Posted by Maura Johnston on 02/15/2011 at 2:00 PM Live At The Grammys, News

The Popdust Files: lady gaga

During her Tonight appearance last night, Lady Gaga told Jay Leno that she spent 72 hours inside her “vessel” before emerging from it triumphantly on Sunday night to perform her new single “Born This Way” at the Grammys. This morning, she elaborated to Ryan Seacrest: “It was a very creative experience. It was time for me to really prepare and think about the meaning of the song.”

Celebrity forensics would seem to back up her claims about the length of her vessel-stay—there’s a gap in her tweets between last Tuesday (when she teased the cover of the “Born This Way” single) and late Sunday afternoon (when her stylist/pal Nicola Formichetti informed the world that she was “in incubation”), and there are no paparazzi shots of her from the pre-red-carpet portion of the weekend, either. The Taiwanese “Sims The News” outfit NMA posited that she was on her Blackberry the whole time—

—but even someone with as eclectic a group of pals as Gaga had to run out of people to BBM with over 72 hours. So what else could she have been up to?

WRITING A TREATISE ON HOW WHITNEY HOUSTON’S I LOOK TO YOU WAS BETTER THAN A LOT OF PEOPLE GAVE IT CREDIT
She would have used this tribute to the surprising inspiration for “Born This Way” for her Album of the Year acceptance speech, but then the Arcade Fire had to go and ruin everything.

READING THE SECRET BY THE LIGHT OF HER BLACKBERRY
Even Mother Monsters need a little bit of help from the cosmos.

PENNING A SUPER-LONG THANK-YOU NOTE TO CLARENCE CLEMONS
The E Street Band saxophonist played on one of Born This Way‘s RedOne-produced tracks, although it’s unclear whether that’s the song on the record with a “Bruce Springsteen vibe.” (There are, after all, 17 tracks from which to choose.) And here I thought “Dancer In The Dark” was a tip of the hat to The Boss!

ANGRY BIRDS MARATHON
What timing—the Valentine’s edition of Angry Birds Seasons was released right before she went under! Hey Gaga, if you got past level 1-9, please help a girl out?

THINKING A LOT ABOUT HER CATHOLIC SCHOOL DAYS
Three days and then she was born again? And being even more vehement about sending out a message to who have felt oppressed by society, welcoming them into her fold? Uh, Lady Formerly Known As Stefani Germanotta, Convent of the Sacred Heart Graduate… are you trying to tell us something? (And good Lord, what do you have planned for Easter, then?)