Posted May 13, 201114 yr Lady Gaga has described her relationship with fans in religious terms, saying: "If I can be a leader, I will." In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the singer, whose current single is called Judas, refers to her recent Monster Ball tour as "a religious experience", becoming for many, an alternative to organised faith. But she goes on to clarify, "it's more like a pop cultural church". The pop star has developed a devoted fanbase over the last two years, and her single Born This Way is being championed as an anthem for the disenfranchised, particularly in America. Yet she insists: "It's more self-worship, I think, not of me. I'm teaching people to worship themselves." Gaga gives her own explanation as to why her fans, who she dubs "monsters", have come to look to her for guidance rather than the establishment. She says: "The influence of institutionalised religion on government is vast. So religion then begins to affect social values and that in turn affects self-esteem, bullying in school, teen suicides, all those things. "It puts me in an interesting position as an artist whose fanbase is commercial and widening. If you were to ask me what I want to do – I don't want to be a celebrity, I want to make a difference." She continues: "I never wanted to look pretty on stage and sing about something we've all heard about before. I'd much rather write a song called Judas and talk about betrayal and forgiveness and feeling misunderstood, and talk to the fans and figure out what it is society needs. If I can be a leader, I will." The statement appears to echo John Lennon's 1966 declaration that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus". But Gaga is at pains to point out that she is not fundamentally against the church. "Don't say I hate institutionalised religion – rather than saying I hate those things, which I do not, what I'm saying is that perhaps there is a way of opening more doors, rather than closing so many." Elsewhere in the interview Gaga talks about the bullying she suffered as a teenager, relating one incident where she was thrown into a trash can. "I was not hard. I'm eccentric and talkative and audacious and theatrical, and I used to get picked on. I got thrown in a trash can on a street corner once by some boys who were hanging out with girls in my class. [i felt]worthless. Embarrassed. Mortified. I was 14. Three boys put me in it. The girls were laughing when they did it. "I got profanity written all over my locker at school and all the others were nice and clean. I got pinched in the hallways and called a $l*t." The full interview appears in the Guardian's Weekend magazine on Saturday (14 May). Lady Gaga releases her new album Born This Way on 23 May.
