Lady Gaga Will Rock the VMAs

The MTV Video Music Awards have always been a stage where stars are born—or reborn—with controversy. Madonna made a splash at the first telecast in 1984 when she writhed around in a wedding dress, crooning the lyrics to "Like a Virgin." Britney Spears gave her debut performance there at 17, and PETA groaned when she shimmied onstage with a python at the 2001 awards. And nobody—or was it everybody?—complained when Britney and Madonna shared a kiss in front of the cameras. But at this year's awards, on Sept. 13 in New York, the crowd will go gaga for a musician named ... Lady Gaga. And the 23-year-old pop sensation will likely deliver a sizzling performance that cements her newly minted status as one of music's most daring stars.

At a time when the music industry is seriously lagging, Gaga (née Stefani Joanne Germanotta; she plucked her name from the Queen song "Radio Ga Ga") has leaped into the spotlight with unusual vigor. Her debut album, The Fame, has moved more than 3 million copies worldwide, and her songs "Just Dance" and "Poker Face" were in many ways perfect anthems for the summer. She's gotten (and courted) media hype like almost no pop star since the Material Girl, so it's no surprise that comparisons between the two have been frequent. And Gaga isn't shy to express herself in some very strange materials: fishnet stockings, plastic bubbles, glittery masks, a zipper over her eye. In July, she made headlines when she appeared on a German TV talk show in a jacket made of Kermit the Frog puppets.

Lady Gaga likes to sing about fame, and her own fame hasn't been accidental. She's a fitting star for today's YouTube generation, and not just because she tries to stage her concerts with YouTube-friendly lighting. The New York-born Andy Warhol fan says she's not just in it for the music: she wants to inspire an entire movement, one in which everybody is entitled to act as though they're famous. Duh. Now do you see why she's the Internet's most beloved poster girl? Gaga spoke to NEWSWEEK's Ramin Setoodeh about the VMAs and her life as an artist so far. Excerpts:

Congratulations on your nine nominations. Have you always been a fan of the VMAs?
When I was younger, I used to wrap a big blanket around myself, an afghan my grandmother knitted, and I would wear it like a gown. I would run around the basement with popcorn and I would scream in excitement waiting for them to come on. I used to love the big pop acts. I remember Alicia Keys gave a beautiful performance and Michael Jackson with 'N Sync.

Have you figured out what you're going to perform?
I'm going to be performing one of the most recent singles off my album. But it's going to be a different and more dramatic interpretation. And it is most certainly rooted in New York-style performance art.

What does that mean?
It's less of me singing the song, and more of an art installation. A performance-art piece. It's very well-designed and thought out, and we've been planning it for months and months. It is for me a very meaningful performance, [for] where I am in my career, as well as the experiences I've had, as well as the co-headlining tour I'm going on in the fall.

Do you think it will be one of those defining moments people will remember at the VMAs?
I know it will. I sort of have this philosophy about things: there's never a reason to do something unless it's going to be memorable, unless it's going to change things, unless it's going to inspire a movement. With the song and with the performance, I hope to say something very grave about fame and the price of it.