Lady Gaga ditched the wigs, the crazy makeup and costumes for her Porter cover. It's the mag's second issue and the fashion icon stripped down, showing off a bare face and simple blonde hair with bangs, looking like Courtney Love being made over to look like Stevie Nicks. Mother Monster also spoke about her sexuality and how it does not drive her.

Her look and image here were still uniquely Gaga, despite being so dialed down.

Seeing her without all of her Gaga-ness is actually quite refreshing. It's probably Ma Monster's loveliest cover.

In a candlelit video interview for the mag, Gaga tickled the ivories, performed in acoustic fashion, showing us a musically naked and sacred version of herself, without all the excess. She performed 'ARTPOP' in dramatic fashion, demonstrating the solid structure of the song.

Her viewpoint and perspective on her own sexuality are interesting, since she does not process her music as female or feminine.

"My sexuality doesn't play a big part in my life like that," she mused. "It's much more of an animalistic, pure thing and I struggled with understanding it my whole life, since I felt more connected to male artists and more connected to rock 'n' roll and more connected to glam culture."

Gaga furthered, "Today we tried wigs on, the ones that were more girly or pretty, I felt uncomfortable, since that's not how I see my music. There is a certain power in ignoring pretense about sexual orientation or gender."

She continued, "To me, a canvas doesn't have gender, so if you are a vehicle, you have to annihilate all those pre-conceived notions. Some people are driven by their sexuality and it's part of who they are but it's just not for me."

That makes sense -- since she was magnetically drawn to male, rock artists, she doesn't see her music as girly pop, and it isn't.

Her femaleness is not a priority or a definer for her, either. "Being a woman is a secondary part of my existence," she said. "I'm much more concerned with my consciousness and knowing that I am my fans and my fans are me. We are each other. All people are connected. It's all about compassion and love."

See more pics from Gaga's Porter shoot here.

Watch Lady Gaga Interview for Porter

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