Lady Gaga takes flight with ‘Artpop’ global release

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Multi-platinum selling diva Lady Gaga took off in a custom-made flying dress to proclaim a new cultural revolution for Monday’s global launch of her third album, greeted by mixed reviews.

Fighting to retain her “Queen of Pop” crown, Gaga strapped herself into the fly suit, clamped on a helmet and wearing little else but a cut-out black leotard and knee-high sparkly white stiletto boots, took off and propelled through the air at a press conference in a Brooklyn warehouse.

“Artpop” signals a return to the limelight for Stefani Germanotta ― known as Lady Gaga ― after she was forced to tone down her usually ubiquitous media presence to undergo hip surgery.

“I just want 11/11 to be a time for us all to really open our minds and project a brand-new future in communication, in technology, in visual art,” Gaga told a packed press conference ahead of a VIP album launch party later Sunday.

“It’s really not about me at all.”

She has collaborated with a number of world famous contemporary artists, including Jeff Koons for the album’s artwork, showing her as a post-modern Botticellian Venus.

An enormous white statue sculpted by Koons of a naked Gaga, legs splayed, with a giant blue ball in front of her crotch, will be the first sight to greet guests when they enter.