After some relatively easy online research, I found that there were in fact 40 previous episodes of Gagavision. I had time only to watch the first half-dozen, all of which had the upload date of 15 August 2008 and advertised the upcoming release of The Fame in September. This morning I watched the fortieth episode, dated 4 April 2009, about the time I was first hearing “Poker Face” every time I turned on the radio. That was the song that won me over.
At any rate, the Gagavision episodes are easily accessible on YouTube, and so far I like what I’ve seen. I know that summer 2008 was not the beginning of Lady Gaga’s career, but based on these short videos, it marks the moment her meteor was nearing liftoff. (Bad metaphor, that. Meteors don’t liftoff. Rocketships do. Whatever.) Her stage is small, the production relatively humble (though in no way unexciting), her audiences nowhere near the crowds of 15,000 I’ve been in. And her voice and energy are massive — meteor taking off and all that.
Here’s a link to the third episode of Gagavision. I was really caught by it. If I didn’t know who Lady Gaga was at this time, she sure as hell did. She’s assembling her disco stick and talking about all the things she’s yet to invent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0n38xlxXg8.
The fortieth episode has a bit of a bookend. She holds up the design sketch for the blue bathing suit in the “Poker Face” video.
Ah well, try as I might, I can’t know everything. But I am still learning!
PROFESSOR GAGA 