Lady Gaga, rumored boyfriend Taylor Kinney step out together

New candid photos of Lady Gaga appearing cozy with her rumored love interest Taylor Kinney have emerged, but the two are keeping mum about the nature of their relationship.

The 30-year-old actor starred in the pop singer's 2011 music video "You and I" and plays Mason Lockwood on the CW series "The Vampire Diaries." He was recently photographed walking with Lady Gaga, with his arm around her, in southern California.

The two have not commented about the candid! picture s, which were posted on websites such as TMZ.com. They are the clearest images of the two, who has been romantically linked since September, when they were videotaped watching a baseball game in Atlanta between the Braves and the Phillies. Kinney is originally from Pennsylvania.

Lady Gaga, 25, is outspoken about issues such as gay rights and teenage bullying and is known for expressing herself through outrageous fashion choices and her music. But the singer said on the ABC special "A Very Gaga Thanksgiving," which aired in November, that she prefers to keep her romances private.

"My love life is the only thing I don't talk about," she told interviewer Katie Couric. "The day I get married, no matter how many helicopters are flying over that chapel, they're not getting one picture and I'm not selling one photo."

"I don't know how artists do it," the singer added. "I don't know how artists talk about their marriages or their divorces or their boyfriends. I would never want to reveal anything like that. It's sacred in a different way and I'd rather reveal it in a poetic way, with the music."

Lady Gaga and Kinney met on the set of the music video for "You and I" in July and also spent Labor Day weekend together in September, according to People magazine. The clip was released in August and filmed in Nebraska. It shows Lady Gaga appearing as a bride, and as her male alter ego Jo Calderone, while Kinney plays her love interest, a mad scientist.

Fans have speculated that Lady Gaga wrote "You and I" about her ex-boyfriend, Luc Carl. She has not confirmed this. The song contains the line "my cool Nebraska guy." Carl, a musician, lives in the singer's hometown of New York but is originally from Nebraska.

Lady Gaga also sparked rumors that she may move to a Pennsylvania town where Kinney's parents live after some online reports said that a woman who resembled her was seen leaving a mansion for sale in the area. The singer has been spotted in the neighborhood several times during the past few recent months.

WPVI Television, the sister station of OnTheRedCarpet.com's parent company KABC Television, quoted Kinney's father as saying that Lady Gaga has no plans to buy a house in the area and is too busy touring the world. The mansion's listing agent, Anne Lusk, told WPVI that the woman cited in the reports about the house was not Lady Gaga.

"They said, 'a leopard coat, a tiger purse, big blonde hair'" she said. "And I said, 'that was me.'"

(Copyright 2011 OnTheRedCarpet.com. All Rights Reserved.)