Lady Gaga Was Trying to Be ‘My Version of Beyoncé’ in This Music Video
Beyoncé is such an icon she even influenced Lady Gaga. Gaga said she tried to be her own version of Beyoncé when she shot a certain music video. In addition, she said a Destiny’s Child music video had a huge impact on her career.
The two videos where Lady Gaga worked with Beyoncé
Firstly, some background. Beyoncé has had a long and varied career, so she’s collaborated with numerous artists from numerous genres. Everyone from Kanye West to Ed Sheeran to Sean Paul to Alicia Keys has worked with Queen B. Some of her most famous collaborations were with Gaga.
Queen B and Gaga released two telephone-themed collaborations within months of each other “Telephone” and “Video Phone.” The latter is more famous. “Telephone” was a bigger hit and its music video — a bizarre mini-road movie with a women’s prison, American flag outfits, and lots of murder — is iconic.
“Video Phone,” on the other hand, is more minimal, although it includes some arresting imagery, such as men with cameras for heads. However, while “Telephone’ is about spectacle, “Video Phone” is more about performance, with Queen B and Gaga dancing on chairs. MTV News reports Gaga made an especially interesting choice when she appeared in the video for “Video Phone.”
“I want to do my version of Beyoncé,” she said. “So the whole time I was learning the choreography they were calling me Gee-yoncé.” In the video, Queen B and Gaga are wearing similar outfits, inviting obvious comparisons between them. Gaga told MTV News she wanted her hair to look like Beyoncé’s as well. She was excited to work with Queen B because she was at a great stage in her career around the release of “Video Phone,” which is from the album I Am… Sahsa Fierce. The album includes hits like “Halo” and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”
How a Destiny’s Child video inspired Mother Monster
Interestingly, Gaga revealed her career might not be the same if not for a Destiny’s Child music video. “I remember when I got dropped from my first record label, I just said, ‘Mommy, let’s go see Grandma,'” Gaga told MTV News. “And I cried on my grandmother’s couch. She looked at me, and she goes, ‘I’m going to let you cry for the rest of the day, and then you have to stop crying, and you have to go kick some *ss.'” Afterward, a simple music video had a profound effect on her.
“You know, I’ve never told Beyoncé this, but I remember laying on my grandmother’s couch crying, and a Destiny’s Child video came on,” she said. She recalls “watching Beyoncé thinking, ‘Oh, she’s a star. I want that. I want to be on MTV.’ And now I’m in music videos with Beyoncé.” Gaga trying to be Beyoncé in the video for “Video Phone” almost feels like her coming full circle.
