Lady Gaga (real name: Stefani Germanotta) is an American singer-songwriter who is frequently compared to Kerli on account of similar visuals and themes between the two artists. Due to Gaga's large amount of fame, many other artists are compared to her.
Although Kerli has accused Gaga of copying her ideas in the past, she very rarely will speak ill of her, and on the contrary has praised Gaga for her creativity.
Lady Gaga's attire for the Fontainebleau New Year's concert.
In December 2009, Kerli posted a photo of herself in which she had neon yellow hair and a glittery heart decal covering her right eye. In that same month, Gaga performed at the Fontainebleau Hotel New Year's party in Miami with the same hair color and a similar style of makeup. Kerli then posted the following status on MySpace:
It’s kinda fucking funny that Lady Gaga ALSO has yellow hair now ... I wish she would fucking stop ripping off everything I do. Fucking bitch
Kerli later apologized for this in a Kyte chat, stating:
So this morning, I was reading the news and I saw that Lady Gaga also had yellow hair, and I’ve been doing so much to not look anything like her, and I feel like everything I do. she’ll do two weeks later. I feel like I’m starting my next album cycle and I’m trying to look different so I wouldn’t get these comparisons, but it’s like every time I do something different and post the picture up on MySpace she’s also looking that way in two weeks' time.
No disrespect because... she’s best friends with Alexander McQueen, obviously I’m not competing with that, obviously I’m not competing with four number one hits. I’ve never really said anything in a pissed off kind of way, because I didn’t wanna be that person who was a nobody and was, like, screaming when somebody else was standing on top of the mountain and ruling the world, I’m nobody to talk...
I know she knows who I am, and I’m good friends with some of the members of her team, and it’s just a little much that I’m trying so hard to not look anything like her and she’ll just end up looking like me anyways. So I just lost it for a second and called her a bitch, and it was really immature of me and I know the world will take it in a completely wrong way because she’s on top and I’m not.
Some of these things I’ve been like, “it’s a coincidence, it’s a coincidence, it’s a coincidence”, and then I’m like “you know what, this is not a coincidence anymore”, and obviously she’s taking her visuals to a next level because she’s got all this money behind her... Her fans come at me like I’m the copycat, I’m just tired and that’s the reason why I said it. Nobody knows who I am and she’s so big and I’ll just come across as some idiot who imagines these things, but me and everybody who’s been watching my career since I started know that I’m right.
Blue hair[]
In 2011, Kerli dyed her hair blue after someone mistook her for Lady Gaga because of her blonde hair. Months later, Lady Gaga dyed her hair the same shade of blue, most notably at the 2011 CFDA Fashion Awards.
In May of the same year, a fan messaged Kerli on Formspring complimenting her hair, to which she replied "Thank You. I love the blue too but it's kinda gotten too popular lately khm khm so I'm thinking of the next color already."[1]
Kerli's comments[]
Due to the ongoing rivalry between Kerli and Gaga's respective fanbases as well as the frequent comparisons between the two artists, Lady Gaga is often discussed as a topic in interviews with Kerli. Of Gaga, Kerli has had the following to say:
It sort of sucked for a while to get compared to her because I've always been me. ... It doesn't really matter [who came out first]. It sucks to get the comparisons when I'm just being me, I don't even look for inspiration in other artists. But I guess it's a compliment at the same time. So, I hope that I can establish myself in a market place enough where we're both just looked at as somebody creative ... because we stand for such different things.
I met her, actually, before she was famous and she didn't look like me back then. ... I've even done experiments... like, "you know what, I'm gonna do my hair neon yellow, and do a glitter heart over my eye, and nobody's gonna rip that off." And obviously, I see it the next day. But obviously, you don't get to be that little of an artist. The image is just one thing. Nobody's gonna get that big just because of their image. There's gonna have to be the stars aligning. And she's an incredible songwriter and an incredible businesswoman, and I really do respect her as an artist, but there's been times where there's been very similar visuals.
Everybody gets compared to her right now. ... I was watching Björk's "All is Full of Love" video last night, and the first comment was "Lady Gaga's got nothing on Björk!" I'm like, how did she sneak in under the Björk video! That doesn't make any sense! ... I looked different and crazy before it was cool to look different and crazy, and I'm not gonna change it up because it's gotten popular. I've done it, I'm doing it, I'm gonna do it after it stops being cool, 'cause I have a specific thing. And I make my things also, I don't just wear other people's crazy outfits. I hand-make it. So, [I'm] totally a fan of what she does, but I definitely have completely my own thing.
General comparisons[]
Kerli's fashion in the "Walking on Air" video is often compared to Lady Gaga.
