If Jack White is pissed off it is not because of Lady Gaga but because of the media! In an interview with Esquire magazine, the White Stripes guy made a comment about Gaga, and according to him this was not interpreted the right way. This is what was printed in the interview, you will be the judge:
‘I don't think she [Lady Gaga] lives it because it's all artifice. It's all image with no meaning behind it. You can't sink your teeth into it. It's a sound bite. It's very of this age, because that's what people want’.
But Jack White now denies that this comment had anything to do with the diva’s music, declaring ‘I never said anything about her music, or questioned the authenticity of her songs in any way’.
I understand things can be taken out of context, but in this case it was a total of five sentences, with the expressions, ‘sound bite’ and ‘no meaning behind it’… but it wasn’t about Lady Gaga’s songs? I am so confused, he now declared he wasn’t questioning her authenticity but he nevertheless used the term ‘artifice’? Because everyone knows that Jack White never used anything close to ‘an image’ to promote his music! And there is always a deep meaning behind each one of his eccentric costumes, we know that!
This is Jack White’s complete statement:
I'd like to address the recent tabloidesque drama baiting by the press in regards to Lady Gaga. I never said anything about her music, or questioned the authenticity of her songs in any way. I was in a conversation about the drawbacks of image for the sake of image, and that it is popular nowadays to not question an image in front of you, but only to label it as "cool" or "weird" quickly and dispose of it. I don't like my comments about Lady Gaga's presentation being changed into some sort of negative critique of her music. If you're going to try to cause drama, at least get the quotes right. I think journalists should also be held accountable for what they say. Especially publications like the NME who put whatever words they feel like between two quotation marks and play it off as a quote. Maybe somebody with more lawyers can take them to task, but I'll just use the Internet and Twitter instead. I also think that kind of tabloid drama encourages artists to not express their opinions in the press, and instead give polite soundbites that don't stimulate thought about creativity and the consumption of art in its many guises.
Peace to Lady Gaga and I fully congratulate and compliment her on her championing of gay rights issues and the momentum it's given to help create change.
Thank you.
Jack White
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