EJ's Thoughts: Lady Gaga Is 'Fearless' In 'Marry The Night' Video

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Lady Gaga Is 'Fearless' In 'Marry The Night' Video

Born This Way collaborator Fernando Garibay calls the clip a 'thank you' to Gaga's label, Interscope.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Vanessa WhiteWolf

Lady Gaga
Photo: Joe Scarnici/ WireImage

Lady Gaga has said the 14-minute "Marry the Night" video is an avant-garde look at her early struggles before hitting it big, and frequent musical collaborator Fernando Garibay told MTV News he remembers seeing a lot of that strife that plays out in the clip.

"She directed the whole video. It was her concept from beginning to end," he said. "It was amazing to see. I was brought in to do the music for the video and additional scoring and such, and so I got to sit and watch the whole process. It's pretty spectacular. It's still breathtaking how much effort and input she has for concepts. ... I might be biased, but it's my favorite video so far. It looks great, and it captures the feeling of the song. It's her story."

So what exactly is that story? The video follows a fictionalized Gaga pursuing her dreams as a ballerina. After she's told to quit, she reinvents herself and becomes a pop sensation. It mirrors her real-life story of being dropped by Island/Def Jam before being signed to Interscope Records, and the rest is history.

"It wasn't easy — that's an understatement," Garibay said of Gaga's early days in the industry. "It wasn't easy for her to get started in the music business, and I was there early on when she was already taking extreme risks. And a lot of the stuff, it's tough to watch, 'cause I've seen that happen, some of those parts. And her honoring and paying homage to Interscope — 'cause it's great, 'cause it's our label and they were always believers in us, particularly her — so it's great to see that. It's like gratitude. It's like a 'thank you.' "

In the lead-up to the video, Garibay said his pop-star pal wasn't in any way scared to put so much of her life out there for public consumption.

"I don't think she's nervous at all," he said. "She's fearless. There's nothing to hide with her. She really put a lot of herself out there this time, but it's something we see all the time. It's nice for the public to see the story and what happened and the true expression of herself in video. It is very autobiographical. She's been wanting to tell the story, so she finally got the opportunity. So it'll be interesting to see what's gonna happen next with her vision."

What did you think of the "Marry the Night" video? Share your reviews in the comments!

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