Singapore, July 08: The international popstar kept more than 100 local and regional reporters waiting for nearly two hours before she turned up for a press conference on Thursday afternoon at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands.
And when the American singer-songwriter did appear, she entertained only three questions – all to do with her music and album – before ending the session abruptly in less than ten minutes. All in all, her interview time amounted to only seven minutes.
A question about the use of Gaga’s Bad Romance as the National Day Funpack song was shot down by host Soo Kui Jien before it was even completed and the reporter’s microphone was taken away.
The press conference also appeared to be tightly controlled by Lady Gaga’s management to avoid commenting on the issue.
Dressed in a beige dress, with a turquoise beehive hairdo, a pair of shades and white gloves, the 25-year-old is in town to perform at a private showcase for the second anniversary of SingTel’s AMPed music-download service.
Fans, or little monsters, who missed out on her private showcase need not despair, as the Mother Monster announced during the press conference that she will be back next year for a full concert tour.
While leaning comfortably on a black leather sofa at the question-and-answer session, Gaga described her new album, Born This Way, as her “baby” and that it celebrates individuality, as well as her story and the stories of her fans.
She also explained the concept of the music video for “The Edge of Glory”, one of her tracks in the Born This Way album, which has sold over 7 million copies worldwide.
The five-and-a-half minute clip features Gaga singing and dancing to the song on a fire escape and walking down an empty street – something almost too understated and simple in comparison to her other videos.
“I wanted to make something indicative of how I feel right now in my life,” said the superstar.
She shared her childhood memories on how she would “put on all her clothes” and dance on the fire escape outside her tiny apartment in New York, while listening to her music inspirations, such as Madonna, Blondie and David Bowie.
“I have this whole elaborate video planned for ‘The Edge of Glory’, but once I got on that fire escape and danced in that one outfit, I realised it was time to just have a moment of acknowledgement for myself, as a 25-year-old who’s been working so hard from the bottom up my whole life,” explained Gaga.
Although the singer was here to promote the AMPed service, it turned out that she did not breathe a single word of it during the press conference, a stark contrast to how she first promoted it in 2009 during the launch of the music service.
—Agencies