Lady Gaga’s split with creative director Laurieann Gibson: make-or-break?

Lady Gaga may have lost a vital limb, as it’s been confirmed she’s split with longtime creative director and choreographer Laurieann Gibson.

All-caps-inclined site MediaTakeOut reported the news last week that Mother Monster and Gibson had a “bitter fight,” and that sources near the pair had insinuated the latter developed a big head, ever since she launched her E! reality show series “The Dance Scene” and got a second pump with BET’s “Born to Dance.” The Hollywood Reporter firmed with reps today that the two were dunzo.

Gibson had worked on routines for artists like JoJo and Danity Kane before she was linked with Gaga; she went on to choreograph Gaga’s videos for “The Fame” and “The Fame Monster” (like “Poker Face” and “Bad Romance”) as well as some like Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” and Keri Hilson’s “The Way You Love Me.” As for “Born This Way,” Gibson choreographed, and tried her hand at directing by co-helming “Judas” with Gaga and heading up “You and I.”

THR notes that the two had differing visions of “Judas”; the first version of “Edge of Glory” was scrapped, as Gaga replaced Joseph Kahn as the clip’s director; there were some disagreements in the making of “You and I.” A rep also said that Gibson appeared to be grandstanding during a recent red carpet, and that Gibson linked Gaga’s style to Madonna in a recent interview, which Gaga liked none.

Gaga Tweeted last week that Richard Jackson is her new choreographer. How did he fare? Check out Lady Gaga performing “Marry the Night” on the U.K.’s “X Factor” here.

And just last night, Gaga confirmed that she’s got directorial duties for forthcoming two “films”: the music video to “Marry the Night” (which will apparently be her longest clip to date) and her ABC holiday special “A Very Gaga Thanksgiving.”

So it will almost certainly be an interesting few months coming up for Gaga. Not only does she have her “Thanksgiving” special, but is also in full promo mode for her “Born This Way: The Remixes” album, out on Nov. 21. She is plotting a world tour for 2012.

And while Gibson may have been canned over creative differences or diva-ish behavior or both, her contributions to Gaga’s career were unquestionably essential — though disruptive, when it came to her attempts at directing the pop singer’s videos. Because at about the same time Gibson wanted to direct, Gaga wanted to direct.The clip for “Born This Way” was at least visually cohesive but from then on out, Lady Gaga’s have had an identity crises, generally suffering from being clumsily bloated and over-done. In this writer’s opinion, “Judas” was a sloppy song, but an even heavier disaster as a visual companion. “You and I” suffered from too many ideas at once. “Edge of Glory” was fantastically cheap-looking and underwhelming, having suffered a last-minute scrapping of the first version.

It’s a given that Lady Gaga is undoubtedly a diva. It probably didn’t help that there were apparently two divas to every turn.

Lady Gaga is one of the hardest-working pop phenomena today, but by taking on directorial duties for her other projects as she’s in the midst of a image upheaval may prove disasterous. Like Justin Bieber playing drums or Madonna helming movies, pop stars exhibit the desire to prove they do more than sing other peoples’ songs and dance.

At least the business of Lady Gaga employs thousands of people, many of whom could help her along in her next endeavors, from dance and style to directing and producing. We will see with these “films” just what kind  of talent Gaga has in the director’s chair without Gibson, and in enlisting high-ranking choreographers and stylists. We’ll see just want Gibson ever brought to the table, and if coherence and cohesion can ever be achieved again.

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