TIME Magazine's Most Influental People....

This year's Time 100 brings an bouquet of artists, leaders, heroes and thinkers who are considered the 100 most influential people in the world -- as assembled by Time Magazine



Inside the issue, Grammy Award-winning pop singer Cyndi Lauper admits, "I first heard the name Lady Gaga through a mutual friend. He couldn't stop talking about her. Then I heard her music, and I thought, 'Wow, I love this kid.'"


An artist's job is to take a snapshot — be it through words or sound, lyrics or song — that explains what it's like to be alive at that time. Lady Gaga's art captures the period we're in right now. These days, you go to a club and wonder who all these kids are. They don't seem to have jobs. How can they afford to be here? Her song "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" explains that scene. It's about the New York prep-school party kids she grew up with. It's where she came from. Gaga's lyrics are incredibly literary. When "Bad Romance" starts, the music grabs your ear immediately. Then she opens with the line "I want your ugly/ I want your disease," and all of a sudden you're listening. Most of the stuff on the radio is not very clever, but Gaga presents her ideas in a sophisticated manner. She has an incredible pop sensibility.-- Cyndi Lauper



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