Lady Gaga - Annual Hot 100 Rolling Stone (June 2009)

Do I really need to tell you how much I adore Lady Gaga? Not only is she one of the most fashion forward celebrities around, she’s pretty damn talented too.

People have likened her to a young Madonna but I think it’s merely a comparison based on aesthetics and showmanship. When it comes to songwriting abilities, Lady Gaga is in a class of her own. Christina Aguilera clone? No WAY – it’s Christina’s who’s the clone. Born Stefani Jon Anson Germanotta, she is a songwriter by appointment to the Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears and New Kids on the Block, and a protégé of rapper Akon.

You’ve probably heard and seen it all, but here is the acoustic version of Poker Face. Gorgeous:

She has seen her share of less-glamorous times when she dropped out of NYU, moved out of her parents’ house and started performing downtown in the Lower East Side club scene, with bands Mackin Pulsifer and SGBand. Around the same time, she started doing cocaine and performing at burlesque shows. Lady Gaga said her father “just didn’t understand” it, and that he could not look at her for several months. This is an excerpt from the Guardian’s review of her album, The Fame:

“She’s also already a global commercial success. Her single Just Dance has made the top 10 everywhere from Australia to Switzerland and been nominated for a Grammy. It’s a beguilingly compulsive tale of pulling a drug-induced whitey, with a combination of clipped marching beats, sawing electronics and mild R&B flavour that bears a vague resemblance to Nelly Furtado’s Maneater.”

This is her acoustic version of Paparazzi. It takes guts and a whole lotta confidence to do a song just like that. She’s got chops: