The megastar is back on tour for the first time since the pandemic, starting with a concert in Düsseldorf. Her image reinventions and music are what make her a true pop icon.
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She will perform in 14 cities around the world for the first time since January 2018. Lady Gaga will give her first concert on July 17 as an open-air concert in Düsseldorf, after which she will appear in Stockholm, Paris, London, Toronto, Washington, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, among others.
It will be the live premiere of the songs from her latest album, "Chromatica."
Lady Gaga originally wanted to go on tour for the release of the album in 2020. Due to the pandemic, however, the concerts had to be postponed twice.
German fans of the pop icon should be particularly pleased that the first concert is in Düsseldorf — during her last world tour in 2018, Lady Gaga had to cancel many European concerts due to illness, including all of her stops in Germany.
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Top star despite health issues
Lady Gaga suffers from fibromyalgia, an increased sensitivity to pain, colloquially known as soft tissue rheumatism. She spoke with US talk show host Oprah Winfrey in 2020 about how the disease causes chronic pain throughout her body and leads to exhaustion: "Even sitting here with you today, I am in head-to-toe pain," said Gaga.
Regardless of her illness, Lady Gaga is one of the most successful artists in the world. She has won 12 Grammy Awards and has also received an Oscar and two Golden Globes for her acting and music.
The concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment states that she has sold over 36 million albums worldwide.
Around 190 million fans follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter — that's more than twice Germany's entire population.
Lady Gaga: a total work of art
Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, released her first album in 2008, "The Fame," which marked her international breakthrough, selling 15 million copies. It included the hit songs "Poker Face" and "Just Dance," which became two of the world's best-selling singles of all time.
"Chromatica" is her sixth studio album, and features collaborations with musical greats such as Ariana Grande and Elton John.
Surprising pop duos
An opera singer with a rock star, a dead man with his daughter, a country star with a rapper: There have been a lot of unusual duet partners throughout pop music history that at first glance don't seem to fit together.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Kinowelt Filmverleih
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett
An eccentric pop star and an aging crooner — why not! In 2014, they sang together on an album of jazz standards, including the song "Cheek to Cheek." Listeners who thought that Lady Gaga's talent was restricted to producing electropop hits à la "Poker Face" discovered that she was a versatile singer.
Image: Getty Images/Kevork Djansezian
Jay-Z and Beyoncé
Without any previous announcement or marketing, and exclusively for streaming, the power couple released a surprise collaborative album, Everything is Love. While the ups and downs of Jay-Z's and Beyoncé's marriage were publicly revealed through previous solo albums, the fact that the Carters ended up doing a joint work is perhaps not as surprising as these other legendary duos...
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/MAXPPP/F. Dugit
Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé
An opera diva alongside one of the most dazzling personalities in rock and pop history. Freddie Mercury's characteristic vocals met classical soprano. The song "Barcelona" was recorded in 1987. Mercury was fascinated by the Caballé at that time and the two became close friends. They performed the song twice on stage.
Image: picture-alliance/empics
Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave
The pope of gothic rock and a singing disco ball: How is that supposed to work together? If the duet "Where the Wild Roses Grow" is any indication, amazingly well. Morbid, beautiful, lyrical, the song tells the story of a man who murders his lover. Kylie makes an appearance in the video as one of the most exquisite water corpses in pop music history.
Image: Youtube/emimusic
Christina Aguilera and The Stones
A powerful voice meets a rock'n'roll legend: In 2008, director Martin Scorsese brought Aguilera and the Stones together for the concert film Shine a Light. The song "Live With Me" is an explosive duet in which Mick Jagger and the pop diva give it all they've got. Stones guitarist Keith Richards claimed that he didn't recognize the lady on stage but after that hit, that should have been rectified.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Kinowelt Filmverleih
Udo Lindenberg and Clueso
Alt-rocker Udo Lindenberg took to the stage for his live album, titled MTV Unplugged - Live from the Hotel Atlantic, and brought this pop prodigy along with him. The already-successful songwriter Clueso joined Lindenberg for a joint interpretation of Lindenberg's song "Cello.2 It is one of the most beautiful recordings on the album.
Image: Tine Acke
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood
In "Sweet Summer Wine," a mysterious beauty, performed by Nancy, beguiles the rich stranger with a bowl of strawberries, cherries and alcohol. Lee Hazlewood had initially intended the song as a B-side. But after it went off the charts, they produced an entire album in collaboration, titled Nancy & Lee.
Image: picture-alliance/United Archives/TopFoto
Frank and Nancy Sinatra
"Something Stupid" is a love song that gets under your skin. It sounds weird, as it's sung by father and daughter, but the duet became one of the most famous of all time. Maybe it was so good because the two of them did not take the song seriously, but kept making faxes during the recordings, a move that made the sound engineers pale.
Image: Getty Images/Keystone Features
Elton John and Kiki Dee
A one-hit wonder collaboration that was worthwhile for both of them: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," released in 1970, is a light, cheesy love duet that offered the perfect soundtrack to everyone who'd fallen in love.
Image: picture-alliance/United Archives/TopFoto
Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg
In 1969 the duet "Je t'aime... moi non plus," sung by French enfant terrible Serge Gainsbourg and British actor Jane Birkin, triggered strong emotions. Even without understanding French, the suggestive and breathy style of singing led it to being banned from radio in many countries. Yet millions of copies of the "forbidden fruit" single were sold.
Image: Imago/ZUMA/Keystone
Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole
This father-daughter duet might seem creepy to some: Natalie re-recorded her father's song "Unforgettable" in 1991, nearly 26 years after his death, singing on his original recordings. Natalie's duet with her "resurrected" late father was a smash hit: It sold 14 million copies and won seven Grammys.
Karel Gott and Bushido
How could this miraculous meeting ever have taken place? Well, in 2000 Karel Gott had released a German cover version of the 80s hit "Forever Young." The German gangster rapper was a fan of the pop hit and wanted to re-record it, this time as a duet with the Czech pop star. Rap meets Schlager. And "Forever Young" cracked the top five of the charts in 2002.
Image: picture-alliance/S. Radke
Helga Feddersen and Didi Hallervorden
THE German dumbbell couple of the 70s; the two covered the hit from the musical Grease with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, "You're The One That I Want." The German version had nothing to do with disco, glamour and dance, though: Hallervorden and Feddersen squatted in the bathtub, played with rubber duckies and sang: "The bath is full, Hu Hu Hu."
Image: picture-alliance/KPA Copyright
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But even beyond her music, Lady Gaga is a total work of art, particularly with her shrill costumes.
At US President Joe Biden's inauguration, she sang in a bulletproof dress. She sometimes dresses as Jo Calderone, her fictional male alter-ego she created in 2010. The meat dress she wore at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards remains legendary. Early on in her career she was compared to Madonna, the "Queen of Pop."
Lady Gaga has also demonstrated her acting skills, whether in the lead role alongside Bradley Cooper in the remake of the classic film "A Star is Born" (2018) or as Patrizia Reggiani, the ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, in Ridley Scott's "House of Gucci" (2022). "A Star is Born" brought her an Oscar nomination for best actress and she won the Academy Award for the song "Shallow."
The commercial and critical success of the 36-year-old world star on stage and on the silver screen is reflected in the ticket prices for her concerts: The cheapest tickets in Düsseldorf cost €176 ($177), while the most expensive ones sell for €2,239. A few places are still available.
Lady Gaga opens her world tour "The Chromatica Ball" on July 17, 2022 in Düsseldorf.