If first impression is everything, Lady Gaga said she knew right away that Bradley Cooper's singing role in their film "A Star Is Born" would wow the audience.
"I was blown away," the 32-year-old music superstar told "Good Morning America" anchor Michael Strahan of the first time she heard Cooper sing. "I was blown away by his voice because he sings from his gut."
Cooper plays a rock star in the film who meets Gaga's character, Ally, who is moonlighting as a singer at a bar.
Gaga said that although her character is a singer, she is "so different" than herself when she was a young woman in New York City trying to become a star.
"I really believed in myself when I started out," Gaga said. "I was like, 'I'm going to do this.'"
"My friends called me Gaga. It was like, 'All right. Yeah, I'm Gaga,' and I hit the ground running," Gaga recalled. "I knocked down every door to play every club in New York City. I mean I had something to say. I wanted to say it and I believed in myself, but this girl, Ally, she's jaded by the business."
Instead of recalling the early days of her career to find inspiration to portray Ally on the big screen, Gaga said she went back to her high school days.
"In high school, you know, I got made fun of for having big dreams," she said. "I got made fun of for loving to sing and for loving to be in all the musicals, wanting to be an actress, wanting to be a musician."
She continued, "During that time, I was bullied and I was made fun of and I was depressed, and that is what I drew from."
Gaga delivers an emotional performance as Ally, one that is already drawing Oscar buzz. Much of the attention has focused on the on-screen connection she has with Cooper, who also directed the film.
Gaga said she had an "instant connection" with Cooper when they first met.
"He taught me so much about acting and taught me so much about being present on camera," she said. "This is his directorial debut, but I feel like he's been a director in many ways his whole life because of his love for movies."
As for the buzz that she may get an Oscar nomination, Gaga called it "extremely humbling."
"I'm just grateful to have been a part of this experience," she said. "It's interesting for me, I think, taking off my wigs, taking off my makeup, you know, going back to an earlier place in my life to play this character. It's an interesting thing for me to reveal, and to experience."