Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O has revealed which side of the pop spectrum her own tastes lie in a recent interview. She’s taken a dig at Lady Gaga, saying the pop star lacks “a core authenticity or originality”, yet she feels a cultural connection with South Korean viral sensation PSY.
Speaking with The Guardian, Karen O said she was not convinced of Lady Gaga’s integrity. The singer, known for her bizarre outfits on stage, may appear to have a lot in common with Gaga, wearer of the infamous meat dress, but O insists the similarities are purely visual:
I feel there’s a core authenticity or originality lacking there. It’s so referential. I mean, everything is referenced, but when you read Just Kids by Patti Smith, there’s idol worship towards poets, or Jim Morrison or whoever, but it seems to be processed through her filter and it ends up becoming very Patti Smith. That’s different from just picking what you like from what other people do and presenting it as your own.
O does, however, have respect for Gaga’s unconventional attitude towards being sexy, saying that she likes that Gaga fans don’t have to “feel like they have to be dolls or whatever”.
She may not be Gaga’s biggest fan but, surprisingly enough, she’s all for South Korea’s biggest pop export, PSY, saying she cried the first time she saw the video for Gangnam Style:
I guess it’s part of some weird repressed Korean nationalism and maybe I associate it with my grandparents, who passed away recently. But a lot of my adult life I’ve been waiting for Seoul and Korea to be on the scene culturally, and when I saw that I just felt tickled. I was just happy!
Guess she hasn’t heard PSY’s new single Gentleman yet.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their fourth studio album Mosquito last week.
