Lady Gaga Almost Forgot About Her Iconic Cameo On The Hills

Yes, Lady Gaga got her start by pretending to be her manager and booking gigs at storied underground bars in New York, but many fans discovered her through an unexpected avenue: The Hills. The singer opened up about her 2008 appearance on the reality show after her Vanity Fair “Lie Detector Test” reminded her that she was on the MTV series.

Gaga appeared in Season 4 when Hills stars Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port worked as PR interns for an event with her record label, Interscope. During the lie detector test, Vanity Fair gave Gaga a photo of Conrad and Port to remind her of their temporary jobs and ask if she remembered their names.

“That’s Lauren,” she answered quickly, pointing to Conrad. After a few seconds, she eventually got Port’s name correct, too. “Is that the wrong name?” she said. “Oh my god, I hate this. This is hard.”

When asked if they did a good job, Gaga answered, “Yes.” However, the lie detector returned “inconclusive,” to which the singer gave a knowing laugh. VF asked if Conrad should’ve gone to Paris, but she did not know the context of that Hills question. “Maybe?” she replied. “I can’t answer maybe. Isn’t this a yes or no thing?”

Gaga’s Iconic Hills Cameo

In the Season 4 episode “Something Has to Change,” Conrad and Port’s boss, PR magnate Kelly Cutrone, described the singer as “some girl named Lady Gaga who apparently is [Interscope’s] new big signing,” which was met with a shrug from her interns.

Even the show didn’t know who Gaga was at the time, simply labeling her as an “Interscope Recording Artist.” However, she caused some chaos when her zipper broke before she performed, and Conrad and Port came to the rescue. She went out to perform “LoveGame,” which would later become a Top 5 hit. Little did The Hills cast members know who Gaga would become after that event.

While it didn’t play out onscreen, Gaga also got into some unexpected drama with another Hills star. In a recent interview, Montag told Bustle that she had recorded the Gaga-penned track “Fashion,” but the singer took the song back and released it for the 2009 film Confessions of a Shopaholic, causing some friction between the two.

“Originally, [producer] RedOne said, ‘I have this incredible song for you,’” she recalls. “We went in to record it, and he's like, ‘Oh, we just need to get on the phone with the songwriter.’ [Gaga] was not having it and not excited to talk to me at all. But I didn't realize that she was launching as an artist.”

But now, Montag thinks things have changed. “She sent me some makeup, so maybe she’s having a change of heart.”