Lady Gaga hunting for Iglesias look-alike?

Pop star Lady Gaga is apparently hunting for Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias' look-alike to star in her forthcoming video.

Gaga is preparing to shoot the promo for her new single, "The Edge of Glory", this weekend and the casting bosses are hunting for a suitable match for her to kiss in it.

According to the notice, obtained by E! Online, the star wants an attractive, "Puerto Rican or Dominican type bada**... who must be willing to kiss Lady Gaga...think Enrique Iglesias."

Lady Gaga's promotional blitz for new album offers new business model

NEW YORK, The release of a pop star's album usually comes with the typical cross-marketing splash — strategic magazine covers, a few major TV appearances, and perhaps a cosmetics or fashion deal to remind the public a new project awaits.


Yet the social media-powered blitz connected to this week's drop of Lady Gaga's third album, "Born This Way," is bordering on epic, with partnerships ranging from Starbucks to FarmVille, and virtual giveaways of the album's 17 tracks. It also represents the kind of bold, new business model that could help rejuvenate a deflated music industry.


Gaga already had a slew of magazine covers, from Rolling Stone to Vogue, and appeared on every high profile show, from Oprah Winfrey to "American Idol" to "Saturday Night Live," as well as her own HBO concert special.


But she hasn't stopped there. Starbucks — typically home to easy-on-the-ears artists like Emmylou Harris — is selling her album as well as launching a "digital scavenger hunt" for Gaga-inspired goods; Google Chrome debuted a commercial with Gaga with a track from the album; the online fashion outlet Gilt Groupe partnered with Gaga to offer Gaga-inspired clothing and VIP performances; Best Buy is giving away the album to anyone who purchases a mobile phone with a contract; and Zynga, creator of the popular online game "FarmVille," created "GagaVille," which allowed fans access to exclusive Gaga songs.


As if that wasn't enough, on Monday, Amazon.com sold "Born This Way" for just 99 cents as a promotion for their new music cloud service, creating a demand so strong it disrupted the online retailing giant's servers for a time.


And it looks like the campaigns are paying off: Gaga's album is estimated to sell anywhere between a half-million to a million copies when the top album charts are revealed next week.
"It was really about expanding the distribution on this album and going into as many non-traditional retail partnerships and non-traditional marketing partnerships as possible," Gaga's manager, Troy Carter, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "Just with the diminishing music labels, you want to find quality partners where you know you can reach new audiences and being able to push boundaries as well."

Among the promotions connected with "Born This Way" is the Disney Mobile Tapulous game Tap Tap Revenge, which gives fans access to the entire album and other content if they buy the game,"Born This Way Revenge," for $4.99. It's the first time Tapulous has put out 17 tracks with a game for that price.


Tim O'Brien, vice-president of business development at Disney Mobile, said this was the third deal with Gaga, resulting in the total sale of five million songs so far.
While they've worked with other pop artists with their Tap Tap Revenge app, he said Gaga — who has 10 million followers on Twitter and was recently crowned Forbes' most influential celebrity in part because of her tens of millions of followers online — is an act with unique appeal.


"I've never seen anything as powerful as when Gaga hits her social media channels compared to anyone else that we've worked with," he said. "I've never seen anything like it in terms of how she's utilizing social media."


In pop history, there have been plenty of attention-grabbing publicity campaigns for debuting albums: Who can forget the huge statues Jackson had erected of himself and placed across the world for his "HIStory" album, or when the Backstreet Boys hit six continents in four days to promote "Black and Blue"? Then there was Jay-Z, who performed in seven cities in 17-hours for his comeback album, "Kingdom Come."


But Bill Werde, editorial director of Billboard, calls Gaga's promotional efforts "more of a landmark campaign" for the new music industry.
"There's nothing about Gaga that's subtle, so I don't see why her marketing campaign would be any different," he added.


One of the more unusual promotions was Amazon's decision to sell the MP3 version of Gaga's album for 99 cents on Monday, the day of its release, as part of its Amazon Cloud Drive, which gives consumers personal digital storage space on a remote network or cloud; 20 gigabytes of cloud space came with the album. However, there was such a demand it caused delays for Amazon's customers, a spokeswoman said.


Though some people questioned the decision to basically give the album away, Carter wasn't concerned at all, calling the promotional idea "incredible."
"I am more concerned about piracy and people stealing the music. If you can get somebody to experience the music at that sort of price for one day only, I think it gets a lot of attention for the album," he added.


Werde said that's key in an age where album sales are deflated and serve more as a promotional tool for the artist's other money-making projects, including touring, in an industry more focused on what is called the 360-model of generating revenue.


"It's one of first big superstar releases that really grasps the potential of the new music business that everybody is talking about," he said. "For a superstar artist like a Gaga, the sale of recorded music — not the quality of the music, mind you, but the sale of recorded music— really gets sort of assumed as a marketing cost to drive this 360-engine."


Carter says his data indicates Gaga may sell over 500,000 copies in the first week, and perhaps 700,000; Werde said "Born This Way" could go as high as one million.
But Carter says the unique marketing tools used leading up to and during the album's release wasn't just to achieve monster sales for the album's debut.


"Nobody ever pays attention in the second week," he said. "For us it's about being in this album cycle for the next 18 to 24 months."
It seems Gaga-mania won't be easing anytime soon. Source: The Canadian Press

Lady Gaga hatches new album, to mixed reviews

Pop provocateur Lady Gaga unveils her second full-length album this week, three years after taking the music world by storm -- but while sales will likely be huge, early reviews are mixed.

True to her social media-friendly form, the 25-year-old is releasing "Born This Way" in unconventional style by posting some songs on online social game Farmville ahead of Monday's launch, as well as other singles already issued.

The title track was released in February, shortly before Gaga -- real name Joanne Angelina Germanotta -- caused a storm by turning up inside a giant translucent egg at the music industry's annual Grammys awards show.

"I want to celebrate and share 'Born This Way' with my little monsters in a special way that's never been done before," Gaga said of the release of excerpts on her in-game "GagaVille" farm last week.

Her "little monsters" are the legions of fans who worship the star, whose hit singles from her first album, "The Fame," included "Bad Romance," "Paparazzi" and "Poker Face."

Gaga has sold over 15 million albums and 51 million singles worldwide, won five Grammys and was included in Time's list of the most influential people and the top 10 of Forbes' world's "100 Most Powerful Women," her website says.

Compared by some to chameleon-like pop legends David Bowie and Madonna, she has rocketed into the pop stratosphere despite only having made one full-length album, "The Fame" in 2008, followed by 2009's eight-track "The Fame Monster."

So the spotlight on her new record is intense.

But despite a massive publicity blitz and the likelihood that her fans will buy it in huge numbers whatever critics say, pre-release reviews have been decidedly mixed.

Britain's Guardian newspaper gave it four out of five stars, lauding Gaga as "the most exciting, confounding and mind-bogglingly creative artist on planet pop," while MTV talked about the album's 14 "darkly sumptuous tracks."

But Entertainment Weekly, noting that the album has leaked online already, called in "an inconsistent blend of icy techno-pop and greeting-card empowerment that's more a triumph of production than songwriting."

The LA Times sniffed: "Say what you want about Lady Gaga, but nuance is not one of her strong points, nor is musical adventure. She's unsubtle in her message, unsubtle in her dress, and most important, unsubtle aesthetically."

The New York-born star's ability to drive fans into a frenzy is already legendary, helped by her being a leader of the first generation of stars to use social media to connect with her audience.

Last week she became the first person with more than 10 million followers on Twitter, while she was the first artist to top a billion views on video sharing website YouTube.

The singer has quickly become part of the pop star firmament: in April Elton John revealed that he and his partner David Furnish had chosen Lady Gaga to be their newborn baby boy's godmother.

She has also made waves on political issues: in November she used her celebrity platform to press for repeal of a US law forbidding gays from serving openly in the military.

But for all her ubiquity, critics say she should focus on the music.

"If Gaga had only spent as much time on pushing musical boundaries as she has social ones, 'Born This Way' would have been a lot more successful," said the LA Times.

The Washington Post's reviewer was more blunt, lamenting: "Whether by fluke, curse or cosmic coinky-dink, Lady Gaga's new music is everything that she's not. It's boring." (AFP)

Lady GaGa: 'I want to be relevant in 100 years'

Lady GaGa has revealed that she wants to leave behind a legacy.

The 'The Edge of Glory' singer said that she still wants to be "relevant" in 100 years' time.

She told The Mirror: "It's my biggest dream. I'm not really concerned with whether I'm relevant in the year 2011. It's much more important for me to be relevant 100 years from now. I want to leave a big legacy behind."

The 25-year-old, who recently split from her boyfriend Luc Carl, explained that she gets the inspiration from her songs by visiting different places, most recently a German sex club.

She commented: "I wrote 'Scheiße' in Berlin. I had been to a wonderful club called Lab.Oratory. They have these crazy fetish and sex parties there. It really reminded me a lot of all the places I used to appear in as a dancer earlier in New York."

GaGa also admitted that she prefers to be alone when she has spare time.

She added: "On the whole when I have free time I don't tend to do a lot with other people. I like to be alone. That's important for me and it gives me a good balance with the rest of my life. In my profession I am permanently surrounded by so many people. That's why I enjoy being alone so much.

"I get scared sometimes that I will lose myself, that everything could become too much. Luckily there are a lot of people who take good care of me."

Lady GaGa, Oprah, Bieber 'most powerful celebs

Lady GaGa has been declared the most powerful celebrity in the world.

The 'Judas' singer ranked top on Forbes's list of the 100 most powerful celebrities, which takes into account a celebrity's income, social media and web presence, and the amount of press and TV coverage they receive.

GaGa, who earned $90 million (£56m) over the past 12 months, topped the list due to her extensive social media coverage, which includes 32 million Facebook fans and more than 10 million Twitter followers.

Last year's winner Oprah Winfrey fell to second place in 2011. Despite earning $290 million (£180m) over the past year, she notably ended her longrunning talk show Oprah earlier this week.

Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber took third place with his $53 million (£33m) earnings and extensive YouTube and Twitter presence.

The remainder of the top ten in order consists of U2, Elton John, Tiger Woods, Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi, Simon Cowell and LeBron James.

Other notable changes include Leonardo DiCaprio's jump from 71 to 15 following the release of two highly successful films over the past year, and Britney Spears somehow managing to drop off the list entirely.

In previous years, the likes of Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson have all been named the most powerful celebrities in the world, while Winfrey herself has won the title four times in the past.

Lady GaGa nets 10m Twitter followers

Lady GaGa has become the first celebrity to amass ten million followers on Twitter.

The 'Judas' singer reached the milestone earlier today and immediately took to the social networking website to thank fans for their continued support.

She wrote: "10MillionMonsters! I'm speechless, we did it! Its an illness how I love you. Leaving London smiling. (sic)"

The 25-year-old also posted a glamorously styled picture of herself bidding farewell to reporters in the capital.

GaGa became the first celebrity to win nine million Twitter followers in March after overtaking Britney Spears as the most popular star on the site last August.

The 'Edge Of Glory' artist will also celebrate the online achievement with a set at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Carlisle today.

The star yesterday used the social networking site to unveil the artwork for 'Hair', the latest promotional single to be released from her upcoming album Born This Way.

Lady GaGa splits from boyfriend Luc Carl

Lady GaGa has confirmed that she has split from long-time boyfriend Luc Carl.

The couple's on-and-off relationship was reportedly the inspiration for many of the tracks on GaGa's debut album The Fame and a source close to the couple indicated last October that GaGa and Carl underwent a spiritual commitment ceremony in Crete.

During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, the 'Edge of Glory' singer was quizzed as to whether she is still in a committed relationship.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend and haven't been on any dates recently," she admitted.

GaGa is currently in the UK to headline Radio 1's Big Weekend in Carlisle on Sunday. Digital Spy will be bringing you news, interviews and photos from the Radio 1 music festival all weekend - view our guide to the lineup and click here to stay abreast of our full coverage

Earlier this week, the musician mentored American Idol's top four finalists in the US and also jetted off to France to perform 'Judas' at the Cannes Film Festival.

Her sophomore album Born This Way is released on May 23.

Lady GaGa gig raises millions for NY charity

Lady GaGa's performance at a benefit concert for the Robin Hood Foundation helped raise $47.4m (£28.8m) for the New York charity.

Stars including David Letterman, Kelly Ripa, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his wife Gisele Bündchen attended the fundraising event, while Kid Rock and Tony Bennett joined Lady GaGa, who arrived in a giant glowing egg, as the evening's entertainment.

The 'Edge of Glory' singer's appearance at the annual gala fetched ticket prices as high as $250,000 (£152,000) per table at the Jacob K Javits Convention Centre, the New York Post's Page Six reports.

A portion of the millions raised will benefit Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, while the Robin Hood Foundation will also provide aid to fight poverty in New York.

The charity organisation was formed in 1988 to help provide relief for impoverished New York residents. Aside from its aid for the poor, it has helped support the victims of the 9/11 attacks and their families.

It was announced last week that the Black Eyed Peas are to hold a free concert in Central Park in July in order to raise awareness for the Robin Hood Foundation.

Meanwhile, GaGa will release tracks from her sophomore album Born This Way through the social networking FarmVille.

Lady GaGa: I'm here to cause a ruckus'

Lady GaGa has spoken out against claims that her video for new single 'Judas' is religiously offensive, but admitted that she does enjoy causing controversy.

The video for 'Judas' premiered last night, and depicts GaGa as biblical character Mary Magdalene stuck in a love triangle with both Jesus and Judas, who are portrayed by Rick Gonzalez and Norman Reedus respectively.

"I believe I was put on this earth to cause a ruckus," GaGa told E! News when asked about the heavily criticised video.

"At the beginning when I came out with 'Just Dance' I couldn't get an interview, I couldn't get on the radio," GaGa explained. "I just want to keep making stuff that's great and thought-provoking."

GaGa downplayed claims that the video is religiously offensive, insisting that it was just a way for her to express her interest in religious art.

"In my opinion, the only controversial thing about this video is that I'm wearing Christian Lacroix and Chanel in the same frame," GaGa joked. "The video is not meant to be an attack on religion, I respect and love everyone's beliefs."

Lady Gaga bans ice from her concerts

Pop star Lady Gaga has reportedly banned ice from her shows as she is terrified of fans throwing ice on her during concerts.

Gaga has toured all over the world with her Monster Ball shows and everywhere she takes her list of demands, which has been leaked online, reports dailystar.co.uk.

The list includes banning ice from drinks 30 minutes prior to a performance as she is terrified of being pelted by fans with ice during her concerts.

The document, obtained by The Smoking Gun website, also discloses her eating habits which includes smoothies, dried fruit, natural yoghurt and low-fat cereals.

Main course meals usually are grilled chicken breast with rice and "healthy white fish with salad".

Lady Gaga to donate 625,000 pounds to help homeless youth

Pop superstar Lady Gaga has teamed up with Robin Hood Foundations and she will donate 625,000 pounds to help homeless youth. She is asking her fans to help her pick a worthy charity.

"I'm thrilled to be working with the Robin Hood Foundation to distribute funds to help the youth of New York City. NYC is my hometown and I think investing in these kids' future will go a long way," dailystar.co.uk quoted Gaga as saying.

She will select the charity through a poll on the Facebook. The 25-year-old has asked her fans to vote for the most deserving organisation. The winner, to be announced at a Robin Hood Foundation gala May 9, will receive 313,000 pounds over a two-year period, while the other charities will receive smaller grants.

Lady Gaga 'feels overwhelmed by fame'

Lady Gaga, known for her outrageous outfits and seemingly endless confidence, has confessed on a TV show that she feels overwhelmed by her fame.

The sentiment features in her forthcoming HBO special where she plays Madison Square Garden.

“That was a huge benchmark moment in my life. I''m 25 years old. I was asked to play Madison Square Garden. Sold out five nights and quite frankly it''s very overwhelming,” the Daily Mail quoted her as telling Ellen DeGeneres.

On being asked about her comments made on the documentary that she feels like a ‘loser, Gaga replied, “Well, in that moment I was very excited and nervous, do I feel like a loser sometimes? Yes, of course I do. We all feel like losers sometimes.”

Lady GaGa: Madonna rip-off claim "retarded"

Lady GaGa has branded an interviewer's suggestion that her single 'Born This Way' is a rip-off of Madonna's 1989 hit 'Express Yourself' as "retarded".

In an interview with NME, the musician briskly responded to a question about the melodic resemblance between the two songs.

"I'm a songwriter. I've written loads of music," GaGa asserted. "Why would I try to put out a song and think I'm getting one over on everybody? That's retarded."

She continued: "What a completely ridiculous thing to even question me about… If you put the songs next to each other, side by side, the only similarities are the chord progression.

"It's the same one that's been in disco music for the last 50 years. Just because I'm the first f**king artist in 25 years to think of putting it on Top 40 radio, it doesn't mean I'm a plagiarist, it means that I'm f**king smart. Sorry!"

The star went on to profess that 'Born This Way' was divinely inspired, remarking: "I feel like, honestly, God sent me those lyrics and that melody... There's no way for something that pure to be wrong."

GaGa previously responded to criticism of the track by telling Tonight Show host Jay Leno that she'd received a supportive e-mail from Madonna and her representatives.

"I am the hugest fan personally and professionally, and the good news is I got an email from her people and her sending me love and complete support," GaGa claimed at the time.

Lady GaGa: 'I won't get plastic surgery'

Lady GaGa has vowed never to have plastic surgery.

In a recent interview with Harper's Bazaar, the popstar claimed that plastic surgery is more harmful than body modification meant as an artistic expression.

"I've never had plastic surgery," GaGa said.

The 'Born This Way' singer added: "I think that promoting insecurity in the form of plastic surgery is infinitely more harmful than an artistic expression related to body modification".

GaGa, who fell on stage during a live performance in Houston recently, described her forthcoming second album as "heroin", claiming that "the [album's] experience gets massively more intense as you explore it".

The second single from the album, titled 'Judas', is to be released on April 19.

Lady GaGa gets Bollywood remix treatment

Lady GaGa's 'Born This Way' has been remixed as a Bollywood track.

The singer-songwriter has collaborated with music composers Salim-Sulaiman on the Hindi film-themed version of her current release, Desi Hits reports.

GaGa's manager Troy Carter, revealed: "We collaborated with Indian music producers from across the globe to show our respect and appreciation for our Desi fans and the music community.

"We're looking forward to more Desi collaborations in the near future."

Gaga recently received praise from actress Priyanka Chopra, after the two met at Madison Square Garden.

The performer is also rumoured to be filming a video for Shah Rukh Khan's forthcoming superhero project Ra.One.

The music star's new single 'Judas' has been confirmed for an April 19 release.

Lady Gaga danced on bleeding feet

Singer Lady Gaga proved she is prepared to suffer for her art when she danced until her feet bled on the set of one of her music videos.

The pop star wore a pair of sky-high Christian Louboutin shoes to film her "Love Game" promo and considered stopping the shoot when she realised her strenuous routine was leaving her with deep cuts on her toes, reports aceshowbiz.com.

But after some words of encouragement from her creative director Laurieann Gibson, Gaga resolved to keep dancing despite her bleeding feet.

"There was one time during the LoveGame video, she had on Louboutins for the first time and we're dancing on cement. Her toes were knocking against the shoes because my choreography is very challenging," said Gibson.

"But she kept dancing and her feet were bleeding. It was almost the last couple of shots, and she limps over to me and she says, 'Oh, my feet are hurting me,' and I said, 'You told me you wanted to a superstar... You dance till they say cut'," he added.

Lady Gaga, Rebecca Black: O nominees

MTV finally created an awards show to support categories like “best music hashtag meme,” “most viral dance” and “favorite f- yeah Tumblr.”

The O Music Awards, announced on Tuesday, will be presented in a live web cast on omusicawards.com come April 28. The digital awards show will honor digital music and the web.

“Your life is online, your music is digital, and that’s worth celebrating,” MTV writes on the awards show’s web site.

Each of the 19 categories – ranging from best fan cover to must follow artist on Twitter – boast a different number of nominees. By logging in to Twitter or Facebook, people are able to vote for one of the nominees listed, or submit a new candidate of their choosing.

Are you planning on voting? You might have to act fast. Each category closes at a different time – some in just 10 days.

Favorite animated GIF - a file comprised of different images that are displayed on repeat - is one category we’ve never seen presented at the Kodak Theatre. The nominees in the web-specific category include Lady Gaga’s “Finger Lickin Good,” Nicki Minaj’s “Gum Twirl,” Rihanna and Katy Perry’s “Catgfight” and 50 Cent, Rebecca Black and Bert’s “Which Seat Can I Take?” - among others.

That’s right - viral sensation Rebecca Black is nominated for an O Music Award.

The “O,” which most commonly refers to “online,” “has been purposely left open to interpretation to generate a reaction and spur conversation,” according to a statement Wired obtained from the network.

Will you tune in to the web on April 28 to watch the first ever O Music Awards?

Credit: marquee.blogs.cnn.com

Lady Gaga becomes first person to have 9m Twitter followers

Pop star Lady Gaga has become the first person to have nine million followers on micro blogging site Twitter.

The eccentric singer became the most popular person on the social networking site last August overtaking Britney Spears when they both had just over 5.7 million followers, reports the BBC.

She joined Twitter in 2008 with her first Tweet saying she was rehearsing for the ‘Just Dance’ video.

Justin Bieber is the second most popular celebrity on the site, with just over 8.3 million followers.

Gaga''''s latest single, ‘Born This Way’, is at number one in the Billboard Hot 100 and made it to number three in the official UK singles chart.

The star also has 31 million fans on Facebook and her videos have had more than a billion views on YouTube.

Happy birthday Lady Gaga

NEW YORK: It feels like Lady Gaga has been around for ages, so it’s hard for us to believe that the pop star is only celebrating her 25th birthday today Monday!

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, born March 28, 1986, better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American pop singer-songwriter. After performing in the rock music scene of New York City's Lower East Side in 2003 and later enrolling at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, she soon signed with Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records.

During her early time at Interscope, she worked as a songwriter for fellow label artists and captured the attention of Akon, who recognized her vocal abilities, and signed her to his own label, Kon Live Distribution.

Gaga came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album The Fame (2008), which was a commercial success and achieved international popularity with the singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face".

Gaga is well-recognized for her outré sense of style in fashion, in performance and in her music videos. Her contributions to the music industry have garnered her numerous achievements including five Grammy Awards, amongst twelve nominations; two Guinness World Records; and the estimated sale of fifteen million albums and fifty-one million singles worldwide.

Lady Gaga urges Malaysian fans to protest gay lyric censorship

Pop star Lady Gaga has urged fans in Malaysia to protest over her gay lyrics in 'Born This Way' single being censored.

Malaysian radio stations are playing edits of the song because they fear fines if they broadcast lyrics which promote acceptance of gay people, reports the BBC.

Speaking at a Google''s Californian HQ, Gaga said it was fans'' "duty as young people to have their voices heard".

"You must do everything that you can if you want to be liberated by your society, you must call, you must not stop, you must protest peacefully," the singer added.

In the song, she sings, "no matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian trans gendered life, you were born this way".