你在年會節目上模仿Lady Gaga了嗎？如今她可是流行界的大熱。Lady Gaga是2008美國流行音樂新晉“舞后”，不僅有一流的聲線，更是個超有個性的創作酷妹。她還被稱為紅翻全球嘻哈彗星阿肯 (Akon) 自創廠牌 Kon Live 旗下的“秘密武器”。Lady GaGa造型夸張怪異，蝴蝶結頭、肉色連身褲、太空造型眼鏡……更是掀起了從Paris Hilton到Nicole Richie，從蔡依林到趙薇爭先模仿的狂潮，Lady Gaga堪稱It Girl界的造型楷模，從流行樂界一路紅到時尚界。下面我們就開看看她是如何迅速走紅的吧。
At Sunday's awards show, Lady Gaga is expected to play a duet on a single piano with Elton John. She is nominated for five awards, including record of the year, but that's less important than her broader impact on music culture in the space of a year, which has been seismic.
在格萊美的頒獎典禮上，Lady Gaga和埃爾頓?約翰同用一架鋼琴表演了合唱。她得到了包括年度最佳專輯在內的五項格萊美提名，不過這和她在短短一年間對音樂文化產生的更為廣泛的影響──這種影響可以說是震撼性的──相比顯得并不那么重要。
Her debut album has generated four No. 1 songs. She topped the digital sales chart for 2009 with 15.3 million tracks sold. Her dance hits, including "Poker Face" and "Paparazzi," recalibrated the sound of pop radio with a spacey Euro vibe that's crept into songs by rock and rap artists. She grabbed attention beyond the music world with outfits that make her look like a refugee from a sci-fi film. In concert, on video and at past awards shows she has sported full facial masks, worn planetary rings around her head, and framed her face in what looked like a bird's nest.
她的首張專輯就誕生了四首冠軍單曲。她在2009年以1530萬首的單曲銷量雄踞數字音樂銷量排行榜冠軍。她在包括《撲克臉》和《狗仔隊》在內的熱門舞曲中將一種古怪的歐式情調摻入了搖滾和饒舌音樂，這些歌曲也借此重新界定了電臺流行音樂的風格。憑借她那科幻電影人物般的著裝，Gaga在音樂世界之外也吸引了人們的注意。她在演唱會、音樂錄像和過去的頒獎禮表演中曾戴著整副面具和行星環頭飾，還曾把鳥窩樣子的裝飾品圍在自己的頭上。
"She's very vaudevillian," says an admiring Alice Cooper, the rocker whose history of stage theatrics includes simulated decapitations. But he says Gaga's antics only work because "she can really sing."
“她非常會玩花樣，”對Gaga贊賞有加的搖滾歌手艾利斯?庫柏表示。庫柏曾在舞臺上表演“斬首”。不過他表示，Gaga的這些花招能夠大獲成功的原因是“她確實有副好嗓子”。
Gaga may turn out to be yet another fleeting pop novelty, but many other industry veterans see her as the real deal, and her ambitions and skill at navigating the turbulent industry may make her a durable star. Born Stefani Germanotta, she graduated from Manhattan's Convent of the Sacred Heart school, then left a music program at New York University to chase a music career. She was signed and dropped from one label, Def Jam, before uniting with a core team of advisers. She then stormed the media in a year when Michael Jackson's death reminded us how few new music stars transcend narrow genres anymore.
Gaga或許最終被證明只是個曇花一現的流星，不過許多資深的業內人士卻認為她有真材實料，而且她在這個充滿挑戰的行業所表現出來的野心和能力或許能讓她成為一顆長盛不衰的明星。本名斯蒂芬尼?吉瑪洛塔的Gaga畢業于曼哈頓的圣心女中，后來她為了追尋自己的音樂夢想而離開了紐約大學的音樂學系。她曾與唱片公司Def Jam簽約后又解約，后來與一個顧問團隊開始了合作。當邁克爾?杰克遜的去世讓我們意識到如今能夠超越狹隘音樂類型的新星已經少之又少的時候，Gaga便在一年的時間內橫掃各大媒體。
Underneath Gaga's haystack wigs is a case study of what it takes to succeed in the music business today. Gaga, 24 years old, has made shrewd use of new digital platforms, while still leveraging the clout of a major label, an institution deemed obsolete by many proponents of DIY culture. She is a product of a new kind of recording contract which goes beyond just selling records to encompass everything from touring, merchandise--even her make-up deal. Though she writes her own material, she is as focused on visual theatrics, fashion, and global appeal as she is on the music.
我們在Gaga亂蓬蓬的假發之下看到的是一個有關如何在時下的音樂行業取得成功的案例分析。24歲的Gaga聰明地運用了新的數字平臺，而同時仍借助著一家大唱片公司的影響力──DIY文化的眾多支持者認為這種做法已經過時。她是一種新型唱片合約的產品，這種合約已經不僅僅涵蓋唱片銷售，而是從巡演到商品， 甚至是包括造型合約在內的各項事務。盡管Gaga自己創作歌曲，但她對于視覺上的舞臺效果、流行時尚和全球號召力也投入了和對音樂一樣多的精力。
This year, expect the cameras to hover around Gaga, who will be challenged to top the six different costumes she donned at the MTV Video Music Awards. Divining fashion trends from her outfits would be fruitless. Instead, here are three things Gaga can tell us about how the music industry works now.
媒體的鏡頭在今年將繼續對準Gaga。她將挑戰自己在MTV音樂錄像大獎上換裝六次的戰績。從她的著裝來預測時尚風潮是白費工夫。不過，以下是Gaga可以告訴我們的有關當今音樂行業如何運作的三件事。
She's a digital phenomenon
她是個數字現象
Lady Gaga's towering digital sales, almost all of them iTunes downloads, only tell part of the story. In fact, much of Gaga's audience got her music for free, and legally. They have listened to free streams -- by the hundreds of millions -- on YouTube and the other online services that Gaga currently leads, according to research firm BigChampagne. On MySpace, Gaga has had 321.5 million plays. By contrast, singer Susan Boyle tallied only 133,000 plays, despite scoring the No. 2 selling album of 2009. A difference (among many) between Gaga and the dowdy Scotswoman discovered on a British talent show: Ms. Boyle's material, including 'Amazing Grace,' was traditional -- and so were most of her buyers. Some 97% of her albums were sold on compact disc.
Gaga驚人的數字唱片銷量──幾乎全部來自于iTunes下載──只說明了事實的一部分。實際上，Gaga的大部分聽眾都免費、而且合法地獲得了她的音樂。調查公司BigChampagne表示，人們收聽的是YouTube和其他網絡服務商提供的免費流──數量以上億計。Gaga在MySpace上的音樂播放量達到了3.215億次。而與之形成對比的是，盡管歌手蘇珊大媽在2009年的專輯銷量排行榜上位居第二，但她在MySpace上僅得到了13.3萬次播放。Gaga和這位在英國選秀節目中脫潁而出的外表邋遢的蘇格蘭大媽有一個不同點（她們之間還存在著許多不同點）：蘇珊大媽的歌曲，包括那首《奇異恩典》(Amazing Grace)在內，都屬于傳統范疇──而購買她專輯的大部分人也比較傳統。她的專輯有大約97%都以CD形式銷售。
She's got a 360-degree view
她參與了“360度合約”
The business needs more Gagas. The upheaval of the last decade has forced the major record companies to cut their work force by 60%, according to a recent report by the Recording Industry Association of America. Within the last week, dozens of Universal Music Group employees were laid off. (Gaga's own publicist took a buyout; his job won't be filled.) Labels have had to change their relationship with artists and lean on new partners, including the talent managers they often squabbled with in the past.
音樂行業需要更多的Gaga。美國唱片業協會最近的一份報告顯示，過去十年的巨變迫使大唱片公司將員工裁減了60%。僅僅在最近的一周之內，環球音樂集團的雇員就被裁減了數十人。（Gaga自己的公關就選擇了“買斷工齡”；這一職位也不會得到填補。）唱片公司不得不改變和旗下藝人之間的關系，倚靠新的生意伙伴，其中包括那些他們過去經常與之口角不斷的人才代理們。
Without the budget and staff to support their once overloaded artist stables, labels have slashed their rosters and doubled down on acts expected to drive hits. They're also going after the money artists generate outside the labels' traditional business of selling music. This has given rise to, in industry parlance, the 360 deal, in which a label invests more money up front (for marketing, for example) in exchange for a piece of merchandise sales, touring revenue and other earnings that artists had long kept for themselves.
由于沒有資金和人員來支持他們曾經過于龐大的藝人隊伍，唱片公司大幅縮小了雇員數量，并對那些預期能夠為熱門歌曲流行推波助瀾的活動加大了投入。他們還希望從藝人們在唱片公司銷售音樂的傳統業務之外獲得的收入中分得一杯羹。這帶來了行話中所謂的“360度合約”，也就是說一家唱片公司先期投入更多的資金（比如說，在營銷中）來換取商品銷售、巡演收入和其他的一些收入，而這些收入在過去一直都歸藝人自己所有。
The 360 model hasn't launched big stars yet -- with a few exceptions, including Gaga. From concerts, including four sold-out nights at Radio City Music Hall this month, a percentage of her take goes to her label, Universal's Interscope Records. The label also gets a cut of her revenue from Polaroid, Estee Lauder's MAC and other corporate partners. Does Gaga validate the 360 model for other artists? While she pockets relatively less money on tour, Interscope puts more muscle behind her than it would have in the old days. 'Would she be in the position to play in front of 20,000 people a night if the record company had not put up the marketing dollars?' says Gaga's manager Troy Carter.
從360度合約中還沒有走出過大明星──不過有Gaga在內的少數例外。包括本月在紐約Radio City Music Hall四晚門票售罄的演唱會在內，Gaga從演唱會上獲得的收入有一定比例將屬于她的唱片公司環球音樂集團旗下的Interscope Records所有。唱片公司還能從Gaga來自寶麗來、雅詩蘭黛旗下MAC和其他企業伙伴的收入中得到分成。那么Gaga的成功是否能證明360度合約對其他藝人也行得通呢？盡管她從巡回演唱會中得到的收入相對要少些，但唱片公司Interscope在Gaga身上投入了比過去更多的力量。“如果唱片公司沒有加大營銷方面的投入，她能在一個晚上里面對兩萬聽眾表演嗎？”Gaga的經紀人卡特說。
She could be the next Madonna
她有可能成為麥當娜第二
On the song "Bad Romance," Gaga chants "I want your ugly, I want your disease." She lovingly refers to her fans as 'monsters.' On stage, she bleeds from simulated stab wounds. Despite these dark theatrics, she's become a darling of mainstream radio by drawing from Madonna's playbook, with thumping dance beats, a shape-shifting image and a playful obsession with celebrity.
在歌曲《糟糕的羅曼史》中，Gaga唱道，“我想要你的丑陋，我想要你的疾病。”她親熱地將自己的歌迷稱為“怪物”。在臺上，Gaga的假傷口血流不止。這些黑色戲劇化的表現手段并沒有妨礙她通過借鑒麥當娜的成功秘笈，包括跳躍的舞曲節奏、多變的形像和假意癡迷名人的態度而成為主流電臺的寵兒。
Gaga's allure is that of a misfit run amok in the system, a role that has helped her cut across disparate subcultures, including teens, finicky hipsters and gays, to whom she sends frequent shout-outs. While Gaga's bared skin and professed androgyny have raised the eyebrows of interviewers like Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters, she isn't shocking, per se.
Gaga的吸引力在于她作為一個格格不入者在這個體系里橫沖亂撞，而這個角色已經幫助她跨越了像青少年、挑剔的嬉皮士和同性戀這樣截然不同的小文化圈子──Gaga經常對這些人唱歌。盡管Gaga裸露的皮膚和公開的雙性戀身份讓奧普拉?溫弗瑞和芭芭拉?沃爾特斯這樣的主持人感到吃驚，但她自己卻不是所謂的異類。
"That's a tool that's no longer available to pop artists," says Danny Goldberg, the longtime manager and former label head. Since rap music, he adds, "those taboos have been removed and that, to me, makes her that much more impressive. She doesn't have that easy ticket to notoriety."
“那已經不再是流行明星的武器了，”Gaga的長期經紀人、也是唱片公司前負責人的丹尼?戈德堡說。他補充說，從饒舌音樂開始，“那些禁忌已經被打破了。我覺得這使得她給人們留下更加深刻的印象，但并沒有輕易留下什么惡名。”
She's also determined not to be niche. Last year, the Recording Academy's nominating committees received a record 17,000 Grammy submissions. Many of those hopefuls hailed from what could be called music's growing middle class -- made up of acts that carve out niche audiences within subgenres such as indie rock. Only a few artists have defied that trend as newly minted superstars. While some acts try to get there with experimental strategies, such as giving music away free, Gaga used an old technique: cementing her image in music videos such as "Paparazzi," in which she hobbles on crutches.
她還下決心讓自己遠離小眾化的路線。去年，美國唱片學院的提名委員會收到了創紀錄的1.7萬件格萊美獎提名作品。這些作品中有許多來自所謂音樂領域里日益龐大的中產階級──由面向小眾的諸如“獨立搖滾”這樣的子類音樂形式組成。只有少數藝人作為新晉的超級明星與這股潮流背道而馳。盡管有些人希望憑借創新的辦法達到目的，比如免費送出自己的音樂，Gaga卻仍舊使用了一個老套路：在音樂錄像中鞏固自己的形像，比如在《狗仔隊》中，她拄著拐杖蹣跚而行。
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（來源：愛詞霸 編輯：Julie）
