It’s good to have weird Lady Gaga back, right? Though Gaga (b. Stefani Germonatta, 35) has become a mainstream artist with her star-making turns in House of Gucci and A Star Is Born, the “Stupid Love” singer still retains a bit of that artist chaos she brought when she first burst on the scene. Such vibrancy was on display in W Magazine’s first issue of 2022. The “Best Performances” portfolio featured stars like Tilda Swinton, Denzel Washington, Cate Blanchett, Gemma Chan, Jessica Chastain, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adam Driver, and Lady Gaga – who decided she deserved “final cut” on her photospread.
While’s Gaga cover for the photo showed her in an elegant black dress with a red flower on her chest, the inside photos saw the “911” singer wrapped in red fabric. In one of the photos, Gaga holds her own face in one hand, a pair of scissors in the next. The picture has been altered to look as if she had sliced off her own visage, a move that got her Little Monsters raving when Gaga shared the picture on Instagram. “ARTPOP VIBES.”
Along with the photos, Gaga reflected on her work on House of Gucci, the biopic about the turbulent and fatal romance between Patrizia Reggiani and Maurizio Gucci. “The most important element in becoming Patrizia was dyeing my own hair brown. I couldn’t be blonde with that Italian accent—I was still myself,” said Gaga. “It was also important to me that the film not be a red carpet. Fashion was a key part of Patrizia’s survival; she tried so hard, but she was never as shiny as the Guccis.”
Gaga also shared a moment when she fully realized the character. “On the last day of filming, I was on the balcony of my apartment in Rome, and I was blasting Dean Martin singing ‘Mambo Italiano,’ and I had a cigarette hanging out of my mouth,” she told W Magazine. “I was Patrizia. But I knew I had to say goodbye to her: Large swarms of flies kept following me around, and I truly began to believe that she had sent them. I was ready to let her go.”
W Magazine’s first issue of 2022, Volume 1, Best Performances, hits stands February 8, 2022 and is online Tuesday, 1/11. The issue features Cate Blanchett, Gemma Chan, Jessica Chastain, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adam Driver, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Hudson, Kristen Stewart, Tilda Swinton and Honor Swinton Byrne, and Denzel Washington across ten unique covers photographed by Tim Walker and styled by W Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Sara Moonves.