Lady Gaga has swept countless awards ceremonies over the course of her relatively short career. Zooey Deschanel has been in the news lately with her impending divorce and successful new sitcom. So how did lesser-known composers from The Muppets and Rio beat out these leading ladies (as well as superstars like Elton John, Willie Nelson and Elvis Costello) for the sole two spots in the 2012 Academy Awards’ “Best Original Song” category? Simple math, apparently. Out of the initial 39-song short list, only “Man or Muppet” and “Real in Rio” made the cut – but not for the reasons you might expect.
Find out how the Academy chose the Best Song nominees on RollingStone.com.
— Parry Ernsberger
Who knew Lady Gaga had a little Andrew Dice Clay in her?
Every year we expect the pop superstar to lay it on the line with her spectacular and odd outfits. But at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, she fully committed to the guise of her lewd and crude male alter ego Jo Calderone.
Backstage, Calderone explained to Rolling Stone why he stepped into Gaga’s shoes for the evening. ”Gaga said ‘Fuck you,’ she said, ‘If you really love me you’ll go instead of me and get in that spotlight.’ So I did.”
At the VMAs Gaga-as-Calderone performed the new single “Yoü and I” to kick off the awards show. But she also took time out to present the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award to Britney Spears.
And Calderone had some choice words for Spears. ”She’s fucking hot, Britney. Gaga’s my girl, but Britney’s fucking Britney Spears. Didn’t you jerk off to Britney when you were a kid?”
—Colin Jones
Rolling Stone was recently accused of over-sexualizing women on our magazine covers. While we’ve had Jennifer Aniston, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga bare all on newsstands, we would like to reassure our readers that Rolling Stone is an equal-opportunity purveyor of nudity.
See for yourself by checking out our sizzling gallery of Rolling Stone’s raciest covers, featuring the likes (and in some cases, backsides) of Anthony Kiedis, the cast of True Blood, John and Yoko, John Mayer and many more. Is it getting hot in here?
Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but Bette Midler has called Lady Gaga’s mermaid character Yuyi a blatant rip-off of Dolores Delago – the wheelchair-bound mermaid alter ego Midler created in 1978.
This isn’t the first time Mama Monster has been accused of taking a little too much inspiration from other artists. To read all of what Midler had to say - and to take a peek at more of Gaga’s famous fashion icons - head over to Rollingstone.com.
Following news of E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons’ stroke, Lady Gaga rallied her over 10 million Twitter followers to send him well wishes on video. With her songs “Hair” and “Edge of Glory” – both of which Clemons plays sax on – blasting in the background, Gaga’s Little Monsters from around the world sent their love and support.
For more, check out Rollingstone.com.
Lady Gaga talks bullying, critics and her undying love for her fans in this week’s Rolling Stone, on newsstands and the digital archives May 27th. Her third cover in just two years, Gaga likens her connection with fans to a mother’s connection with her child, saying “We have this umbilical cord that I don’t want to cut, ever.”
The “Monster Goddess” also discusses her unlikely inspiration, the movie Rocky IV, saying, “My favorite part is when Apollo’s ex-trainer says to Rocky, ‘He is not a machine. He’s a man. Cut him, and once he feels his own blood, he will fear you.’ I know it sounds crazy, but I was thinking about the machine of the music industry. I started to think about how I have to make the music industry bleed to remind it that it’s human”
See what Gaga has to say about her painful high school years — and much more — at Rollingstone.com.
Record Store Day is almost here! Tomorrow marks its fifth anniversary, and looks to continue the holiday’s increasing variety of special releases, which grows larger each year. Our guide to the 20 best exclusives cuts through a plethora of releases to highlight artists spanning The Flaming Lips to Lady Gaga, Fleet Foxes to Pink Floyd.
Oh, and if you need help finding a record store (we feel your pain), check out the RollingStone.com guide to the 30 best record stores in the USA.
Born This Day: Here’s wishing a happy 25th birthday to Lady Gaga. We’re sure it will be a contained, low-key affair…
Check out our gallery of Gaga’s Best Looks since she catapulted to Monster-status in 2009.
The Grammys! Arcade Fire stunned with their Album Of The Year nod, Lady Antebellum and Lady Gaga won big, plus too many memorable performances to list… Head over to RollingStone.com for our roundup of what proved to be a surprising Grammy Awards.
You can also check out Rolling Stone’s complete coverage of last night’s Grammys, including the full list of winners, photos from the show – and Rob Sheffield’s hilarious minute-by-minute reactions.
