Why Lady Gaga Skipped the 2024 Met Gala

Former Met Gala co-chair Lady Gaga had four different Brandon Maxwell looks when she last attended the event in 2019, going from giant magenta ball gown to a black lingerie set worn with transparent tights and boots. This year, Gaga let other stars take the spotlight, skipping the New York City event.

Gaga has been largely off of the red carpet this year, although that will change once the press tour for Joker: Folie à Deux begins ahead of its early October release. In the meantime, Gaga has been teasing she has new music coming. She posted an Instagram over the weekend where she wrote, “🖤🎼💋music is not work I’m so lucky.”

In November 2019, Gaga spoke to Oprah for ELLE, explaining how she sees her career and style—and why she is not trying to outdo herself anymore.

She said, “Oprah, I’ve got to level with you 100 percent: I used to try to wrap my brain as heavy as I could around what I could do to.... Instead of being shocking (I used to say ‘shock art’ or ‘performance art’), I would use the word ‘bemuse,’ which is basically putting the audience in a state of confusion where they can’t look away. I used to just go, ‘What am I going to do next to get people’s attention?’”

Oprah cited Gaga’s infamous meat dress that she wore to the 2010 MTV VMAs. Gaga responded, “I didn’t think it was going to be as shocking to everyone as it was. But that’s just me. I have a sort of eccentric brain, so for me, I was like, Of course this makes sense. I’m showing up to make a statement about ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell.’ I went to the event with soldiers who were discharged from the army because they were out, or they were found out, and to me, if you’re willing to give up your life for your country, does it matter what your sexual orientation is or what your gender identity is? For me, it was like, ‘Flesh is flesh,’ so that was the intention of the meat dress. For me, that wasn’t shocking; it was shocking to the world. And I have to say, it was quite recently—after doing A Star Is Born, and working with Bradley Cooper, and my experience even with winning an Oscar—I sort of just went to myself, ‘You have a much greater mission on this earth than to freak the hell out of people. Your mission is to give people a form of love through your art that lifts them up.’”

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