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Celeb News: EW: Lady Gaga's night as Jo Calderone - Was it too much?
Member Since: 3/30/2009
Posts: 79,408
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EW: Lady Gaga's night as Jo Calderone - Was it too much?
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Originally posted by EW
Lady Gaga's night as Jo Calderone: Was it too much?
When the curtains parted on the giant Flight of the Navigator Laser Vagina on last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, the first thing anybody saw was a figure in a plain white T-shirt frantically smoking a cigarette.
The crowd immediately recognized it as Lady Gaga’s somewhat Italian alter-ego Jo Calderone. Everyone cheered, and why wouldn’t they? Lady Gaga has made a career out of being surprising and unpredictable, and though all Calderone seemed to want to do was recite lines from what appeared to be a one-(wo)man theater show s/he was workshopping, everybody wanted to know what would happen next.
And then it just kept going.
By the time her monologue entered the fourth minute, she had lost the crowd inside the venue, though she won everybody right back with her stout performance of “Yoü and I” (featuring a thrilling cameo on guitar care of Brian May).
But Calderone’s presence didn’t end there. In fact, there were two other segments dedicated to the character: Gaga’s win for (ironically) Best Female Video and the tribute to Britney Spears. What did we learn? A little Jo Calderone goes a long way.
When the opening performance wrapped up, everybody expected Gaga to re-emerge wearing some sort of crazy, ante-upping outfit, perhaps a dress made entirely out of cheese, or just a series of live ferrets stapled together. On the one hand, it’s pretty sly of her to subvert expectations like that. On the other hand, it would have been better had she found a way to subvert those expectations in a way that didn’t involve an inconsistent, low-rent accent.
It was most problematic during the Britney tribute. That whole sequence was relatively underwhelming (the dancing was good, but you couldn’t get anybody to sing a Britney song or two?), but it got especially bad when Spears actually went on stage to collect her Moonman.
As EW’s Adam Vary pointed out, there was only one way to describe what Gaga was doing: mugging. Spears herself barely had time to talk, and Gaga’s speech beforehand about masturbating to posters of Britney came across as strangely insincere, if only because it was difficult to tell which persona was actually talking to us. The confused crowd just sort of tuned out.
The people sitting in the Nokia Theater didn’t exactly hate Jo Calderone, but they didn’t really know what to do with her either.
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Her part ruined the already bad tribute even more, to be honest.
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Member Since: 12/9/2007
Posts: 9,007
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Okay then. Jo was one of the only exciting things about the night, let's be honest.
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Member Since: 3/6/2011
Posts: 6,127
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Honestly I have to agree, I didn't care if she dressed as Jo for her performance, but I HATED that she was still dressed as him for the "tribute". I really wanted a pic of Brit & Gaga. 
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Member Since: 8/20/2011
Posts: 4,292
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What people aren't GETTING is that it was SUPPOSED to be to much. Shes trying to push the limit of where a performance starts and ends- because for gaga there is no end its infinite. If she would have showed up in the middle as gaga it would have ruined the entire concept behind the piece.
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Member Since: 10/2/2010
Posts: 4,387
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Jo was epic. I wish that my girl, GAGA, would've given Britney the award. I like Jo & all, but it could've stopped when Britney deserved her moment. I THOUGHT BRITNEY'S REACTION TO JO WAS WELL-TAKEN. She's hot & the shy "I-don't-know-what-to-do look" was hot.  All together, Katy faded when compared to GAGA & BRITNEY. PLUS, Beyonce's performance was incredible. All the key changes made me get nervous, but I never doubted Queen Bey. THE PREGNANCY ANNOUNCEMENT THRILLED ME. So, Brit/Gaga/Bey = The real queens stole the night.
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Member Since: 10/18/2003
Posts: 3,119
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Quote:
Originally posted by MonsterMosama
What people aren't GETTING is that it was SUPPOSED to be to much. Shes trying to push the limit of where a performance starts and ends- because for gaga there is no end its infinite. If she would have showed up in the middle as gaga it would have ruined the entire concept behind the piece.
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THIS!!!!!
At least Joe made the tribute less boring!!! after over 10 ****ing years, she has nothing interesting or funny to say?  she was totally lobotomized like always!!!
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Member Since: 12/1/2010
Posts: 23,572
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I don't see how Jo interrupted Britney's tribute. All Britney did was praise and thank Beyonce anyhow.
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Member Since: 11/10/2009
Posts: 19,215
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The whole thing was a gimmick, obviously, but it was brilliantly sarcastic and androgynous. As another member mentioned, what would the point have been had she used Jo for a single performance only? Especially in this year's VMA, Jo was the only interesting and consistent part of the show. The VMAs have never been about class, so the Britney tribute speech was gloriously messy.
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Banned
Member Since: 11/24/2009
Posts: 61,404
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I didn't care for it. Y+I is a sweet love ballad and shows a different side of Gaga. And surprisingly, people responded and allowed her to show a different side. This is going to be a turn-off to them.
But if she's willing to entertain people by having them laugh at her, it's her choice.
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Banned
Member Since: 6/25/2011
Posts: 37,192
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Quote:
Originally posted by Haus_of_Nicole
I didn't care for it. Y+I is a sweet love ballad and shows a different side of Gaga. And surprisingly, people responded and allowed her to show a different side. This is going to be a turn-off to them.
But if she's willing to entertain people by having them laugh at her, it's her choice.
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Not at all. Every single one of my friends I watched the show with, who were all VERY indifferent to GaGa, thought it was really cool and interesting that she did it. Sure, as the show went on they were just like "She is DRUNK," but they were saying the same thing about Katy Plastered.
And the sales of You & I don't lie. 
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Member Since: 10/4/2010
Posts: 5,607
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It was perfect, I loved it. Breaking down the social gender appearance barriers, who the **** else?
It would have been nice if she had kept us entertained by switching outfits like usual, but oh well.
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Member Since: 1/4/2009
Posts: 11,404
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Quote:
Originally posted by Jameson Teqkilla
Not at all. Every single one of my friends I watched the show with, who were all VERY indifferent to GaGa, thought it was really cool and interesting that she did it.
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I know right? everyone I know loved it and it's the talk of the day
nicole is forgetting that it's the VMAs and everyone was making bets on how would Gaga shock everyone this time. if she did her usual piano performance nobody would care. what she did was the only way to top the meat dress without trying to top it (I mean if she wasn't smart she would arrive in a dress made of bones or vomit)
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Member Since: 12/21/2010
Posts: 51,088
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I thought it was rad as ****. She had a good sense of humor about it. It never came off as try-hard, imo.
It WOULD have felt forced if she changed halfway through, though.
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Member Since: 3/27/2011
Posts: 14,660
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She did a great job and the public's reaction is great so far. No backlash.
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Banned
Member Since: 11/24/2009
Posts: 61,404
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Quote:
Originally posted by KRL
I know right? everyone I know loved it and it's the talk of the day
nicole is forgetting that it's the VMAs and everyone was making bets on how would Gaga shock everyone this time. if she did her usual piano performance nobody would care. what she did was the only way to top the meat dress without trying to top it (I mean if she wasn't smart she would arrive in a dress made of bones or vomit)
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Well I never thought she should try to top it, especially b/c (1) it's what everyone expected and (2) it's hard to top wearing meat.
She's pretty talented. Let that shine through for once. Especially when you're doing a ballad. Find some non-gimmicky ways to make it interesting and stand out.
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Member Since: 11/4/2006
Posts: 37,808
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I thought Jo was fun. Some folks just don't have a sense of humor.
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Banned
Member Since: 6/25/2011
Posts: 37,192
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Quote:
Originally posted by Haus_of_Nicole
Well I never thought she should try to top it, especially b/c (1) it's what everyone expected and (2) it's hard to top wearing meat.
She's pretty talented. Let that shine through for once. Especially when you're doing a ballad. Find some non-gimmicky ways to make it interesting and stand out.
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You're purposely setting her up to fail though. Anything she does to make a performance standout, you'll immediately shoot down as too "try hard" or "gimmicky." And if she just sits at a piano and plays, it's too simple. Not to mention if she just sat and had an acoustic performance, she would be COMPLETELY overshadowed by Adele.
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Member Since: 11/18/2010
Posts: 33,622
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As I've said before. I loved it in the opening, the monoglue, the preformance.... but didn't feel it was necessary at all during the Britney tribute.
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Member Since: 1/4/2009
Posts: 11,404
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anyway the job is done - her appearance is the most discussed appearance of the night only behind beyonce's announcement obviously (but even that is arguable because I don't think that many people care about a woman's pregnancy)
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Member Since: 6/16/2010
Posts: 19,686
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Without Jo and Bey the VMAs would have been ****.
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