Lady Gaga is awarded West Hollywood’s key to the city on the 10th anniversary of Born This Way

Lady Gaga was bestowed West Hollywood’s key to the city on Sunday to mark her hit 2011 single and album Born This Way’s 10th anniversary.    

The pop star, 35, was awarded the accolade by West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey P. Horvath for the cultural impact of her music and she declared that May 23 to be Born This Way Day. 

Horvath told Gaga: ‘Thank you for encouraging us to love ourselves and be proud!’

Gaga looked incredible as she also attended the unveiling of a Pride-inspired painting of the album’s title on Robertson Boulevard, in honour of the LGBTQIA+ community, which is right outside the legendary LA gay bar The Abbey. 

The singer donned a baggy grey T-shirt, ripped fishnet tights and her signature purple platform boots as she vowed to ‘always be here for this day’.  

Gaga said: ‘Thank you for this key. You’ve been – I’m sure this will sound cheesy to some people, not to me – you’ve been the motherf***** key to my heart for a long time. I’ll honour this and I’ll treasure this, and I promise I’ll always be here for this day.

‘I will be here on this day to celebrate with you, to feel joy with you, to cry with you, to laugh with you, because you know what we are? We’re poets, and we’re just talking to each other. I love you, let’s have a good time!’

Gaga also took to Instagram to share a collection of photos, which she captioned with: ‘Born This Way, my song and album, were inspired by Carl Bean, a gay black religious activist who preached, sung and wrote about being “Born This Way.”

‘Notably his early work was in 1975, 11 years before I was born. Thank you for decades of relentless love, bravery, and a reason to sing. 

‘So we can all feel joy, because we deserve joy. Because we deserve the right to inspire tolerance, acceptance, and freedom for all. (sic)’

Gaga looked incredible for the special day in her edgy ensemble which she teamed with a thick silver chain necklace.

The star styled her brunette locks into a voluminous halfback beehive hairdo, she added a slick of dramatic make-up which included winged eyeliner and red lipstick.  

The unveiling of the street art was in conjunction with the beginning of Pride season and the city’s One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival. The celebration spans from Harvey Milk Day on May 22 until the final day of June.

The musical artist’s 2011 release sold more than 5.2 million albums, has been streamed 5.8 billion times and sold more than 31 million digital tracks.

Haus of Gaga fashion director Nicola Formichetti spoke on Sunday with Vogue about the cultural impact the top-selling album had, and how Gaga redefined the way musical artists use social media.

‘She started communicating with her fans and getting to know their problems,’ Formichetti told the outlet. 

‘She was the first pop star to build this kind of relationship through social media. I remember her saying, “We need to do more. We need to create music and messages that are much deeper.”

She continued: ‘Gay rights, gender equality, racial equality were all being talked about and fought for during that time, and they still are now.’ 

Formichetti said that with the album, the songstress, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, ‘wanted to create a celebration of equality, one that would resonate with the listeners.’

Formichetti said that while the album’s title track as ‘an incredibly powerful song … it could be seen as cheesy because it’s so celebratory and not trying to be cool.

‘At the time, it all felt so new and strange. When we were discussing the looks, we didn’t have one specific concept in mind, but we wanted to show multiple versions of Gaga, all different but given equal importance.’

Gaga recently returned to the U.S. after a two-month stint in Rome where she was on location filming the upcoming movie House Of Gucci, in which she plays Patrizia Reggiani.