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Lady Gaga gets sick onstage in Barcelona -- but doesn’t miss a beat

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Los Angeles Times Pop Music Critic

Good morning. It’s 8:45 a.m. You are about to read about another pop star throwing up on stage. It’s not pretty. Thusly warned, let’s dive in:

Pop music is a competitive world rife with egos big enough to fill arenas and voices that can do miraculous things. Take Justin Bieber, who proved able to simultaneously “sing” and vomit during a recent concert. Not to be outdone, on Sunday night in Barcelona, Spain, Lady Gaga hurled on at least two different occasions -- while apparently lip-synching along to the chorus of her “The Edge of Glory.”

Those enjoying the glory of an overcast Los Angeles morning over a cup of coffee might want to hold off on confirming this event via video until the day’s progressed, but it’s there for the viewing, good-naturedly shared soon after the event by Lady Gaga herself.

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“Was praying nobody saw but actually its quite a good laugh if u need one! Check out Lady PukeGA doing Swan “Vomit” Lake,” she Tweeted. She then added another: “I still hit my routine mom!! :) Thank goodness for the Dorchester...i need some tea, i think i just cried a little watching that.”

Some critics have noted that, like Bieber during his evening sickness, Gaga doesn’t seem to miss a beat while hunched over, her back to the crowd, heaving as her voice seems to carry on without her. Indeed, she does seem to be lip-synching. But it’s worth mentioning that a full clip of the performance shows her in grand form, obviously singing the opening of the song and hitting the notes perfectly. It’s only during the dancing routine that Gaga gets a little help via backing tracks.

As a metaphor, though, the two separate onstage vomiting incidents by two of the world’s biggest pop stars is too plump a fruit not to pick. What is it about pop music in 2012 that’s making its performers so sick? Is it the lack of nutrition in the diet they’re serving? Subpar ingredients? Maybe “Edge of Glory” was diseased from the start, and the virus within it has been gestating for the past year?

Here’s hoping the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention opens an investigation.

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Follow Randall Roberts on Twitter: @liledit

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