“It’s not a statement as much as just a move of passion”

I was a bit late to hop on the Gaga bandwagon but when I finally did get my hands on The Fame Monster (and watch the Monster Ball tour over, and over) it would from then on out be impossible for me to simply forget about Lady Gaga.

And in her latest project ARTPOP that’s more than just a forthcoming pop album, Gaga has been exercising all sorts of expressive art forms to really ripen the music-making process, including her new trainer Marina Abramović who has been educating her in performance. So where exactly has Gaga been hiding out? Well, at The Haus of Gaga with her most trusted designers responsible for her signature look, obviously.

In October’s issue of Elle Nojan Aminosharei gets an insider’s look (no other journalist has ever been) at Gaga’s Velvet Underground / Andy Warhol warehouse-feel workspace: The Haus of Gaga. And it sounds f*cking amazing. So while you might overlook Gaga as just a pop star just looking for attention, consider the fact most of her ensembles are hand-crafted; Gaga’s basically a walking canvas and she has a very dedicated team probably working around the clock 24/7 to thank for that.

We’ve already heard “Applause”; the newest single “Aura” just made its debut after soundtracking the Machete Kills trailer. And I know, as fabulous as these are, the two are just a glimpse of what ARTPOP will be. More songs on the album that only a handful of people have heard after Gaga performed at the iTunes Festival last month include “Sex Dreams,” “MANiCURE,” “ARTPOP,” “Swine,” “I Wanna Be With You,” and “Jewels and Drugs”.

“I get goose bumps when I think about the fans—how much they’ve changed. […] I saw them grow from coming to the shows at the Monster Ball tour dressed like me and then coming to the shows at the Born This Way Ball tour dressed as rad versions of themselves,” Gaga told Aminosharei in Elle.

Pretty hard not to get excited for Gaga when she’s been hiding away (even still) perfecting this album. It’s clear she is fueled by this stellar innate drive to create the never-before-seen, along with a passion for her fans. “These kids, when they put their hands up and make ’em touch, they give me that thing that I need.”

Oh, and the ARTPOP album cover is being unveiled TODAY at 1PM ET via iHeart Radio; it features work by artist Jeff Koonz with a release date on November 11.

A-R-T-P-O-P, y’all!

(photo via pressgaga.com; source: Elle)