Lady Gaga has been the reigning queen of pop for over a decade now, but many fans still don’t know the true meaning behind her unique stage name and why she ditched her birth name
Lady Gaga is once again the talk of the town following the release of her latest album, Mayhem. She’s also been hitting headlines due to her accompanying tour, which saw fans desperately scrambling for tickets. Her new tracks ‘Abracadabra,’ ‘Disease,’ and ‘Garden of Eden’ have been a hit with her fanbase, affectionately known as Little Monsters.
Her performance at Coachella was another highlight, despite technical difficulties with her microphone. The incident led to the festival being humorously dubbed ‘Gagachella’, as she dominated conversations. When her mic failed, she simply quipped: “At least you know I sing live.”
But despite everyone going gaga for Gaga recently – there’s some trivia people are only just learning about the star. They’ve been interested to learn how she got her stage name.
Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, Lady Gaga shot to fame in 2008 with her debut album ‘The Fame,’ featuring hits like ‘Just Dance,’ ‘Poker Face,’ and ‘LoveGame. ‘ Her popularity has only grown since then.
She further cemented her status in pop culture with ‘Born This Way,’ an anthem for the LGBTQIA+ community, using its lyrics to foster inclusivity. But where did the stage name ‘Lady Gaga’ originate?
While there’s some debate over the exact story, it’s thought that the name was born out of an autocorrect mishap by her ex-partner and music producer, Rob Fusari. He reportedly began calling her ‘Gaga’ after she reminded him of the 1984 Queen song ‘Radio Gaga’.
Later, when he tried to text ‘Radio Gaga,’ autocorrect changed it to ‘Lady Gaga’. Since then, she’s adopted the name with pride, and in a 2010 tell-all, she revealed her desire to “reinvent” herself.
In that interview, she reportedly stated: “So I said, ‘What about Lady Gaga?’ because Gaga is sort of crazy and Lady has such connotations.”
So why not stick with her distinctive real name, Stefani Germanotta?
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Gaga expressed a deep connection to her stage persona, admitting her childhood wasn’t a walk in the park.
She confessed: “I’ve always been Gaga… I suppressed all those eccentricities about myself so I could fit in. Once I was free, I was able to be myself.”
It was at the tender age of four that Lady Gaga, displaying early signs of her musical genius, self-taught piano by ear and composed ‘Dollar Bills’ using “Mickey Mouse staff paper”.
In another heartfelt admission during an interview, she recounted: “I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn’t fit in, and I felt like a freak.”
Source: Mirror
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