Lady Gaga gets adventurously intimate, wrastles with Madonna on 'SNL'

Lady Gaga brought the expected weird fashion to "Saturday Night Live." Watching the artist attempt to sit at a piano while outfitted in an array of circular metal rings -- all spinning around the Lady Gaga axis -- was a hoot, and an early comedic standout in "Saturday Night Live's" young season. But there was one bit of window dressing Lady Gaga could have done without: Madonna.

The artist formerly known as the Material Girl popped up in an early skit for a brief exchange of put-downs with the current pop fave. Perhaps a symbol of passing of the pop diva torch, or perhaps some sort of mocking her 2003 MTV Video Music Awards pairing with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, which was then meant to serve as some sort of passing of the pop diva torch, Madonna looked uncomfortable, and not quite sure of why she was tussling with Lady Gaga. It all felt a bit hastily thrown together, and little more than an excuse to show two pop stars in a cat fight.

Not to mention -- Madonna doesn't need to stump to these kind of promotional appearances. Even with a greatest hits collection released to stores last week, let's let Lady Gaga have her moment, or at least give Madonna something better to say than, "Guess what, I'm totally taller than you."

Or perhaps we should just give credit where credit is due.

Lady Gaga was joined by Madonna on "Saturday Night Live," and the high-profile guest shot failed to overshadow Gaga's second music performance, a piano-based medley of her hits, as well as a touch of new song "Bad Romance."

Pulling off a medley is no small feat itself, as they reek of award-show self-aggrandizing. But Gaga looked free and unrehearsed, and tossed off a rare medley worth watching. While it would have been nice to hear a bit more of forthcoming single "Bad Romance," what audiences received was even better. Free from the tired retro '80s synth pop of "LoveGame," Gaga flashed her nightclub-ready pipes when she went solo at the piano, and also showed off a bit of improvisation.

While diving in and out of "Poker Face," Gaga played to the New York crowd, bragging about the hot dogs on 72nd Street ("they're tasty and they're cheap") and even exposed some baseball loyalties. Gaga copped to being nostalgic for the days when she "cheered for the Yankees with my dad in Section 6," and Major League Baseball responded by giving her a shout-out (perhaps a National Anthem at a playoff game is in her near future).

Yet whereas most artists come to late night television to show off their latest singles and generate a few headlines, Gaga, who can say the words "disco stick" with a straight face, displayed a side of herself that isn't always in evidence on her 2008 smash album, "The Fame": She's not afraid to take risks.

Walking around in glass bras is nice and all, but a willingness to go musically bare and dismantle an electro-pop song on national television is surprisingly (sadly?) rare these days. For once, it was nice to see a pop star stretching herself by doing something more than showing some skin and spinning around a pole. A shame it had to happen well after midnight. 

Watch the clip until it gets stricken from YouTube:

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Lady Gaga, left, and Madonna. Credit: NBC

Comments

[Andrew26]

"Pah Pah Pah Poker faaaace Pah Pah Pah Poker faaaaaace."
lol

=)

[Collis Huntington]

Just Lovely! One doesn't have to be all girl or all boy to be a joy.

[dcanada]

Finally someone to take the mantle of female pop icon away from that hag Madonna!

[Jack Henry]

A GaGa medley because sitting through an entire song would be absolute torture. Get a grip.

[El Guapo de la ciudad de los angeles]

"Disco stick . yeah baby ooooo Disco stick yeah baby oooo disco stick Ahhhh want a disco stick ooooooo ah ah ah oh oh oh ah ah ah oh oh oh DISCO STICK New YORK yeah baby oooooooooo

[Tantrum]

(continued)

We are all familiar with the pop sensations that last a year or two and then lose their music once the money is flowing. In what other art form to the flowers bloom so bright but fade away so quickly? I hope Steffani will endure and actually get somewhere with her music and her fashion, but the practice of art itself requires a lot of time. Running around to perform all the time and practice "being a star", is time lost from art making. The signs are not good!

[John]

Very rarely do I find a pop diva what actually deserves to be called a "diva". Lady Gaga is a very talented and unique singer. She just gets better every time I see her....

[Unconvinced]

I do find it interesting that a Madonna looked SO much better than GaGa during their shared sketch. It was almost jarring. Either Madonna is much hotter than the world is giving her credit for, or GaGa's a bigger hag that we realize.

[Dan]

Catchy songs, empty lyrics, okay voice, unfortunate physical appearance. I wouldn't bother commenting on her looks but she dresses like a slut and obviously wants to be viewed as sexy. Not quite.

It's sad that ugly folks have to dress like muppets to get attention in pop music, but that's what you get for liking/making inconsequential, flavor of the month music.

[dek]

I think Lady GaGa is a true entertainer. I think she is far better than Madonna. Madonna is a business woman.

[mephisto]

Performing in an outrageous outfit like that takes talent. It's refreshing seeing someone doing something totally original instead of just another version of whatever song they are promoting at the moment.

[Jp]

First of all Madonna is forever the Queen of Pop. She’s owned that title for 27 years already and nobody can take it away from her. Just like MJ she’ll own that title forever. I think Madonna respects GaGa and can see a lot of herself in Gaga, ambition, creativity etc. For all the people that say Madonna “has no talent” or “she’s so old” I assume you’re under the age of 21 and have absolutely no concept of music and how Madonna broke down barriers for women in the industry. I don’t understand why females are usually the ones to be more critical of Madonna’s age; hate to break it to you but you’ll be old someday and won’t look ¼ as good as Madonna does. You won’t have her money, you won’t have her success and you won’t be banging a hot model. Without Madonna there’d be no Britney, GaGa, Rihanna even Mariah, Whitney and Janet. Madonna was the first female pop star in control of her career, her image, her sound. Each album sounds completely different and she touched on subjects that today’s pop princesses wouldn’t even dream of singing about. In 08-09 her tour was the highest grossing for a solo artist in history. She has sold more albums globally than any other artist. And at 51 she looks amazing and I guarantee she’s way hotter than most of you are at 20. Look in the mirror, hit the gym instead critizing people you’re jealous of and grow up and show some respect for people that deserve it.

[Hold Up]

Enough with the Madonna bashing already. It's overkill, boring, and totally unoriginal. It was a fun little skit. No big deal. Plus, Madonna looks HOT. Better and sexier than Gaga. And all these young starlets have been humbled and honored to share the stage with her Madjesty. Stop peddling this ridiculous notion that she's forcing herself on anyone. This tripe in the LA Times? Pathetic.

[E Fraiser]

Wow, she really needs to find someone, anyone, to write her some Good songs. That is just plain bad.She has a nice voice if only she had a clue how to use it. Oversinging every note is not the way to do it, no matter what American Idol teaches. Of course this was on SNL si maybe it was a skit, as it was funny.

[creedanze]

Scarlet Johanssen you moron! It wasn't really Madonna!!

[James hue]

Todd your just jealous of Madonna and it seems this is more your hang up than
it was miss ga ga and the audience that loved seeing these two strong and talented women together. J.h

[Joan]

Extremely schlocky - a medley is a medley.
It was a mess.

[Jason]

How can the writer of this article say that this was not self-aggrandizing, when that's precisely all that it was? Cheap, gimmicky, self-congratulatory.

[Ben]

It's not exactly as if Madonna forced her way into SNL.
She was obviously invited to the show and was given the skit and lines to say.

[TK]

It was good natured of Madonna to go along with this skit. I think there are differences between Madonna and GaGa. Both women are pioneers in their own way. Yes, Madonna is the queen of pop but I still think she is not that great of singer. I have seen Madonna in concert as well. GaGa is a better singer. Yeah GaGa needs to get better lyrics. But, she is prob singing what she wants to sing about right??!

[heidi]

I go ga ga for GaGa. Madonna time to retire to Kababa-land and leave the kids to entertaining these days.

[Jaye]

You're kidding, right? You're writing for one of the world's largest newspapers, not to mention the MUSIC section, and you don't know Madonna when you see her?

That wasn't Madonna, you goofball. It was SNL actress Abby "Nepotism" Elliot, daughter of SNL alum Chris Elliot. You only got one thing right... Abby's terrible, and should have not been called back this season, since she's way less seasoned than the other two who were fired. She also does those god-awful Angelina Jolie impersonations on the show, which really was not much different than the Madonna one. Just a different wig and costume.

Anyway, get your facts straight: a. That was not Madonna b. Both Lady Gaga and Abby Elliot suck. c. You suck as a "journalist" and are an embarrassment to entertainment criticism.

No wonder the Times and the newspaper industry are going down the tubes.

Sheesh!

[laura]

The SNL performance was rare and great. This article reflected what I was thinking as I was watching the performance on DVR. Yes, I do not sit at home on saturday waiting to watch this show. Maybe on Sunday. Either way, before this show I always viewed lady gaga as a part of Hollywood. Nothing to write home about. The performance at the piano was a great look into true performance. It made me feel like I was sitting in a smoking lounge listening to a great singer yet to be discovered. I wonder if this was how she got started. Then Hollywood took control and made her change to the weird image most of us have over her. She started out typical of lady gaga then with a slight pause and the little wave (wonder if that was to her manager who was surprised at her actions) she was wonderful. Now I have a different view of her and can not wait to hear something more from the hear verses "Hollywood". My thoughts. NC Young Prof

[Stop swagger-jacking other artists, Lady Gaga]

Even though I saw it last night, I had to watch it again because I couldn't quite grasp what was going on the first time. First off, I'm not a fan if her music, or of the girl herself, because I feel that she tries too hard to be edgy. And her music is just typical, empty pop music that sounds like anything else you hear on Top 40 radio at the moment. But she is talented, and I give her props for her piano skills. However, her tacky image and outrageous tactics (like that NASA-inspired thing she was wearing in that performance) take away from her talents. It's hard to take her seriously as an artist when she comes off more as a circus performer than an actual musician. Too much flash, not enough substance. Also, she feels contrived and pretentious to me. I watch some interviews of her, and she tries to come off as witty, avant-garde and mysterious, but it fails, very hard I might add. She winds up looking like a fool with her head up her own ass. And another thing I don't get, people calling her "original" and "brilliant". She's neither. With every performance, I can single out which artist she's ripping off of. At the VMAs, it was Alice Cooper meets Britney Spears. On the first performance on SNL, when she was all decked-out in red, it was Madonna. The second performance, the one above, it was Freddie Mercury meets Elton John. Particularly with the "medley", and the cute chit-chat with the audience, it's such a Freddie thing. I'm all for being influenced by great artists, but retaining at least a healthy amount of originality still counts. Lady Gaga has so much potential to be a great and memorable artist, but she just wastes that potential. More people talk about her outfits and her publicity stunts than they do about her music. And it's not music worth raving about. I hope she has more up her sleeve as songwriter, cause "Got my ass squeezed by sexy cupid" won't make her the next Cole Porter. If she winds up a has-been by her next album, then she'll have no one to blame but herself.

[steph]

Madonna is beautiful and a total Maverick ....she paved the way babeeeeeh!