gustyfoyer87: Lady Gaga Announces HBO Monster Ball Special

Monday, February 21, 2011

Lady Gaga Announces HBO Monster Ball Special

'Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden' airs May 7.
By Gil Kaufman

Lady Gaga
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Lady Gaga could not remember much about her celebration on Sunday night after winning three Grammy Awards, but during a Monday appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," she did manage to recall that she had yet another big announcement to make.

"Oh, this is a very exciting new announcement," she said during the appearance, in which she revealed that she and Madonna have no beef over Gaga's smash single "Born This Way," which some critics and fans have said resembles some of Madonna's 1990s work. "I am going to be taping a special for HBO of the Monster Ball." HBO confirmed on Tuesday (February 15) that the singer's first solo HBO concert special will air on May 7. The program will be taped during Gaga's February 21-22 shows at Madison Square Garden and will be titled "Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden."

"Lady Gaga is the single most exciting music talent on the scene today," said HBO president Sue Naegle in a statement announcing the deal. "We're especially thrilled that she'll be creating unique new elements for the special that will make the show an even more memorable experience for our viewers."

The HBO show will begin airing a few weeks before the release of Gaga's highly anticipated Born This Way album, which hits stores on May 23. It will be directed by Laurieann Gibson, who has choreographed most of Lady Gaga's videos, including "Poker Face," "Paparazzi," "Telephone," "Alejandro" and "Bad Romance."

Gaga also dropped the news that the "Born This Way" video will be out soon and that it is a collaboration between her own Haus of Gaga and fashion photographer Nick Knight.

The singer admitted that she didn't remember much about Sunday night's post-Grammy party, but she remembers that "it was fun. I do remember being called 'drunky Gaga.' " Renowned for her elaborate entrances, Gaga said that Hussein Chalayan, the Turkish designer behind the egg-shaped device in which she was carried into the Grammys, wanted to make sure everyone knew it should be referred to as a "vessel." Joking (we think), Gaga told Leno she spent three days inside the temperature-controlled device.

Gaga also explained that the "vessel" was intended to signify rebirth, specifically the birth of a new race "with no prejudice ... against anyone."

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