Photo provided to China Daily

"I'm from New York. I've worked since I was a 5-year-old to be a performer. All my life. I deserve to be here. I'm ready."

Again, could these be lyrics?

Since the beginning, Artpop has been billed as not just an album but a "project", a multimedia experience that will include an app. As the title suggests, "the point (of Artpop) is that art and pop can have an exchange", Gaga says.

Van Lamsweerde says she and Matadin have an image bank of 300 photos that they will try to edit down with Gaga and "put it out there, whether in a museum, on the Internet, for a single cover or for the press - it all will have its moment".

A directional fashion component seems like a given from an artist who has embraced and been embraced by fashion - both haute and experimental.

She mentions that the white cloth that surrounds her in the Applause cover image is a coat by Gareth Pugh.

But when asked if he had a larger influence in the Artpop look, she responds with part deflection, part abstraction, turning the question back at the reporter: "It's interesting how you view things, and you look at it like, I'm a pop icon, and (you wonder) 'Is this the image of the album? Is this the direction? Who came up with it?'

"I think that's so interesting because it's exactly the kind of thing we're trying to destroy. This is one jacket. This is one image. This is one moment. This is one statement.

"When you watch each image and you watch each thing come out, they might not look exactly the same," Gaga says.