Lady Gaga: My biggest fear? Being alone
No one wants to be alone, and no job is more isolating than being a pop star. Just ask Lady Gaga.
BBC | Mark Savage | Music Correspondent
BBC | Mark Savage | Music CorrespondentNo one wants to be alone, and no job is more isolating than being a pop star.
Just ask Lady Gaga.
Her rise to fame in 2009-10 was unlike anything we'd seen before. One of the first pop stars to harness the power of the internet, she seemed to exist in a permanent onslaught of TMZ photos and gossip blogs.
Their appetite was voracious. She wore through so many looks and sounds in the space of three years that one critic wrote she was "speed-running Madonna's entire career".
And as her fame grew, the headlines became more unhinged. She staged a satanic ritual in a London hotel... She was secretly a hermaphrodite... She planned to saw her own leg off "for fashion".
When she attended the 2010 MTV Awards in a dress made entirely of meat, nobody seemed to get the joke: Gaga was presenting herself as fodder for the tabloids, there to be consumed.
On stage, she was an object of worship for her fans, the Little Monsters. But anyone who isn't a megalomaniac knows that that sort of adulation is a distant illusion.
"I'm alone, Brandon. Every night," Gaga told her stylist in the 2017 documentary, Five Foot Two.
"I go from everyone touching me all day and talking at me all day to total silence."
Now 38, and happily engaged to tech entrepreneur Michael Polansky, Gaga admits that those years of solitude scared her.
"I think my biggest fear was doing this by myself - doing life on my own," she tells the BBC.
"And I think that the greatest gift has been meeting my partner, Michael, and being in the mayhem with him."
Quick-fire questions with Lady Gaga
The couple have been together since 2020, and revealed their engagement at the Venice Film Festival last September - where Gaga wore her million-dollar engagement ring in public for the first time.
In person, it's dazzling, with a huge, oval-cut diamond set on an 18-karat white and rose gold diamond pavé band.
But on her other hand, Gaga sports a smaller, more understated ring, featuring a few blades of grass set in resin. It turns out that this is a really special one.
"Michael actually proposed to me with these blades of grass," she reveals.
"A long time ago, we were in the backyard, and he asked me, 'If I ever proposed to you, like, how do I do that?'
"And I just said, 'Just get a blade of grass from the backyard and wrap it around my finger and that will make me so happy'."
It was a deeply romantic gesture that came tinged with sadness. Gaga's backyard in Malibu had previously played host to the wedding of her close friend, Sonja Durham, shortly before she died of cancer in 2017.
"There was so much loss, but this happy thing was happening for me," she recalls of Polansky's proposal.
"To get engaged at 38... I was thinking about what it took to get to this moment."
Lady Gaga and Michael Polansky arrive at the Venice Film Festival in September, 2024
The concept art for Lady Gaga's new album references the idea of a dual or split personality
Those feelings ultimately informed a song on her new album, Mayhem.
Called (naturally) Blade of Grass, it finds the star singing about a "lovers' kiss in a garden made of thorns", and the promise of love in a time of darkness.
She calls it a "thank you" to her partner. And fans might have a reason to thank him, too.
Mayhem marks Gaga's full throttle return to pop, after a period where she'd been preoccupied with her film career, and spin-off albums that dabbled in jazz and the classic American songbook.
Speaking to Vogue last year, the singer revealed it was her fiancé who'd nudged her in that direction.
"He was like, 'Babe. I love you. You need to make pop music," she said.
"On the Chromatica tour, I saw a fire in her," Polansky added. "I wanted to help her keep that alive all the time and just start making music that made her happy."
'Angriest song'
With that approach, the album goes right back to the sucker-punch sound of Gaga's early hits like Poker Face, Just Dance and Born This Way.
On the latest single, Abracadabra, she even revisits the "roma-ma-ma" gibberish of Bad Romance – although this time there's a reference to death, as she sings, "morta-ooh-Gaga".
In the album's artwork, her face is reflected in a broken mirror. In the videos, she squares off against earlier versions of herself.
There's an overwhelming sense that the artist Stefani Germanotta is reckoning with the stage persona she created.
It all comes to a head on a track called Perfect Celebrity where she sings, "I became a notorious being" – a lyric that, like the meat dress before it, strips away her humanity.
"That's probably the most angry song about fame I've ever written," she says.
"I'd created this public persona that I was truly becoming in every way - and holding the duality of that, knowing where I begin and Lady Gaga ends, was really a challenge.
"It kind of took me down."
The star was besieged by media at the start of her career
How did she reconcile the public and private sides of her life?
"I think what I actually realised is that it's healthier to not have a dividing line and to integrate those two things into one whole human being," she says.
"The healthiest thing for me was owning that I'm a female artist and that living an artistic life was my choice.
"I am a lover of songwriting. I'm a lover of making music, of rehearsing, choreography, stage production, costumes, lighting, putting on a show.
"That is what it means to be Lady Gaga. It's the artist behind it all."
In previous interviews, the musician has spoken of how she dissociated from Lady Gaga. For a time, she believed the character was responsible for all her success, and she had contributed nothing.
Mayhem marks the moment where she reclaims ownership of her music, not just from "Lady Gaga" but from other producers and writers in her orbit.
"When I was younger, people tried take credit for my sound, or my image [but] all of my references, all of my imagination of what pop music could be, came from me.
"So I really wanted to revisit my earlier inspirations and my career and own it as my invention, for once and for all."
The singer surprised fans in France with previews of her new music last summer
From the outset, it was obvious that Gaga was excited about this new phase.
Last summer, after performing at the Olympics opening ceremony, she took to the streets of Paris and played early demos of her new music to fans who'd gathered outside her hotel.
It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, yet it marked another effort to restore the spontaneity of her early career.
"This has been something I've done for almost 20 years, where I played my fans my music way before it came out," she says.
"I used to, after my shows, invite fans backstage, and we'd hang out and I'd play them demos and see what they thought of the music.
"I'm sure you can imagine that after 20 years, you don't expect that people are still going to show up to hear your music and be excited to see you. So, I just wanted to share it with them, because I was excited that they were there."
Gaga's new music is a return to the maximalist, bone-shaking Europop of her early days
As an interviewer, this is a full-circle moment for me, too. I last interviewed Lady Gaga in 2009, as Just Dance hit number one in the UK.
Back then, she was giddy with excitement, chatting enthusiastically about her love of John Lennon, calling herself a "heroin addict" for English tea, and promising to email me an MP3 of Blueberry Kisses – an unreleased song that is, quite brilliantly, about performing a sex act while your breath smells of blueberry flavoured coffee.
Over the years, I've seen her interviews become more guarded. She'd wear outrageous costumes or jet-black sunglasses, deliberately putting a barrier between her and the journalist.
But the Gaga I meet in New York is the same one I spoke to 16 years ago: comfortable with herself, and brimming with enthusiasm.
She puts that ease down to "growing up and living a full life".
"Being there for my friends, being there for my family, meeting my amazing fiancé - all of these things made me a whole person, instead of the most important thing being my stage persona."
With an air of finality, she adds: "I wanted Mayhem to have an ending. I wanted the chaos to stop.
"I stepped away from the icon. It ends with love."
Top image credit: Interscope
A Unique Fela
Sometimes in life, one experiences a seminal moment that opens one's mind to new vistas. I had one of these encounters in the early 80s in Lagos, Nigeria. During this time, I was working for a major airline based in Lagos, and little did I know that not too far away from the airport hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, I was a stone's throw away from one of Africa's premier musicians. Fela Kuti was the self-proclaimed "King of African Music."
Ola George for YAME Digital
Fela Kuti
Afrobeat Pioneer | Nigerian Activist
Sometimes in life, one experiences a seminal moment that opens one's mind to new vistas. I had one of these encounters in the early 80s in Lagos, Nigeria. During this time, I was working for a major airline based in Lagos, and little did I know that not too far away from the airport hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, I was a stone's throw away from one of Africa's premier musicians. Fela Kuti was the self-proclaimed "King of African Music."
Locals took us to Fela's compound where we met the mercurial musician—a man of few words. However, you could sense his powerful energy.
The environment of his compound was always packed with various visitors, admirers, and his entourage.
Fela was born in 1938 to educated parents—one being a pastor and the other an activist and school teacher. Fela's parents wanted him to follow in the footsteps of his older brothers, who were doctors.
During his sojourn in England, Fela discovered the joys of music. Later on a trip to the United States, Fela became entranced by the African-American civil rights movement. He became more interested not only in the ideals of the movement but also in African nationalism and spirituality.
Fela Kuti, Afrobeat Pioneer | Nigerian Activist
On returning to Nigeria Fela became disenchanted with the state of politics, especially the brutality of the Biafran War.
Fela became the leading proponent of Afrobeat for his powerful horn playing and outspoken lyrics. He challenged the legitimacy of the Nigerian government and made many enemies for his outspoken lyrics.
The tension between his outspokenness led the Nigerian government to assault his compound. As a result, he was badly beaten and his mother was thrown out a window. Fela then found himself in the infamous Lagos Prison, Kiri-Kiri.
After his release from prison, Fela, bruised and battered, remained undeterred. He continued to criticize the corruption of government officials in his beloved Nigeria.
As his reputation grew, many people flocked to Lagos to experience this man's new sound, including Paul McCartney of The Beatles. Initially, Fela was wary of McCartney, expressing concern that he had come to Africa to appropriate the music of black artists.
After meeting McCartney, the two became fast friends. McCartney, after seeing Fela perform live, said that his mind was completely blown, leading to a mutual respect.
Inside Fela Kuti’s shrine, one of the world’s most sacred musical meccas
I had the pleasure of visiting the shrine where he performed. The shrine was Fela's primary venue in Lagos. Like McCartney, I was blown away by the intensity of his Afrobeat sounds.
The Afrobeat sound reverberated around the walls driven by Fela's passion for his craft.
Always a rebel, Fela contemplated running for president of Nigeria, a thought likely to cause heart palpitations in some segments of Nigerian society. His dedication to his music and ideology can be compared to that of Bob Marley. The king of Afrobeat passed away in 1997 at the age of 58. Although he is no longer with us, his legacy and memory will endure forever.
Music Is The Weapon
Ola George for YAME Digital — yame[dot]space. Join in on the conversation by posting comments about the sights and places you have visited during your travels. We hold Space for everyone on YAME.
Idris Elba: Why I'm Planning a Move To Africa
"I’m going to live in Accra, I’m going to live in Freetown [Sierra Leone’s capital], I’m going to live in Zanzibar. I’m going to try and go where they’re telling stories - that’s really important." British actor Idris Elba has told the BBC that he will relocate to Africa within the next decade as part of his plans to support the continent’s movie industry.
Thomas Naadi | BBC News, Accra"I’m going to live in Accra, I’m going to live in Freetown [Sierra Leone’s capital], I’m going to live in Zanzibar. I’m going to try and go where they’re telling stories - that’s really important." British actor Idris Elba has told the BBC that he will relocate to Africa within the next decade as part of his plans to support the continent’s movie industry.
Elba (right) attended the US Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC in 2022
Thomas Naadi | BBC News, AccraBritish actor Idris Elba has told the BBC that he will relocate to Africa within the next decade as part of his plans to support the continent’s movie industry.
The 52-year-old star of the hit series The Wire is behind nascent projects to build a film studio on the Tanzanian islands of Zanzibar as well as one in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.
Born in London, Elba, whose mother is from Ghana and father from Sierra Leone, has a strong attachment to Africa.
He wants to leverage his star power to back its burgeoning film business as he says it is vital that Africans get to tell their own stories.
"I would certainly consider settling down here; not even consider, it’s going to happen," he said in an interview on the sidelines of an industry meeting in Accra.
"I think [I’ll move] in the next five, 10 years, God willing. I’m here to bolster the film industry - that is a 10-year process - I won’t be able to do that from overseas. I need to be in-country, on the continent."
But in the spirit of Pan-Africanism, he will not commit to living in a specific place.
"I’m going to live in Accra, I’m going to live in Freetown [Sierra Leone’s capital], I’m going to live in Zanzibar. I’m going to try and go where they’re telling stories - that’s really important."
One goal he does have is to make a film in his studio in Accra one day.
'Own those stories'
Elba, who played South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela in the 2013 biopic Long Walk to Freedom, believes that it is vital for Africans to be center-stage in the entire film-making process. That is in front of the camera, behind the camera, and also in financing, distribution, marketing, and showing the final product.
He imagines that just as movie audiences around the world know the differences between the US cities of New York and Los Angeles without necessarily ever having visited them, they will one day have a more nuanced understanding of the continent.
"This sector is a soft power, not just across Ghana but across Africa.
"If you watch any film or anything that has got to do with Africa, all you’re going to see is trauma, how we were slaves, how we were colonised, how it’s just war and when you come to Africa, you will realise that it’s not true.
"So, it’s really important that we own those stories of our tradition, of our culture, of our languages, of the differences between one language and another. The world doesn’t know that."
With Nigeria’s Nollywood producing hundreds of movies a year, films are arguably one of the country’s most successful exports. There is also a tradition, especially in parts of Francophone Africa, of making high-quality films.
Elba has previously recognized the talent in Africa's film industry, but said the facilities were "lacking".
A 2022 report from UNESCO backed up the actor.
The UN's cultural agency said that despite "significant growth in production", the business of film-making across the continent was hindered by issues such as piracy, insubstantial training opportunities, and a lack of official film institutions.
Elba believes with the right momentum and involvement of governments willing to create an enabling environment, a virtuous circle can be established.
"We have to invest in our story-telling because when you see me, you see a little version of yourself and that encourages us."
Credit Source: BBC News, AccraRELATED
Sierra Leone on Wednesday, December 18, 2019: Elba’s visit to Sierra Leone had been long-awaited.
Social Critique of The Entertainment Industry And Its Fantastical Delusion
Diddy, Weinstein, and the like: The entertainment industry is being criticized for promoting a fantastical delusion. Diddy and The American Dream are seen as symbols of the patriarchal American Dream, which is believed to be based on lies. According to Shahid Bolsen, the creator of the Middle Nation Channel, everything that is said to be necessary to achieve the American dream is a lie, and this in itself is considered corruption.
Theo Edwards for YAME Digital
Diddy, Weinstein, and the like: A Fantastical Delusion
Theo Edwards for YAME Digital
The entertainment industry is being criticized for promoting a fantastical delusion. Diddy and The American Dream are seen as symbols of the patriarchal American Dream, which is believed to be based on lies. According to Shahid Bolsen, the creator of the Middle Nation Channel, everything that is said to be necessary to achieve the American dream is a lie, and this in itself is considered corruption.
Depraved figures like Diddy, Weinstein, and Jeffery Epstein, along with lesser-known individuals in communities everywhere, shamelessly exploit creativity, offering a disturbing glimpse into their lives. Shahid holds up the mirror to America. “Whenever you hear someone defending these actions, it's likely because they either desire that life or have lived it themselves —predator.”
This has got to be one of the most truthful social critiques of the entertainment industry as 'The Fantastical Delusion' of the American dream. For most of these people, the real goal when they want to attain wealth "...is to be degenerate.”#Metropolitan Detention Center | #Brooklyn | #Inmate Number: 37452-054
Sierra Leone Jollof Rice is the Best, Hands Down!
I'm sure you've heard about the Nigerian/Ghanaian jollof battle. Well, we let the amateurs make all the noise. However, they know where to get the best Jollof.
By Theo Edwards
Rebecca Grace Foray gave Sierra Leone the win at the 2024 Jollof Rice Competition in Sydney, Australia
Saturday 27 April 2024, from 5pm till 8pm, Liverpool's finest chefs go head-to-head to compete for the coveted title of the city's best homemade jollof rice
I'm sure you've heard about the Nigerian/Ghanaian jollof battle. Well, we let the amateurs make all the noise. However, they know where to get the best Jollof.
Jollof rice is an incredibly popular West African dish made with rice, tomatoes, onions, a variety of hot peppers, and a unique selection of spices. It is prepared differently across the region, with Nigerians, Ghanaians, Liberians, Senegalese, Cameroonians, and Sierra Leoneans having all developed their unique and delicious versions of this dish.
The debate over which version of jollof rice is superior is often passionate and sometimes deadly serious. Each country strongly believes its version is the best and most authentic, leaving little room for doubt.
As part of the 2024 Motherland African Festival, Australia celebrates the many flavors of Africa with a jollof rice cooking competition, and the winner takes home $1,000 (one thousand dollars).
This was a competition for the ultimate culinary crown, with a variety of flavors and techniques on display.
Hands-down! Rebecca Grace Foray, a young Sierra Leonean, was announced the highly coveted award for the most delicious Jollof Rice in the 2024 Best Jollof Rice competition.
The mayor of Liverpool City Council, Mayor Ned Mannoun, presented the award.
However you make it, this West African dish of rice, tomatoes, lots of peppers, and lots of spice is an excellent centerpiece for Sunday dinner.
The Motherland African Festival was an amazing experience for foodies!
The festival brought delicious flavors from Sudan, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ethiopia, and more that were available at the Macquarie Mall. Mukimo, chargrilled plates, fufu - I can only imagine how tantalizing they must have been!
Showbiz after Virus Pain
The coronavirus pandemic has turned the world's arts calendar upside down, as artists and organizers around the world are either postponing or canceling festivals, concerts, tours, theatre shows, movie premieres, and film and television productions, some in the middle of shooting.
By Ernestina Woode: Courtesy Benson Afful
Will the industry survive the turbulence
By Ernestina Woode: Courtesy Benson Afful
Deals, tours, and entertainment shows are either suspended or canceled after the outbreak of the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which brought the world on its knees.
The coronavirus pandemic has turned the world's arts calendar upside down, as artists and organizers around the world are either postponing or canceling festivals, concerts, tours, theatre shows, movie premieres, and film and television productions, some in the middle of shooting.
Music Stars called off concert gigs and tours as the contagion spread the globe. 'Travel restrictions imposed on international travel and large public events in response to the coronavirus COVID-19.'
If the pandemic intensifies, entertainment pundits argued, will cost Ghana millions of cedis. The industry contributes to Ghana's national GDP. Already the government has said it will spend GHc1billion under a Coronavirus Alleviation Program to cushion Ghanaians as the government tightens measures to control the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Announcing the package, President Akufo-Addo said the amount would mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on businesses, households, and ensure job losses minimized.
PHOTO: King Promise, a Ghanaian musician, had to cancel his international trips because of COVID-19.
Ghanaians await the impact the stimulus package will have on all the various sectors of the economy, some questions asked are how much will be diverted into the creative arts sectors, and will the amount enough to reduce the loss of the industry-players?
One of the country’s biggest entertainment events in the industry, the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards expected to take place this year, has setbacks as the world unable to predict when the pandemic likely be under control. The nominees’ jam of the VGMA scheduled for The 4th of April at the Koforidua Jackson Park, was postponed. In compliance with the National Directives on Public Gathering due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like the VGMA, many event organizers have already invested in, will have to be postponed to an unknown date. A situation is likely to hurt an already devastating industry in the country.
Ghanaian musician King Promise has postponed his on-going world tour due to the outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Having already performed in Berlin, Hamburg, Brescia, and Amsterdam from 5th March, the Commando hitmaker’s 8th March sold-out London show was the biggest yet and had everyone talking. His next stop happens to be Canada has, however, been postponed due to the outbreak.
Stonebwoy's American concert also adds to the number of shows put on hold due to the contagion. The artist, through his management, released a statement saying, the US government banned all large gatherings in the country after the World Health Organization (WHO) labeled coronavirus a pandemic.
"Our team has tried everything in our ability to make this show happen; however, the government has restricted every large gathering at this time as seen on every major news outlet," the statement read.
The management of Omni Media, operators of Citi FM, and Tv announced the same night, the President directive closure of public events that it had suspended all of its outdoor events in line with the president’s directive.
The affected events, the Accra Music Expo scheduled March 21, 2020, and the Music of Ghanaian Origin (MOGO), originally scheduled March 28, 2020.
It is, however, incumbent on all stakeholders as well as investors in the showbiz industry as a matter of urgency to start developing strategies that will help rejuvenate the sector after the virus is defeated in the country. The creative arts sector in an economy drives economic growth when policies relevant to the industry are implemented.
In 2019, the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts released a report that shows that the Arts industry contributes 4.2 % of the gross domestic product, representing $763.3 billion.
The Arts industry has contributed more to GDP than agriculture, warehousing, and transportation employing 4.9 million people who earn $370 billion. In the United Kingdom, the creative industry grew at twice the rate of the economy contributing more than £85 billion in 2015, representing 5% of the UK economy’s gross value added at that time as published by the Department for Digital, Media, Culture, and Sport.
In 2010, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported that cultural activities contributed to 1.53% of Ghana’s GDP.
Ackee and Saltfish: A Jamaican navigates the taste of home
Source: This post is from Aljazeera: By Summer EldemireJamaicans have transformed a history of pain into delicious food, but what if you are allergic to your national dish?
Jamaicans have transformed a history of pain into delicious food, but what if you are allergic to your national dish?
Source: This post is from aljazeera: By Summer Eldemire
"Oh my goodness, that banana is green, how can you eat that?" asks my uncle.
It is 7am and the banana I am about to put into my smoothie is not technically green. But it's also not so ripe that it's brown, the way we Jamaicans usually eat them. After 10 years living away from my home, I have gotten used to eating the barely ripe tasteless bananas that grace the shelves of Key Foods in Brooklyn, New York, where I live for most of the year.
Each time I return home for vacation, my family and friends giggle at all the "foreign" habits I have picked up. Green banana? A runny egg? Almond milk? My cousins shake their heads as I make myself breakfast.
We Jamaicans are an exclusive set of people - citizenship is not something that is automatically renewed, it is a relationship you must fight for. You earn it by keeping up with the latest dances, the new slang, and displaying your loyalty by hunting down Jamaican food wherever you are and loudly despising all other cuisines. Take your eyes off the culture for a second and you will find yourself left behind.