ALTER PERSONA

Lady Gaga’s alter-persona was heavily featured at the VMAs, but most of the artists that participated in the awards also incorporate alter personas in their acts.

Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj is already a created alter persona, very different from the real person that is Onika Tanya Maraj. The odd, fashion-crazy, surgically-enhanced persona that is Minaj is a made-for-the-music-industry character created to become a star. On top of that alter, there is Roman Zolanski, a male alter-ego that appeared on some songs and that will probably be appearing a lot more in the future. Roman Zolanski is based on Roman Polanski, the movie producer who was charged for rape by use of drugs and lascivious act upon a child under 14 a few years ago.

During the 2011 VMAs, Nicki wore a Harajuku-inspired dress featuring mirror fragments (a Monarch symbol representing the fragmenting of personality). The combination of "kiddie" accessories with the sexiness of the dress' cut (it's "revealing" at the right places) is a little questionable.