SHE came for the interview literally wrapped in newspaper headlines.
Across her chest was the word OBAMA. A big circular paper fan made from actual newspaper pages completed the outfit.
Too bad the pages were not from The New Paper.
But it's obvious Lady Gaga loves grabbing headlines wherever she goes.
Since she burst onto the charts with her aptly-named debut The Fame, Lady Gaga has been a media darling, grabbing headlines for her eye-popping outfits - tiny bikini bottoms and outlandish, sometimes cone-shaped wigs - and her constant mouthing off about the male anatomy.
On stage, this former burlesque dancer sometimes plays the piano in provocative positions, and is almost always inches away from wardrobe malfunction with her bursting corsets.
As she described it: 'I want to be someone who, when they walk down the street, someone says 'I don't know who that is but I wanna know who that is.'
But during her brief visit to Singapore, she showed an unexpectedly down-to-earth side of herself.
There's the sugary sweet voice and the coyness.
Even when she wants to rebuff you, she does it gently.
Attempts at using her real name, for example, are met with a dainty shake of the head and an 'uh uh', which is how this gentle diva shows she's not willing to answer a question.
But when The New Paper wondered aloud if she'd tamed herself to suit Singapore tastes, she was quick to disagree.
'I don't tone down for anyone,' she claimed.
Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, Lady Gaga got her start in music at the age of 4, when she learnt to play the piano by ear.
By 14, she was performing in pubs, and just two years before breaking into the charts, she had her own burlesque act in New York with performance artist Lady Starlight, where they shocked audiences with acts that involved her lighting cans of hairspray on fire.
But in spite of the look, the gossip and the Europop dance music, this lady isn't another Paris Hilton or Heidi Montag.
Flown in to celebrate the launch of SingTel's new music download service , she fielded questions about gossip and fashion, then asked disappointedly: 'Is anyone going to ask me about my music?'
After all, her pop career began as a songwriter for acts like the Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears and Fergie.
And as she showed at her showcase on Sunday night, the girl can sing. And, well, play jazz tunes on the piano with her feet, which she did during an acoustic performance of her hit Poker Face.
She is also as sweet as the cherry pie she sings about on her song titled - what else - Paparazzi.
When asked about dealing with fame, she opened up about being sentimental and genuinely moved by her fans.
In an age used to artistes throwing out the 'I love my fans' line too often for it to be worth anything, Lady Gaga - or Gaga as she prefers to be called - seems to show genuine appreciation.
She explained that she has been 'rejected too many times' for her to be a diva.
'After you eat **** so long in the music industry, you're just grateful for all the success,' she said.
'I say thank you a lot. I make sure to be nice,' she said.
So when she tells a story about crying in the van from the airport after meeting a hoard of fans upon arrival, you do tend to believe her.
It doesn't hurt that she says it in that voice, while flashing her large, babydoll eyes.
Speaks her mind
Don't equate the niceties with wholesomeness though.
She slips in the naughtiest things into conversations, though still in the same sugary sweet voice.
She confessed to The New Paper that her friends know her as someone who makes 'lots of sexual jokes'.
When asked whether she'd want to be reincarnated as either one of her idols Freddie Mercury or David Bowie, she said she would have been on the road following The Beatles, presumably as a groupie.
'I love rockstars,' she purred suggestively.
And while she's consistently on gossip blogs and tailed by paparazzi - some of whom even followed her on vacation to Hawaii recently - she doesn't play the victim card.
Declining to call them a bad name, she instead made a rude gesture which we can't describe here.
She's also currently using the paparazzi and the media as an art project.
Her aim? To test how far the media could go in going gaga over a popstar's idiosyncrasies.
Her signature object? A China teacup, which she has taken to photoshoots and interviews the world over (except to Singapore, somehow), which she pretends to only drink from.
'It's ridiculous. People request my teacup to be with me (during interviews),' she said.
So don't expect a sophomore album complaining about the tragedies of fame.
As she so aptly put it: 'There's nothing bad about being me.'
Additional reporting by David Ho
This article was first published in The New Paper
