Lady Gaga's 'tear-filled' HBO documentary
The pop megastar reflects on her insecurities in a teaser for the cable network's upcoming concert film
The video: In advance of a "tear-filled" Lady Gaga special set to air in May, HBO has released two black-and-white trailers that reveal a very human side to the pop diva who sometimes seems like she's from another planet. (See the footage below.) Lady Gaga Presents The Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden, which will premiere on May 7, explores the singer's personal life and career, ending in a concert movie of her ostentatious live show. In the most buzzed-about clip, Gaga (née Stephanie Germanotta) breaks down in tears at a backstage makeup table as she reflects on the setbacks she endured on the road to stardom. "I still sometimes feel like a loser kid in high school," she says, as two members of her entourage comfort her. "I just have to pick myself up and tell myself that I'm a superstar every morning so that I can get through this day and be for my fans what they need for me to be." She then prays to God to "please give me strength to be a winner for all of them and not for myself."
The reaction: From the perspective of Lady Gaga fans, "this clip ultimately left us little monsters feeling empowered," says Emily Exton at Popdust. Even one of our favorite stars "saw herself as a freak in high school." Perhaps, but this film is also bound to draw more Gaga-Madonna comparisons, says Kyle Anderson at Entertainment Weekly. The teary preview, "with its black and white film and the mid-styling confessional, borrows an awful lot from Truth or Dare," which chronicled the Material Girl on her 1990 Blond Ambition tour. See the Gaga trailers
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
US won its war on 'murder hornets,' officials say
Speed Read The announcement comes five years after the hornets were first spotted in the US
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
California declares bird flu emergency
Speed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, Musk sink spending bill, teeing up shutdown
Speed Read House Republicans abandoned the bill at the behest of the two men
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published