appeared in Rodriguez's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, and was confirmed
as Versace's spring-summer 2014 ambassador with a campaign called "Lady Gaga For
Versace".[141][142]

In September 2014, Gaga released a collaborative jazz album with Tony Bennett
titled Cheek to Cheek. The inspiration behind the album came from her friendship
with Bennett, and fascination with jazz music since her childhood.[143] Before the
album was released, it produced the singles "Anything Goes" and "I Can't Give You
Anything but Love".[144] Cheek to Cheek received generally favorable reviews;[145]
The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan praised Gaga's vocals and Howard Reich of the
Chicago Tribune wrote that "Cheek to Cheek serves up the real thing, start to
finish".[146][147] The record was Gaga's third consecutive number-one album on the
Billboard 200,[148] and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
[149] The duo recorded the concert special Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga: Cheek to
Cheek Live!,[150] and embarked on the Cheek to Cheek Tour from December 2014 to
August 2015.[151]

2015–2017: American Horror Story, Joanne, and Super Bowl performances

In February 2015, Gaga became engaged to Taylor Kinney.[152] After the lukewarm
response to Artpop, Gaga began to reinvent her image and style. According to
Billboard, this shift started with the release of Cheek to Cheek and the attention
she received for her performance at the 87th Academy Awards, where she sang a
medley of songs from The Sound of Music in a tribute to Julie Andrews.[133]
Considered one of her best performances by Billboard, it triggered more than
214,000 interactions per minute globally on Facebook.[153][154] She and Diane
Warren co-wrote the song "Til It Happens to You" for the documentary The Hunting
Ground, which earned them the Satellite Award for Best Original Song and an Academy
Award nomination in the same category.[155] Gaga won Billboard Woman of the Year
and Contemporary Icon Award at the 2015 Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards.
[156][157]

Gaga had spent much of her early life wanting to be an actress, and achieved her
goal when she starred in American Horror Story: Hotel.[158] Running from October
2015 to January 2016, Hotel is the fifth season of the television anthology horror
series, American Horror Story, in which Gaga played a hotel owner named Elizabeth.
[159][160] At the 73rd Golden Globe Awards, Gaga received the Best Actress in a
Miniseries or Television Film award for her work on the season.[158] She appeared
in Nick Knight's 2015 fashion film for Tom Ford's 2016 spring campaign[161] and was
guest editor for V fashion magazine's 99th issue in January 2016, which featured 16
different covers.[162] She received Editor of the Year award at the Fashion Los
Angeles Awards.[163]

Lady Gaga standing behind a microphone stand with a pink guitar in her hands,
wearing black leather fringe.
Gaga performing on the Joanne World Tour in 2017
In February 2016, Gaga sang the US national anthem at Super Bowl 50,[164] partnered
with Intel and Nile Rodgers for a tribute performance to the late David Bowie at
the 58th Annual Grammy Awards,[165] and sang "Til It Happens to You" at the 88th
Academy Awards, where she was introduced by Joe Biden and was accompanied on-stage
by 50 people who had suffered from sexual assault.[166] She was honored that April
with the Artist Award at the Jane Ortner Education Awards by The Grammy Museum,
which recognizes artists who have demonstrated passion and dedication to education
through the arts.[167] Her engagement to Taylor Kinney ended in July; she later
said her career had interfered with their relationship.[168]

Gaga played a witch named Scathach in American Horror Story: Roanoke, the series'
sixth season,[169] which ran from September to November 2016.[170][171] Her role in
the fifth season of the show ultimately influenced her future music, prompting her
to feature "the art of darkness".[172] In September 2016, she released her fifth
album's lead single, "Perfect Illusion", which topped the charts in France and
reached number 15 in the US.[173][174][175] The album, titled Joanne, was named
after Gaga's late aunt, who was an inspiration for the music.[176] It was released
on October 21, 2016, and became Gaga's fourth number one album on the Billboard
200, making her the first woman to reach the US chart's summit four times in the
2010s.[177] The album's second single, "Million Reasons", followed the next month
and reached number four in the US.[175][178] She later released a piano version of
the album's title track in 2018,[179] which won a Grammy for Best Pop Solo
Performance.[180] To promote the album, Gaga embarked on the three-date Dive Bar
Tour.[181]

Gaga performed as the headlining act during the Super Bowl LI halftime show on
February 5, 2017. Her performance featured a group of hundreds of lighted drones
forming various shapes in the sky above Houston's NRG Stadium—the first time
robotic aircraft appeared in a Super Bowl program.[182] It attracted 117.5 million
viewers in the United States, exceeding the game's 113.3 million viewers.[183] The
performance led to a surge of 410,000 song downloads in the United States for Gaga
and earned her an Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Special Class Program
category.[184][185] CBS Sports included her performance as the second best in the
history of Super Bowl halftime shows.[186] In April, Gaga headlined the Coachella
Valley Music and Arts Festival.[187] She also released a standalone-single, "The
Cure", which reached the top 10 in Australia.[188][189] In August, Gaga began the
Joanne World Tour, which she announced after the Super Bowl LI halftime show.[190]
Gaga's creation of Joanne and preparation for her halftime show performance were
featured in the documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two, which premiered on Netflix that
September.[191] Throughout the film, she was seen suffering from chronic pain,
which was later revealed to be the effect of a long-term condition called
fibromyalgia.[192] In February 2018, it prompted Gaga to cancel the last ten shows
of the Joanne World Tour, which ultimately grossed $95 million from 842,000 tickets
sold.[193][194]

2018–2019: A Star Is Born and Las Vegas residency

A picture of Lady Gaga in a burgundy one shoulder dress, looking to the right.
Gaga at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival prior to the screening of A
Star Is Born
In March 2018, Gaga supported the March for Our Lives gun-control rally in
Washington, D.C.,[195] and released a cover of Elton John's "Your Song" for his
tribute album Revamp.[196] Later that year, she starred as struggling singer Ally
in Bradley Cooper's musical romantic drama A Star Is Born, a remake of the 1937
film of the same name. The film follows Ally's relationship with singer Jackson
Maine (played by Cooper), which becomes strained after her career begins to
overshadow his. It received acclaim from critics, with a consensus that the movie
had "appealing leads, deft direction, and an affecting love story".[197] Cooper
approached Gaga after seeing her perform at a cancer research fundraiser. An
admirer of Cooper's work, Gaga agreed to the project due to its portrayal of
addiction and depression.[198][199] A Star Is Born premiered at the 2018 Venice
Film Festival, and was released worldwide that October.[200] Gaga's performance was
acclaimed by film critics, with Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian labeling the film
"outrageously watchable" and stating that "Gaga's ability to be part ordinary
person, part extraterrestrial celebrity empress functions at the highest level";
[201] Stephanie Zacharek of Time magazine similarly highlighted her "knockout
performance" and found her to be "charismatic" without her usual makeup, wigs and
costumes.[202] For the role, Gaga won the National Board of Review and Critics'
Choice awards for Best Actress, in addition to receiving nominations for the
Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA Award for
Best Actress.[203]

Gaga and Cooper co-wrote and produced most of the songs on the soundtrack for A
Star Is Born, which she insisted they perform live in the film.[204] Its lead
single, "Shallow", performed by the two, was released on September 27, 2018[205]
and topped the charts in various countries including Australia, the UK and the US.
[206] The soundtrack contains 34 tracks, including 17 original songs, and received
generally positive reviews;[207] Mark Kennedy of The Washington Post called it a
"five-star marvel" and Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian termed it an "instant
classics full of Gaga's emotional might".[208][209] Commercially, the soundtrack
debuted at number one in the US, making Gaga the first woman with five US number-
one albums in the 2010s, and breaking her tie with Taylor Swift as the most for any
female artist this decade;[210] Swift tied with her again in 2019.[211] It
additionally topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand,
Switzerland and the UK.[212] As of June 2019, the soundtrack had sold over six
million copies worldwide.[213] The album won Gaga four Grammy Awards—Best
Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best
Song Written for Visual Media for "Shallow", as well as the latter category for
"I'll Never Love Again"—and a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music.[180][214][215]
"Shallow" also won her the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Critics' Choice
Award for Best Original Song.[203]

In October, Gaga announced her engagement to talent agent Christian Carino whom she
had met in early 2017.[216] They ended the engagement in February 2019.[217] Gaga
signed a concert residency, named Lady Gaga Enigma + Jazz & Piano, to perform at
the MGM Park Theater in Las Vegas.[218] The residency consists of two types of
shows: Enigma, which focused on theatricality and included Gaga's biggest hits,
[219] and Jazz & Piano, which involved tracks from the Great American Songbook and
stripped-down versions of Gaga's songs. The Enigma show opened in December 2018 and
the Jazz & Piano in January 2019.[220] Gaga launched her vegan makeup line, Haus
Laboratories, in September 2019 exclusively on Amazon. Consisting of 40 products,
including liquid eyeliners, lip glosses and face mask sticker, it reached number-
one on Amazon's list of best-selling lipsticks.[221]

2020–present: Chromatica, Love for Sale, and House of Gucci

In February 2020, Gaga began a relationship with entrepreneur Michael Polansky.
[222] Her sixth studio album, Chromatica, was released on May 29, 2020, to positive
reviews.[223][224] It debuted atop the US charts, becoming her sixth consecutive
number-one album in the country, and reached the top spot in more than a dozen
other territories including Australia, Canada, France, Italy and the UK.[225]
Chromatica was preceded by two singles, "Stupid Love", on February 28, 2020,[226]
and "Rain on Me", with Ariana Grande, on May 22.[227] The latter won the Best Pop
Duo/Group Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, and debuted at number one
in the US, making Gaga the third person to top the country's chart in the 2000s,
2010s and 2020s.[228][229] At the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga won five
awards, including the inaugural Tricon Award recognizing artists accomplished in
different areas of the entertainment industry.[230] In September 2020, she appeared
in the video campaign for Valentino's Voce Viva fragrance, singing a stripped-down
version of Chromatica track "Sine from Above", along with a group of models.[231]

A blonde woman with wet-look hairstyle singing to a microphone on stage. She is

wearing a black leather jacket.
Gaga performing on The Chromatica Ball in 2022
During the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States on
January 20, 2021, Gaga sang the US national anthem.[232] In February 2021, her dog
walker Ryan Fischer was hospitalized after getting shot in Hollywood. Two of her
French Bulldogs, Koji and Gustav, were taken while a third dog named Miss Asia
escaped and was subsequently recovered by police. Gaga later offered a $500,000
reward for the return of her pets.[233][234] Two days later, on February 26, a
woman brought the dogs to a police station in Los Angeles. Both were unharmed. Los
Angeles Police initially said the woman who dropped off the dogs did not appear to
be involved with the shooting,[235] but on April 29, she was one of five people
charged in connection with the shooting and theft.[236]

In April 2021, Gaga teamed up with Champagne brand Dom Pérignon, and appeared in an
ad shot by Nick Knight.[237] On September 3, she released her third remix album,
Dawn of Chromatica.[238] This was followed by her second collaborative album with
Tony Bennett, titled Love for Sale, on September 30.[239] The record received
generally favorable reviews, and debuted at number eight in the US.[240][241] The
album's promotional rollout included the television special One Last Time: An
Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, released in November 2021, on CBS, which
featured select performances from the duo's August 3 and 5 performances at Radio
City Music Hall.[242][243] Another taped performance by the duo recorded for MTV
Unplugged was released that December,[244] and a documentary called The Lady and
the Legend, which will include footage from the making of Gaga and Bennett's two
collaborative albums, will be available exclusively on Paramount+ in 2022.[243]
[244] At the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, Love for Sale won Gaga and Bennett the
award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.[245]

After an appearance in the television special Friends: The Reunion, in which Gaga
sang "Smelly Cat" with Lisa Kudrow,[246] she portrayed Patrizia Reggiani, who was
convicted of hiring a hitman to murder her ex-husband and former head of the Gucci
fashion house Maurizio Gucci (played by Adam Driver), in Ridley Scott's
biographical crime film titled House of Gucci.[247][248] For the part, Gaga learned
to speak with an Italian accent. She also stayed in character for 18 months,
speaking with an accent for nine months during that period.[249] Her method acting
approach took a toll on her mental wellbeing, and towards the end of filming she
had to be accompanied on-set by a psychiatric nurse.[250] The film was released on
November 24, 2021, to mixed reviews, though critics praised Gaga's performance as
"note-perfect".[251] She earned the New York Film Critics Circle Award, and
nominations for the BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Award and
Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress.[252] Gaga wrote the song "Hold My Hand"
for the 2022 film Top Gun: Maverick,[253] and also composed the score alongside
Hans Zimmer and Harold Faltermeyer.[254] In July 2022, she embarked on The
Chromatica Ball stadium tour.[255] Gaga is set to star with Joaquin Phoenix in
Joker: Folie à Deux, which will be released on October 4, 2024.[256]
Artistry
Influences
A woman with plaited hair, blue eyes and red lipstick wearing a colorful dress and
guitar strap.
A man smiling; he has brown hair and wears a suit jacket and vest, and a white
shirt open at the collar. His blue tie is not fastened.
Musicians such as Madonna and David Bowie have influenced Gaga.
Gaga grew up listening to artists such as Michael Jackson, the Beatles, Stevie
Wonder, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Whitney Houston, Elton
John, Christina Aguilera and Blondie,[257][258][259] who have all influenced her
music.[260][261] Gaga's musical inspiration varies from dance-pop singers such as
Madonna and Michael Jackson to glam rock artists such as David Bowie and Freddie
Mercury, as well as the theatrics of the pop artist Andy Warhol and her own
performance roots in musical theater.[31][262] She has been compared to Madonna,
who has said that she sees herself reflected in Gaga.[263] Gaga says that she wants
to revolutionize pop music as Madonna has.[264] Gaga has also cited heavy metal
bands as an influence, specifically Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Marilyn Manson.
[265][266][267][268] She credits Beyoncé as a key inspiration to pursue a musical
career.[269]

Gaga was inspired by her mother to be interested in fashion, which she now says is
a major influence and integrated with her music.[18][270] Stylistically, Gaga has
been compared to Leigh Bowery, Isabella Blow, and Cher;[271][272] she once
commented that as a child, she absorbed Cher's fashion sense and made it her own.
[272] Gaga became friends with British fashion designer Alexander McQueen shortly
before his suicide in 2010, and became known for wearing his designs, particularly
his towering armadillo shoes.[93][273] She considers fashion designer Donatella
Versace her muse; Versace has called Lady Gaga "the fresh Donatella".[274][275]
Gaga has also been influenced by Princess Diana, whom she has admired since her
childhood.[276]

Gaga has called the Indian alternative medicine advocate Deepak Chopra a "true
inspiration",[277] and has also quoted Indian leader Osho's book Creativity on
Twitter. Gaga says she was influenced by Osho's work in valuing rebellion through
creativity and equality.[278]

Musical style and themes

Critics have analyzed and scrutinized Gaga's musical and performance style, as she
has experimented with new ideas and images throughout her career. She says the
continual reinvention is "liberating" herself, which she has been drawn to since
childhood.[279] Gaga combines a variety of music genres, particularly incorporating
elements of rock into her pop and dance music. She has also branched out into jazz
and other non-pop musical genres.[280] Gaga is a contralto, with a range spanning
from B♭2 to B5.[281][282][283] She has changed her vocal style regularly, and
considers Born This Way "much more vocally up to par with what I've always been
capable of".[284][285] In summing up her voice, Entertainment Weekly wrote:
"There's an immense emotional intelligence behind the way she uses her voice.
Almost never does she overwhelm a song with her vocal ability, recognizing instead
that artistry is to be found in nuance rather than lung power."[286]

According to Evan Sawdey of PopMatters, Gaga "manage[s] to get you moving and
grooving at an almost effortless pace".[287] Gaga believes that "all good music can
be played on a piano and still sound like a hit".[288] Simon Reynolds wrote in
2010, "Everything about Gaga came from electroclash, except the music, which wasn't
particularly 1980s, just ruthlessly catchy naughties pop glazed with Auto-Tune and
undergirded with R&B-ish beats."[289]

Gaga's songs have covered a wide variety of concepts; The Fame discusses the lust
for stardom, while the follow-up The Fame Monster expresses fame's dark side
through monster metaphors. The Fame is an electropop and dance-pop album that has
influences of 1980s pop and 1990s Europop,[290] whereas The Fame Monster displays
Gaga's taste for pastiche, drawing on "Seventies arena glam, perky ABBA disco, and
sugary throwbacks like Stacey Q".[291] Born This Way has lyrics in English, French,
German, and Spanish and features themes common to Gaga's controversial songwriting
such as sex, love, religion, money, drugs, identity, liberation, sexuality,
freedom, and individualism.[292] The album explores new genres, such as electronic
rock and techno.[293]

The themes in Artpop revolve around Gaga's personal views of fame, love, sex,
feminism, self-empowerment, overcoming addiction, and reactions to media scrutiny.
[294] Billboard describes Artpop as "coherently channeling R&B, techno, disco and
rock music".[295] With Cheek to Cheek, Gaga dabbled in the jazz genre.[296] Joanne,
exploring the genres of country, funk, pop, dance, rock, electronic music and folk,
was influenced by her personal life.[297] The A Star Is Born soundtrack contains
elements of blues rock, country and bubblegum pop.[208] Billboard says its lyrics
are about wanting change, its struggle, love, romance, and bonding, describing the
music as "timeless, emotional, gritty and earnest. They sound like songs written by
artists who, quite frankly, are supremely messed up but hit to the core of the
listener."[298] On Chromatica, Gaga returned to her dance-pop roots, and discussed
her struggles with mental health.[299] Her second album with Tony Bennett, Love for
Sale, consists of a tribute to Cole Porter.[300]

Videos and stage

A pale-skinned woman holding her hands crossed and intertwined in the air. She has
yellow hair and wears a low-cut bodysuit. Her chest is marked with red liquid.
Gaga during a "blood soaked" performance in 2010
Featuring constant costume changes and provocative visuals, Gaga's music videos are
often described as short films.[301] The video for "Telephone" earned Gaga the
Guinness World Record for Most Product Placement in a Video.[302] According to
author Curtis Fogel, she explores bondage and sadomasochism and highlights
prevalent feminist themes. The main themes of her music videos are sex, violence,
and power. She calls herself "a little bit of a feminist" and asserts that she is
"sexually empowering women".[303] Billboard ranked her sixth on its list of "The
100 Greatest Music Video Artists of All Time" in 2020, stating that "the name 'Lady
Gaga' will forever be synonymous with culture-shifting music videos".[304]

Regarded as "one of the greatest living musical performers" by Rolling Stone,[305]

Gaga has called herself a perfectionist when it comes to her elaborate shows.[306]
Her performances have been described as "highly entertaining and innovative";[307]
the blood-spurting performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards
was described as "eye-popping" by MTV News.[308] She continued the blood-soaked
theme during The Monster Ball Tour, causing protests in England from family groups
and fans in the aftermath of the Cumbria shootings, in which a taxi driver had
killed 12 people, then himself.[309] At the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga
appeared in drag as her male alter ego, Jo Calderone, and delivered a lovesick
monologue before a performance of her song "You and I".[310] As Gaga's
choreographer and creative director, Laurieann Gibson provided material for her
shows and videos for four years before she was replaced by her assistant Richard
Jackson in 2014.[311]

In an October 2018 article for Billboard, Rebecca Schiller traced back Gaga's
videography from "Just Dance" to the release of A Star Is Born. Schiller noted that
following the Artpop era, Gaga's stripped-down approach to music was reflected in
the clips for the singles from Joanne, taking the example of the music video of
lead single "Perfect Illusion" where she eschewed "the elaborate outfits for shorts
and a tee-shirt as she performed the song at a desert party". It continued with her
performances in the film as well as her stage persona.[312] Reviewing The
Chromatica Ball in 2022, Chris Willman of Variety wrote that Gaga "could have
further played the authenticity card for all it's worth" after the release of
Joanne and A Star Is Born, but instead "has determined to keep herself weird — or
just weird enough to provide necessarily ballast to her more earnest inclinations".
[313]

Public image
A realistic mannequin of a pale-skinned woman with blonde hair wearing a hat in the
design of an old-fashioned telephone.
In 2010, eight wax figures of Gaga were installed at the museum Madame Tussauds.
[314]
Public reception of her music, fashion sense, and persona is polarized. Because of
her influence on modern culture, and her rise to global fame, sociologist Mathieu
Deflem of the University of South Carolina has offered a course titled "Lady Gaga
and the Sociology of the Fame" since early 2011 with the objective of unraveling
"some of the sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga".[315]
When Gaga met briefly with then-president Barack Obama at a Human Rights Campaign
fundraiser, he found the interaction "intimidating" as she was dressed in 16-inch
heels, making her the tallest woman in the room.[316] When interviewed by Barbara
Walters for her annual ABC N