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At various occasions, here in pianoworld, we've offered the name "Lady Gaga" to the public, many times as something negative, etc. Obviously her image helped towards that.

Well, I came across this video, which showcases the following facts:
1. She can sing (didn't detect any autotuning readily in her voice)
2. She can play
3. She can groove
4. She looks pretty!

And if we consider her previous images, I'd assume that we have in our hands someone with a strong personality, if anything.

Which video is "this video" that you came across?

Regards,

Well done Nikolas...

Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISOBK0Zhrjw

Hmn so I'm going to put this out there and don't shoot me for the comparison. I was struggling to think of contemporary artists who push the boundaries like Bowie did... always at the edge of what's possible. I don't *like* her music per se, but the only one that came to mind was Lady Gaga. There's plenty of other good musos on the contemporary music scene, but none that I could think of that transform (or at least attempt to transform) the current somewhat guileless contemporary pop landscape. Yes she can sing, yes she can play, yes she can groove, the fact that she looks pretty is irrelevant, she has a social conscience and she challenges social norms. My two cents worth.

Note: The part about pretty is in comparison to her previous images (which were as far from the 'norm' as possible).

I still find that she has a personality (And she is having fun with being famous...)

She is one of the more interesting (of the very few) stars on the pop scene these days....and she can sing...

She can sing, and her voice sounds really good in some contexts (see Tony Bennett duets), but her songwriting is bad and her shtick is idiotic.

Yes, I don't always care for her music, but she really does have musical talent and real vocal skills.

In the category of "pop star" there seem to be a couple of kinds of stars. The first one is group containing the Real Musicians who, in addition to being musicians first (whether they be spectacular vocalists or amazing songwriters, sometimes both), also were blessed to have enough of the other ingredients (looks, charisma) that make them pop star material. There is some wiggle room here: truly outstanding songwriters and vocalists might not have the "look" but still be successful because their music or their voice is just so captivating. On the other end of this group, the less outstanding ones need a little bit more in the way of looks, but in any case, the folks in this group are musicians first.

The second group are the ones that feel more like "manufactured" pop stars. For these folks, it almost feels as if the producers had an idea of a star first--say, they have a bunch of potential pop hits already written by professional songwriters--and then go out to try to cast someone to play that role. They just need someone who looks the part and who possesses enough basic singing skills so that a private vocal coach, a good sound engineer, and autotune bridges the gap.

I put Lady Gaga in the first category, along with other people who are both good at what they do and can also fill a stadium, like Adele, Bruno Mars, and even Taylor Swift (assuming she writes her own music because her voice is only so-so.) But I put people like Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, and Justin Bieber squarely in the second.

I think I might put Arianna Grande in the first category. I heard her sing on some late night show and I was taken aback. Before that I kind of just mushed her together with all the other nondescript manufactured teen bop fungible widget star-type generic products.

I wish I could agree with you on this, but I remember when Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" was big and American Idol auditioners would fail miserably at trying to sing that song. It must be one of those songs that sounds easier than it really is.

But my real comment is in response to Nikolas. It's easy for classical players to dismiss pop players, but anyone who's tried playing piano and singing at the same time knows it's no picnic. Add in that this is a Stevie Wonder song (which always means it's tougher than it sounds) and the fact that Gaga absolutely kills it and I believe this video clearly demonstrates that she's a prodigious talent. Thanks for posting, that's a helluva performance.

I'm a Great American Song Book snob, and when pop stars like Rod Stewart try to sing those songs, I think they invariably suck. I listened to Lady Gaga's CD with Tony Bennett, expecting to come away holding my nose, but she totally surprised me. It's terrific.

Lady Gaga was just another noisy pop weirdo to me until I heard this at the BBC Proms, and thought that maybe there was something more to this lady other than being a bit, er, gaga (after all, if a classical pianist can play Gaga.....):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig51Guf5hjs

Since then, I've got one of her songs (one of very few pop songs, in fact) in my iTunes. This one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhLP7bbgBsY

She is definitely levels above Brittany Spears too bad she has to dumb down or maker her music more commercialized because she can sing but like many artists with talent they have to have that "Shtick" to get the big bucks. Of course the industry is well familiar with her talent, or she wouldn't have been invited to perform for the great Stevie Wonder. Not sure if Justin Bieber got is invite.

Does she do live stuff? To what extent is her product a result of engineering?


John

I am not a Gaga fan but I respect her talent.
Yes, she does live stuff and, from the little I have listened too, does it very well.
Here she is performing alongside Tony Bennett -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIoyTlfUPPU

She can sing with Tony Bennett, but could she accompany for him?

Extra notes, as I r-ewatched the video tonight.

1. The backing vocals contain 1 pregnant woman (huge kudos for being there, both to herself and the production for allowing her) [2:;01]
2. Lady Gaga does, indeed appear to play, but in all honesty, we never see her fingers, and she frequently lifts her hands, but there's a backup keyboard player in her left side. Still, she's closely looking at her hands while performing, and her performance is stellar.
3. I still can't make out any autotune happening, though it's quite possible. Still her voice is trained.
4. Extra note: This is why Freddie Mercury stopped playing the piano in shows, because he felt it was keeping him from perform fully for the audience.

Her songs, no matter how 'pop' they sound, believe it or not, they are well made (which is why there's a lady gaga fugue in the internet, etc)...

Nikolas,

Can you please provide an example of a well-made song by Lady Gaga?

Miley Cyrus is definitely a case of massive potential lost by teenage stupidity

She's really not that talented.

I agree she can sing and that she can "groove" on that song. And i never really cared much for her music (or anything at all), but still recognized she could play and sing.

Her songs, though , are more of the same from the current pop music scene. Verse Chorus verse chorus and little more. Silly lyrics and more importance on the video clips than on the actual music. Nothing wrong with that, but does nothing for me either.


On the first video, look at the band playing along. She has what, 10 professional musicians behind her, keyboardist included? Anyone thinks the singers doing background couldn't do a great version of Stevie Wonder?

Even if i thought she's a "huge" talent (Bowie, Mercury, Marley, in pop music), which i don't, she would still be a huge talent doing pretty average stuff. We're setting the bar real low these days with pop music. The comparison with Bowie is beyond me , with all due respect. Bowie has countless classics that influenced the later generations bigtime, not just musically; Gaga has a couple pointless albums that sold a lot and a few good clips of her actually playing live on youtube. And she even got a lot of recognition for the famous Gaga fugue, which she didn't write.

Any classical concert gets murdered online for a memory slip. Gaga gets praised because she can actually play piano chords and sing (she does have a quite nice voice) at the same time.

I don't mean to sound bitter, but it s just that pop star singers should actually be able to sing and perform live without people considering them geniuses for it. Lots of struggling musicians wh can do it yet no one cares.