Was Gaga’s ARTPOP inspired by Kerli?

[Kimmo 80,613]

While watching Kerli’s videos and reading the comments as well, there’s like so many complaining about how Kerli style is very similar to Gaga’s and one that I actually called my attention was this one that said about Army of Love :

“This remind me of the whole ARTPOP concept, the reaver outfits, the earpieces, her on the swing like Gaga on the ARTPOP booklet, and the platform shoes oh and not to mention the dance music”

Then I did a little digging and it looks like around 2008 some of the people that worked for Kerli also worked for Gaga, that’s what she wrote back on MySpace 

“I know she knows who I am and I’m good friends with some of the members of her team“

Spoiler

So this morning I was reading the news and I saw that Lady GaGa also had yellow hair, and I’ve been doing so much to not look anything like her, and I feel like everything I do she’ll do two weeks later. I feel like I’m starting my next album cycle and I’m trying to look different so I wouldn’t get these comparisons, but it’s like every time I do something different and post the picture up on MySpace she’s also looking that way in two weeks time. 
No disrespect because the thing she does visually and her styling... and she’s best friends with Alexander McQueen obviously I’m not competing with that, obviously I’m not competing with four number one hits. I’ve never really said anything in a pissed off kind of way because I didn’t wanna be that person who was like a nobody and was like screaming when somebody else was standing on top of the mountain and ruling the world, I’m nobody to talk, but this morning I was like… 
I know she knows who I am and I’m good friends with some of the members of her team and it’s just a little much that I’m trying so hard to not look anything like her and she’ll just end up looking like me anyways so I just lost it for a second and called her a bitch and it was really immature of me and I know the world will take it in a completely wrong way because she’s on top and I’m not. 
Some of these things I’ve been like “it’s a coincidence it’s a coincidence it’s a coincidence”, and then I’m like “you know what, this is not a coincidence anymore”, and obviously she’s taking her visuals to a next level because she’s got all this money behind her... Her fans come at me like I’m the copycat, I’m just tired and that’s the reason why I said it. Nobody knows who I am and she’s so big and I’ll just come across as some idiot who imagines these things, but me and everybody who’s been watching my career since I started know that I’m right

 Kerli

 

I don’t know I also see so much similarities to Kerli now that you actually look into it, because she is swinging with a pacifier and the ear pieces or headphones whatever are there too. And just about everything about Kerli screams ARTPOP.  Im I delusional?

 

[Benji 20,113]

Probably not.

I'm pretty sure the idea of the raver looks just comes from the fact that EDM was popular and was used through-out ARTPOP and when it came down to fashion, the Raver looks were the most "in your face" alongside the club kid looks amongst dance fashion.

[Ziggy 11,760]

I remember reading this and I always felt like it was more of a zeitgeist thing because if you nitpick you’ll see it but if you look in totality Gaga wears SO many different inspirations.

[vinster13 3,574]

I love kerli! She used to serve bops

[PerfectIllusion 6,616]

"I'm not competing with 4 number one hits"

I knew that Perfect Illusion would finally top the charts 

[WildSalome 988]

hmm interesting, the instrumental for the last bit of army of love sounds similar to the instrumental of the chorus of venus

[SMILE2NE1 3,566]

I do remember Kerli did do the yellow hair before Gaga 

[Guillaume Hamon 6,475]

37 minutes ago, SMILE2NE1 said:

I do remember Kerli did do the yellow hair before Gaga 

Cindy Lauper was doing it in the 80's if I'm not wrong.

[lolitamuse 299]

My avi may make me seem biased in this convo, but I've been following Kerli since the Love is Dead days, and I've been following Gaga since The Fame. So, I have a very good understanding of both their careers and the trajectories they took because I've been following both for a decade. And, honestly, I do think that Gaga took a lot of inspo from Kerli, especially during ARTPOP. Kerli's right, in that Gaga had the means to take the looks and make them super polished, while Kerli was handmaking her wigs and costumes and stuff. But as I watched them both move on in their careers, there were moments when I'd look at Gaga's visuals and be like, "I've seen Kerli do that same thing before." 

It's tough, because musically they're incredibly different. And Kerli has found success in very different ways than Gaga. Kerli continued writing for other artists--she wrote Demi Lovato's Skyscraper, among other big songs--whereas Gaga focused on her own career and music for herself. But Kerli has always had an incredibly strong brand of Bubble Goth and the visuals have always been consistent--so it's very obvious when someone else is borrowing looks. Gaga has eras of strong visuals, but they always give way to something else, so having the context of following both their careers, if you pull out the "copycat" looks by Gaga you can see the inspiration. 

I'm not coming for Gaga, because I think her and Kerli can't be compared. They're both amazing artists in their own right, and they do very different things creatively. Just saying that I do agree with Kerli that Gaga knows who she is, and has been inspired by her looks.

For those wondering how they may know each other, they were both signed to Island Def Jam at the same time. 

[SMILE2NE1 3,566]

8 hours ago, Guillaume Hamon said:

Cindy Lauper was doing it in the 80's if I'm not wrong.

True but no one really did it for ages and then Gaga did it two weeks after Kerli. I remember that time. Again, I love Gaga, but there are a lot of similarities. 

[Guillaume Hamon 6,475]

14 hours ago, SMILE2NE1 said:

True but no one really did it for ages and then Gaga did it two weeks after Kerli. I remember that time. Again, I love Gaga, but there are a lot of similarities. 

Good point.