If you’ve ever felt the pangs of fandom — heart attacks while waiting in Ticketmaster queues, showing up to the venue nearly a day before the performance, textbook knowledge of all the lore, feelings and interviews around your fav’s album and (of course) a beating desire to be able to speak with them (or, hell, dance with them) in person — then you’ll likely vibe with Spotify’s latest fan-focused event.
Last week, in a Brooklyn warehouse, Lady Gaga’s biggest fans (who answer to Little Monsters, thank you very much) were invited to an exclusive listening event to celebrate the release of her album, MAYHEM. The fits? Fabulous. The vibes? Immaculate. But no one expected the level of intimacy, as Gaga herself danced with fans in the warehouse, signed their vinyl (and bodies) and then sat down behind multiple microphones to answer their unvetted questions.
PAPER was lucky enough to be there and as we locked away our smartphones, swayed to the music blasting from the speakers and nodded in agreement as every massive fan asked their earnest question, one thing became crystal clear: there are fans and there are Little Monsters — and with every anecdote of Gaga’s life-changing impact on not only their lives but NYC’s club scene, it became clear that MAYHEM would be another chapter in an everlasting, matchless career.
Below, PAPER shares some of the highlights of the conference as well as a video of the unvetted Q&A session in full— paws up.
On Azelia Banks and “Ratchet”
Little Monster: Hi, I’m Mario.
Lady Gaga: Hello, Mario.
Little Monster: It’s been a long time.
Lady Gaga: I’ve seen you before.
Little Monster: You know our history. I put you on to a rapper, Azealia [Banks]. My question is, did you see her tweets about “Disease” — she was praising it.
Lady Gaga: I did.
Little Monster: Word. You know. Justice for “Ratchet.”
Lady Gaga: That too… this really is a Little Monsters press conference, it might as well be 5 AM.
On the Character She Embodies on “MAYHEM”
Little Monster: In the way you made the Harlequin album for the character, if MAYHEM had a character that you constructed that album for, who would it be?
Lady Gaga: The lady you’ve known for the last 20 years. I think MAYHEM for me is an integration of who I am in real life and who I am on stage and how I really started to celebrate bringing those two things together, two things that don’t really go together actually. Turns out that’s the whole me. This album holds all that tension the softness, who I am on the inside and the intensity I like to bring to my music and my stage performances and how I hold that in one space. For me that’s my personal mayhem, otherwise known as exercises in chaos.
On “Telephone Part 2” with Beyoncé
Little Monster: My one question is, what’s the tea on “Telephone Part 2?”
Lady Gaga: Somebody get my kettle! The tea on “Telephone Part 2” is that there will be. But I’m not gonna give it all away, you wouldn’t want that anyway.
Little Monster: A sneak peek, a taste or something?
Lady Gaga: I think that you should all call Beyoncé together.
On Her Impact on NYC
Little Monster: In “Abracadabra” you say, “Don’t waste time on a feelin’/ Use your passion, no return.” How does it feel to know that all of the passion you’ve put into the New York City nightlife has been shaped by that passion you’ve put into it? I can’t imagine going out to a club or bar in Brooklyn or Manhattan and not hearing Gaga in that bar. And if I don’t hear Gaga in that bar I’m getting the fuck out of it.
Lady Gaga: New York completely shaped who I am as an artist. I didn’t want to leave New York when it was time to go to college, because I felt like I hadn’t seen it all yet. Being on the Lower East Side especially with Lady Starlight — an amazing musician. That time was so special because I had this community and I was living in this area where everyone was a musician or writer or photographer or dancer or club promoter or bar tender working in the arts or nightlife and we all supported each other. And I would have never created my stage performances and my persona had that community not existed. It means a lot for my music to still play in New York and just to see you all here so vibrantly, that time… it feels like it’s still alive in you.
Little Monster: It’s really alive in all of us.
On Inspiring the New Generation
Little Monster: I wanted to start off by saying I’m a heavy supporter of you. I’m 19 years old I’ve been listening to you since I was five. I remember when my mom would tell me I would listen to “Telephone” with my t-shirt and her heels on. So, I wanted to say, you being a big celebrity you have a lot of haters and you don’t let that faze you. So I wanted to ask you: What inspirational speech can you give to the new generation?
Lady Gaga: You just go to do you and all you can do is your best. All any of us… this is just what I believe, I’m not really an authority on anything but this is what I believe… I think we’re all trying our best and that’s all we can do and sometimes people aren’t going to like it and that’s life. That’s a quote from a song I sang in Joker [Laughs]. You have to be willing to die on the sword of your work, too. I stand by everything I’ve made and things that I don’t stand by I know when I’m wrong and I can adjust myself and learn. It’s okay to make mistakes, too. We have to be, for ourselves, the inventor and conductor of our own symphony of our life and… it’s my music. When it’s all over it’s yours. I wouldn’t leave yourself behind is what I’m saying.
Photography: Arturo Holmes for Getty Images/Spotify