She Did The Ice Bucket Challenge With a Poker Face

Dumping a bucket of ice on one's head never looked so, well, anticlimactic? The latest in a string of celebs and normals to take on the viral campaign to fight ALS, Lady Gaga did the "Ice Bucket Challenge" in classic Gagasian fashion: with practiced artsy nonchalance. For most warm-blooded humans, ice water on your head is an alert to your nervous system to freak the eff out. Gaga doesn't flinch when she upends a bucket of frigid H2O over her brain, because she is no ordinary mammal like Chris Pratt or Gwen Stefani. She is **flourish of the hand** a performance ar-teest!

Gaga posted a video of herself taking the challenge to her Instagram account early on Monday morning. In the accompanying caption, she nominates Adele (make a mental note to LOOK OUT FOR THIS), Michael Rapino, the CEO of Live Nation Entertainment, Vincent Herbert, the founder of Streamline Records and collaborator, and Arthur Fogel, the chairman of Live Nation's Global Music Group. She caps off this caption with the hashtag #richpeople, because while she's flush with cash, her spirit is that of a destitute Bohemian.

The whole thing is very Cinema de Gaga, and obviously has a meticulously curated Mise-en-scène. She sits expressionless, crossing her legs on a Frank Lloyd Wright-esque chair in front of plain white wall. She holds a silver punch bowl in her hands, filled with what is most likely ice-cold diamond water. Pouring the water over her head slowly, she keeps her puh-puh-puh-Poker Face through an experience that warrants a googolplex of expletives. Then, she leans back and stares into the camera like, "That's what Marina Abramović would do."

Drops the mic. NOT A REAL HUMAN BEING!!

Kudos is due to anyone with a pulse who can take a couple gallons of ice water to the face without batting an eyelash. However, if I had my personal druthers, I would've enjoyed seeing a bit more lightness in her video. Given the infectiousness of this challenge, conscientious awareness of ALS has spread like wildfire. However, the fact that this has gone so viral in the first place is owed to the entertaining reactions of people dumping ice water on their heads. Every person who participates in this challenge is doing something positive and getting the word out there.

Come on though, Gaga... lighten up a bit. Not everything needs to look like it belongs at the MOMA.

Image: Lady Gaga/Instagram