Lady Gaga is a creation, but an authentic one

But most fascinating is what has been described as the defining period in Gaga’s life: her days immersing herself in the drug and sex haze of the New York City party circuit in her “journey to Gaga.” A fan of Andy Warhol and the Studio 54-lifestyle, her research into that era involved cocaine, sexual experimentation and other eyebrow-raising behavior.

While Gaga is not ashamed of that phase, she’s frustrated so much has been made of it — especially the drug use.

“I think it’s a terrible message to young people that you have to ruin your life in order to make music, because I don’t think you have to,” she says. “But it’s just the way my brain and my heart and my obsession for love and art were functioning at the time.”

It also plays into the mystique of Gaga as an artsy, kooky figure who rode her love of mirrored disco balls and club culture to the top of the charts. But in describing her plan for success, while she constantly professes her love for making art, she also sounds as strategic as a veteran record exec.

“I went to art school, I studied pop culture, I know everything about music and iconography, pop, cultural and religious,” she says. “I’m self-manufactured. ... (I look) at it not as poison or lowbrow, but looking at it in a very highbrow way, and self-making myself to be a powerful visionary and say something that will genuinely speak to people.”

Gaga draws comparisons to Madonna, in the same way that the Material Girl pushed the envelope culturally and sexually when she emerged from the dance clubs years ago. And she is a huge fan of Madonna, who came to check out Gaga when she performed recently in New York: an excited Gaga gushed with excitement when she heard that her idol — who, like Gaga is of Italian descent — was coming to her show.

But when Gaga sees similarities to Madonna, she doesn’t see them artistically.

“I think what they’re more genuinely drawing upon is the strong ambitious part more than anything. I think that’s what — and I hope I’m not being hyperbolic — but I would like to think that’s what I share with her more than anything, is my ambition, and my strength,” she says.

Hitmaking producer RedOne, who worked with Gaga before she was dropped by Def Jam at 19 and ended up producing several records on “The Fame,” including “Poker Face” and “Just Dance,” says the singer’s confidence is partly what drew him to working with her.

“The moment I met her, I was like, ‘Oh, she looks like a star’ — she had this thing about her,” he says. “That’s the kind of artist I was looking for to showcase my music, a real artist in every way. ... She took it to the next level for every artist.”

When asked how she managed to not only get, but also retain that kind of self-confidence in an industry that feeds on the insecurity of artists, Gaga says simply: “Because that’s your fame. That’s where your fame lives. ... my luminosity. My constant flashing light. It’s in my ability to know what I make is great. I know it is, I know it’s great, and it’s that sureness. That sureness is infectious.”

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