How California girl Lady Gaga came to the rescue
LADY Gaga is a master of reinvention, and her latest role is as that universally loved figure: a pizza delivery person. Yesterday she turned up at a Red Cross evacuation shelter in Pacific Palisades High School in Los Angeles weighed down with pizza boxes for the people who have lost their homes in the wildfires raging through California. She also brought hot coffee and stayed for over an hour, lifting spirits, posing for selfies and singing. She is one of the hundreds who have had to leave their homes because of the fires that have destroyed at least 435 buildings.
Kim Kardashian West and the artist now known as Ye have been criticised for hiring private firefighters to save their home in the Hidden Hills. Meanwhile, Gaga is fighting for her fellow Californians, directing people to the best fundraising sites (so they don’t get drawn into the scam ones) and spreading kindness. Her fans are delighted — here is how they have gone Gaga.
A star is born
Even though she made her name as a singer, Lady Gaga originally wanted to be an actress. And now she is. A Star is Born is one of this year’s most successful films. She started the transition in 2015 with a turn in American Horror Story, playing a hotel owner named Elizabeth and receiving a Golden Globe for her performance – she’s a high achiever.
In A Star is Born she appears without her usual make-up, wigs and costumes, and is as natural as we’ve ever seen her — charmingly so and with heartbreaking effect.
Sing it loud
She hasn’t stopped singing. A Star is Born’s soundtrack sold more copies than any female artist has this decade. Now she is working on her sixth studio album, collaborating with Scottish producer Sophie and booking in a residency performing in Las Vegas beginning in December.
The politics
As well as all this, Gaga is taking on Trump. She tweeted this message to him on Monday: “I knew this before, but you continue to make it clear you care for no one other than yourself.” It went out to her 77 million Twitter followers (making Trump’s 55 million followers look pathetic). Gaga has form politically — she encouraged people to vote in the midterms and at her Super Bowl performance last year she got political, singing This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie, which has become an anthem for those fighting against Trump’s proposed immigration bans.