Lady Gaga: 'People Want To Destroy Me'

Lady Gaga has claimed that people get "a sense of pleasure" in taking her down.

The singer admitted that she feels persecuted by her detractors who find it 'entertaining' to try to destroy her.

Asked by The Guardian if she feels persecuted, she replied: "Yeah, for sure I do. I certainly feel that at this time it's almost as if people are surprised they haven't already destroyed me.

"It gives them a sense of pleasure when they believe that they've destroyed me or taken me down. It's almost entertainment for people to poke fun at Lady Gaga, but at the very same time they have no idea the album I've made.

"They have no idea what I put into this, they have no idea the work that I've put behind my performances and what I do. In fact, people have no idea what it really took for me to get here. So it doesn't bother me, it's just an interesting observation of where we are as a society." 

Discussing the success of her latest single 'Applause', she said: "It's literally not even been two weeks since my first single came out and it's all, 'She's over', or because I'm not number one yet, 'She's finished'.

"People focus less on the music and focus more on how the music's doing; how it's faring from a numbers perspective, from a financial perspective. If you think I give a damn about money then you don't know me as an artist at all."

She added: "I think that once you've had a few No 1s in your career that you've kind of proven yourself and I don't feel the need to prove anything anymore."

Meanwhile, Gaga recently unveiled seven new songs from her forthcoming album ARTPOP at the iTunes Festival in London.