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Lady Gaga knows exactly how to create buzz around herself. She's so good, in fact, that she's started to believe her own hype! In an interview in the March issue of Vogue (the cover of which she leaked on Twitter earlier this week), Gaga gushes about her talents and her conviction that her new album will single-handedly change the music world.
"Speaking purely from a musical standpoint, I think I am a great performer," Gaga says in the magazine. "I am a talented entertainer. I consider myself to have one of the greatest voices in the industry. I consider myself to be one of the greatest songwriters. I wouldn't say that I am one of the greatest dancers, but I am really quite good at what I do."
Gaga, 24, goes on to talk about her career as if she's on a divine mission to save her fans from an otherwise cruel world.
"I want for people in the universe, my fans and otherwise, to essentially use me as an escape," she explains. "I am the jester to the kingdom. I am the route out. I am the excuse to explore your identity. To be exactly who you are and to feel unafraid. To not judge yourself, to not hate yourself."
Gaga has been carrying out this mission with her three-year tour, which she compares to having open heart surgery: "I am quite literally chest open, exposed... bleeding for my fans and my music." And now she's going to do it with her forthcoming album, Born This Way. The title song, she says, is "magical" and came to her like "an immaculate conception." As for the album itself, she modestly declares that she's given her fans "nothing less than the greatest album of the decade."
What are we supposed to make of Lady Gaga's messiah complex? She's definitely not the first great artist to speak of herself like she's some kind of saint: Her self-admitted biggest influences have all done it at one point or another. David Bowie rose to fame in the persona of Ziggy Stardust, an alien sent to save the Earth. Madonna famously crucified herself on a giant lit-up cross during a recent concert tour. The Beatles, of course, once declared themselves "bigger than Jesus."
But what sets these artists apart is not their high opinion of themselves: It's the fact that they worked hard, never stopped innovating and didn't let anybody -- even their own fans -- tell them what they should or shouldn't be. Lady Gaga has most of these traits, which means she has the potential to be another superstar for the ages. But she needs to keep in mind that she's just starting out. At this point in her career, Gaga has a lot still to learn. Just as the Beatles studied in India, and Madonna learned to play the guitar in her 40s, Gaga needs to remember that she doesn't know it all. If she can stay just humble enough to do that, we'll all be humming Gaga songs for a long time to come.
Do you think Lady Gaga has too high an opinion of herself? Chime in below!
