2015 has been an outstanding year for mother of monsters, Lady Gaga. Not only has she been working on her fifth studio album, but this year has also seen her conclude a 36 show tour through North America and Europe with Tony Bennett, with whom she released earlier this year a top 10 single Anything Goes. She also got get engaged to Twilight heartthrob Taylor Kinney, is starring in FX’s American Horror Story: Hotel (which premieres on October 7th) and she recently hit No.1 on the real time Billboard + Twitter Trending 140 Chart with her sensational video for Till It Happens to You, in which she chronicles the horrors of rape. Add to this her six Grammy awards and the 28 million albums she’s sold worldwide, and you don’t even begin to scratch the surface of what an amazing woman she is. Which is why Billboard has announced her as their Woman of the Year.
“Billboard’s Woman of the Year has always represented the finest in music, and the anointing of a key influential figure who drove the conversation for that year,” says Janice Min, co-president and chief creative officer of Guggenheim Media’s entertainment group, which consists of Billboard and THR, “No one embodies that more than Lady Gaga in 2015. From her show-stopping performance at the Oscars, to her co-headlining tour, to her philanthropic outreach and foundation promoting youth wellbeing and empowerment, to her new role as TV star, there is no woman dominating popular culture tastes and its evolution as much as she is today. What a force.” Following in the footsteps of Taylor Swift, Gaga will receive her award at the music publication’s prestigious Women in Music event, which airs on Lifetime on December 18th. “I can’t believe @billboard named me Woman of the year thank you so much.” The Born This Way singer tweeted, “I am so so so so grateful. My gosh good morning!” We love you, Lady Gaga!
Credits
Photography Wolfgang Tillmans
[The Hedonist Issue, No. 313, Summer 2011]