Samuel Axon Mashable March 25, 2010
You may have heard that Lady Gaga is the first music artist to reach one billion online video views. Some of us here at Mashable say that’s downright ridiculous — a tragedy, even — but other staffers are cheering her on.
And while we may not be able to agree on the merits of her music, we did think it would be appropriate to celebrate the occasion with 15 of the best Gaga YouTube (
) videos. Watch these videos and tell us if you can figure out why Gaga has outdone all the competition — why does she appeal so much to the YouTube-browsing, web-savvy crowd?
Maybe she’s just in the right place at the right time, maybe her label’s Vevo music video strategy is responsible, or maybe there’s just something undefinable about Gaga’s global appeal. These videos might serve up some hints.
Music videos are at the top, everything else is farther down. Enjoy the music, Gaga disciples! Everyone else: Enjoy trying to figure out what all the fuss is about.
Table of Contents
- Music Video: “Bad Romance”
- Music Video: “Telephone” feat. Beyoncé [Explicit]
- Music Video: “Poker Face”
- Music Video: “Just Dance”
- Music Video: “Paparazzi”
- Music Video: “LoveGame”
- Stefani Germanotta: Gaga Before She Was Gaga
- Tutorial: Lady Gaga “Poker Face” Makeup
- Cover: Christopher Walken Performs “Poker Face”
- Cover: “Bad Romance”/”Poker Face” Acoustic Ballad
- Mashup: Gaga in Wonderland
- Mashup: South Park Does Lady Gaga on Rock Band (Extended Mix)
- Parody: “Poker Face” (“Outer Space”)
- Parody: “Bad Romance” (Key of Awesome)
- Parody: “Telephone” (Key of Awesome)
Music Video: “Telephone” feat. Beyoncé [Explicit]
Stefani Germanotta: Gaga Before She Was Gaga
She wasn’t always outrageous. This early video of Stefani Germanotta — Gaga before she was Gaga — shows a young songwriter singing and playing the piano like Norah Jones without any elaborate costumes or electronic gimmicks. You might be surprised at what you hear and see here.
Tutorial: Lady Gaga “Poker Face” Makeup
Want to look as outrageously glamorous as Lady Gaga? Here’s how.
Cover: Christopher Walken Performs “Poker Face”
Campy movie star and regular SNL host Christopher Walken appeared on the BBC one Halloween to read some Gaga lyrics. That’s an awful lot of weird in one minute.
Cover: “Bad Romance”/”Poker Face” Acoustic Ballad
We were originally going to include a far more popular acoustic Gaga cover, but when looking for it we stumbled on this one and decided to include it instead. It has only a few thousand views, but it is unexpectedly beautiful.
Tim Burton’s cinematic reinvention of Alice () in Wonderland is a web video hit in its own right. This mashup brings Gaga to Wonderland in Alice’s place. She fits right in.
Mashup: South Park Does Lady Gaga on Rock Band (Extended Mix)
This is an extended version of a very short clip of South Park’s Cartman singing a Lady Gaga song with his buddies while playing a Rock Band-like music video game. The original clip went viral shortly after the episode aired, then Lady Gaga’s songs came to Rock Band in real life. Coincidence? Probably. But it’s fun to think maybe they were related!
Parody: “Poker Face” (“Outer Space”)
The joke here seems to be that Lady Gaga is a space alien. Fair enough, but the video isn’t as funny as the other parodies below. At more than 21 million views, however, it is much more popular.
Parody: “Bad Romance” (Key of Awesome)
This episode of Next New Networks’ Key of Awesome funny music video web series helped the series make its appearance in our January webisodes chart. It’s pulled in just shy of eight million views so far.
Parody: “Telephone” (Key of Awesome)
After the “Bad Romance” was so well received, Key of Awesome tried to make lightning strike twice with a parody of Gaga’s new video “Telephone.” This new video was just plugged on Perez Hilton’s celebrity gossip blog, so expect it to get some serious traffic.
