Going Gaga

I know she’s been hot for months and months now, but Lady Gaga’s astronomical success these days makes me happy in pretty much all the right places. First, her songs are pure dance candy. They are strobe lights and disco balls and fuck-me heels all synched up to a beat so irresistible even your lawn ornaments want to get up from their grassy perches and Just goddamn Dance. But what really makes me happy about Lady Gaga is that she is so very gay. Not gay as in big old flannel-wearing lesbian gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that; hello, me, circa 1993-97). But gay as in a gay sensibility. Make no mistake, her music is for The Gays. That the straights like it too, well, it’s proof there may be hope for them after all. And, best of all, she knows it, too.

As she told MTV News last week:

“The turning point for me was the gay community. I’ve got so many gay fans and they’re so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They’ll always stand by me and I’ll always stand by them. It’s not an easy thing to create a fanbase. ... Being invited to play [the San Francisco Pride rally], that was a real turning point for me as an artist.”

I remember last summer I was following the first Logo NewNowNext Awards proceedings with a somewhat vested interest (cough, I still can’t believe you guys voted for me, cough). And they kept talking about this Lady Gaga who would be there. It was her first TV performance and wish I could shut my playboy mouth, but I couldn’t because my jaw hit the floor. What is this ridiculous, crazy, addictive, super gay fabulosity?

Lady Gaga is fun, the pure and unadulterated kind. Her concerts are equal parts dance extravaganza and performance art. Girlfriend turns it out. Oh, and she can actually sing. Lip sync that, Britney. The Gaga makes herself a moving target, one-upping even Madonna in continual reinvention. Yesterday unitards, today bubbles, tomorrow tea cups, and next week – shit, I don’t know, giant inflatable clown shoes? Also, she seems chronically allergic to pants. Not that I’m complaining.

Still, aways underneath it all runs and undercurrent of the outsider. Sure, she’s hotter than a red hot p-p-p-poker right now. But at her core she’s still a misfit, a bit of a weirdo. And that, that’s what else makes her so gay. Oh, that and the fact that she says her hit “Poker Face” is about bisexuality and in the video for “Love Game” she macks on a female cop. Like I was saying, so gay. Heck, she may even help turn that phrase into the compliment it should have been all along.

p.s. If you can’t wait to go gaga over Gaga on Ellen today, you can check out her performance now. Whatever you do, watch until the end. That hug is so gay. See, it’s already working.