Today at a press conference in New York City, Lady Gaga and Dr. Dre revealed the details of their new collaborative effort — not to create a glammed-up G-funk hit, but to market a line of high-end Monster Cable ear-bud headphones called Heartbeats.
The Lady’s headphones use the technology of Beats by Dr. Dre, which claim to be the only headphones that actually convey what music sounds like in the studio. The fashion sense, on the other hand, is all Gaga—hers are triangular and sort of look like little pyramids sticking out of one’s ears. Ms. Gaga explained the personal reasons behind the design: “The triangle for me represents three things. I say sometimes I would die if I were forbidden to write, forbidden to love, or forbidden to fashion.”
Gaga (pictured above with Dre and Interscope head Jimmy Iovine) kept her poker face throughout the conference, hiding behind a pair of sunglasses that wouldn’t look out of place on Dame Edna, but did give knowing smiles each time she said anything particularly PR-ish. When she spoke of working on demos for the re-release of her debut (re-dubbed The Fashion Monster), she said, “I’ve been unable to listen to them [outside the studio] unless I was using our headphones,” and flashed a cheeky grin afterward, as if to acknowledge she was dropping some scripted talking points.
And how do they sound? Great, actually—they do provide more bass and the part that goes inside your ear is a comfortable, iPod-like rubbery ball. With price tags running from $99-$179, though, some might be satisfied to stick with their tin-can cheapies.
Before Lady G took the stage, Dre had mentioned these headphones would be good for women because they wouldn’t mess up their hair. Before she left, though, Gaga made a point of correcting him: “I think they’re unisex,” then added with a teasing smile, “They’re certainly unisex for my fans.”
