patel travels: Lady Gaga's 'Yoü And I' Personas: Who Are Yuyi And Jo Calderone?

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Lady Gaga's 'Yoü And I' Personas: Who Are Yuyi And Jo Calderone?

Gaga video makes its TV debut tonight at 7:49 p.m. ET/PT on MTV and Logo.
By Jocelyn Vena

Lady Gaga
Photo: WireImage

Lady Gaga's "Yoü and I" video is is eye candy — if your type of eye candy involves freaky sci-fi love stories, that is. The Laurieann Gibson-directed video, which makes its television debut tonight at 7:49 p.m. ET/PT on MTV and Logo during "MTV First: Lady Gaga," certainly recalls many of the personas in Gaga's world.

Lady Gaga's musical director recalls how "Yoü and I" came to be.

There are nods to many of Gaga's past incarnations. When she stands at a crossroads in a big hat, the image is reminiscent of "Telephone" Gaga. When she sits nearly makeup-free at her piano in the cornfields, there are touches of the teary-eyed makeup-less Gaga from the "Bad Romance" video. Flashes of her wedding may remind fans of the wedding dress she wore in the "Judas" clip. Robot Gaga's facial structures recall some of the steampunk looks of her "Alejandro" video. Those are only a few of the nods to past personas from her own videography.

Go behind the scenes of a top-secret Lady Gaga shoot.

But there are two other significant personas that fans of the singer will recognize from the Gaga-verse, her male alter ego, Jo Calderone, and her mermaid alter ego, Yuyi. But those not as familiar with all things Gaga might be wondering just who these two are.

Jo Calderone first appeared in Vogue Hommes Japan last September. In the issue, Jo revealed how he knows the superstar and fans were teased as to the nature of their relationship. "[My occupation is] mechanic for my dad's business. This is the first time I've had my picture taken. Well, I always helped my dad at work, since I was a kid. I thought it would be fun to have my picture taken," he said in the issue.

As for how he feels about Gaga, he shared, "She's f---in' beautiful, and funny, and interesting. I was a little nervous for Nick to start shooting. She said, 'Don't be baby, you were born this way.' I took her out after. The rest is private." He later reemerged on the single art for the song "You And I."

Fans first learned of Yuyi back in June, when Gaga teased that at some point she'd be the "reincarnation" of Gaga's "birth+artistic spirit." She appeared as a version of that mermaid figure during her performance on France's "Le Grand Journal" in June. Last month, on her official Tumblr, she posted a photo of herself as a mermaid figure, this time in a wheelchair, when she performed in Sydney.

Don't miss the television premiere of the "Yoü and I" video during "MTV First: Lady Gaga," Thursday night at 7:49 p.m. ET on MTV and Logo, followed by a live Q&A with Gaga and her fans on MTV.com. Tweet your questions for the Mother Monster with the hashtag #MTVGaga.

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