Among the many treasures now on display at the just-opened David Bowie Centre in London is a letter Lady Gaga wrote the legendary musician in the early 2010s.
The short note wasn’t dated, but it was likely sent around late 2012 or early 2013. Gaga mentions having received an “advanced copy” of Bowie’s new album, and later says she’s finishing her own LP, Artpop, which eventually came out in November 2013. The Bowie album Gaga received was probably The Next Day, which arrived in March 2013.
Gaga told Bowie it was “truly an honor” to receive the album, adding, “I cried, in fact, listening to each song. How does he know I exist? I feel as though my entire career has been an artistic plea for you to notice me.”
After telling Bowie that she was finishing Artpop, she told him she was “in New York and would be grateful and honored to meet you.” The letter is signed “Love + Art, Gaga.”
While Gaga and Bowie never did meet, the former later revealed that she kept up a correspondence with Bowie. After Bowie’s death in 2016, Gaga led a tribute to the late musician at the Grammy Awards, performing a medley that included “Space Oddity,” “Fashion,” “Let’s Dance,” “Rebel Rebel,” and “Heroes.”
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Speaking with NPR around the same time, Gaga spoke with NPR about Bowie’s influence, saying he introduced her to “a lifestyle of total immersion in music, fashion, art and technology.” Remembering the life-changing experience of encountering his album Aladdin Sane, she said, “That was just the beginning of my artistic birth.”