Lady Gaga’s “Perfect Celebrity” Lyrics, Explained

Lady Gaga has been doin’ it for the fame ever since she first broke out on the pop scene, and now, she’s finally achieved the status of a “Perfect Celebrity.” Her new song of the same name is the culmination of Gaga’s years-long exploration of superstardom’s dark side, a topic she’s tackled most notably in her first three studio albums. Fittingly, the new track is filled with knowing throwbacks for Little Monsters to pick up on, as Gaga slyly references past tracks and unreleased deep cuts while singing about what makes a celebrity truly perfect.

Gaga’s 2025 album Mayhem has been hailed as the pop star’s return to her dark-pop origins, and “Perfect Celebrity” probably embodies this reignited interest in her breakout work more than any other song. The edgy track celebrates the messed-up relationship between a star and the general public, a continuation of the ascent to celeb status she once pined for on 2008’s The Fame. In the chorus, she basks in the troubling treatment she’s received:

So rip up the face of this photograph (Perfect celebrity) / You make me money, I'll make you laugh (Perfect celebrity) / Show me your prеtty, I'll show you mine / You love to hate mе / I'm the perfect celebrity

The verses highlight the gory undercurrent of the song even more, with vampiric references to Gaga’s American Horror Story character and an allusion to her unreleased track “Princess Die.”

I look so hungry, but I look so good / Tap on my vein, suck on my diamond blood / Choke on the fame and hope it gets you high / Sit in the front row, watch the princess die

She also appears to reference her Chromica song “Plastic Doll” in the song’s opening, singing: “I'm made of plastic like a human doll / You push and pull me, I don't hurt at all.”

Gaga underlined the importance of “Perfect Celebrity” in a recent interview, revealing it was actually the working title for Mayhem. She went on to describe how the track was inspired by her love for ‘90s rock, an era she fell in love with as a teenager. “‘Perfect Celebrity’ started as an electro grunge song,” she said. “It was also inspired by The Cure and the song ‘Never Enough’ I used to play in my apartment a million times before I walked into this bar.”