Mika 'Lady Gaga Needs to Be Outrageous'

Pop star Mika has put Lady Gaga's success down to her outrageous antics -because she would never have caught the public's attention without her crazy stunts.

The Poker Face hitmaker has skyrocketed to international stardom over the last year, with a hit album and sell-out tour.

But the singer has become more well known for her strange outfits, saucy interviews, and wacky behaviour, which includes staging a mock suicide during a show.

And Mika is convinced the singer - real name Stefani Germanotta - needsto continue being outrageous to keep her fans interested.

He says, "She is her own creation. A weird, bizarre, but very successful creation. No one cared about her before. She's created a career for herself".

And the Grace Kelly hitmaker, who is friends with the star, insists sheis a very different person in private.

He adds, "She is completely different personality wise though when we're alone - nothing crazy like people think she is, very normal, very sweetand extremely intelligent. "She is very, very focused, bright and funny.  She doesn't take herself too seriously".

But in contrast Lady Gaga meanwhile was reduced to tears after record label bosses pushed her to flash more flesh in photoshoots at the start of her career.

The Poker Face singer frequently battled with executives who wanted her to be a super-sexy pop star but she refused to use her sexuality to sell records.

She tells Elle magazine, "My album covers are not sexual at all, which was an issue at my record label. I fought for months, and I cried at meetings. They didn't think the photos were commercial enough... The last thing a young woman needs is another picture of a sexy pop star writhing in sand, covered in grease, touching herself.".