by Keely H.
Lady Gaga:
Embracing the Media and Pushing Boundaries in the World of Pop (no pants required)
I first heard, Just Dance, and I loved it. It was catchy and upbeat, exactly what fun dance music should be. After listening to the song several times on the local Top 40 radio station I found out Lady Gaga was the artist. Lady Gaga? I had never heard of her and I figured she was just another artist with one top song, but when Gaga came out with hit after hit she asserted herself as something different. Now, her music seems to be played everywhere and her popularity is only increasing, even in Europe. When I was in Italy this past summer I went into a local weaver’s shop, and thought I heard a familiar tune. I walked to the back of the store and watched as the woman sitting behind the loom tapped her foot to the beat of Poker Face and hummed along. I couldn’t help but smile at this; “The Fame” of Lady Gaga had traveled all the way to a small store in Italy.
How did Lady Gaga become so successful? She started off as Stefani Joanna Angelina Germanotta, a pianist and singer-songwriter living in New York City, playing small gigs. With natural brown hair and a relatively modest outfit, her only standout feature was her funky performance style. After moving to Los Angeles for the second time she was noticed and signed to Interscope Records, because it was clear she was different and had talent. Gaga’s hit songs: Just Dance, Poker Face, Paparazzi, and Love Game all have one thing in common: the lyrics are trashy, but they are all memorable. Sometimes I listen to her songs and wonder; did she really just say that? Then I will start unconsciously humming the lyrics to myself later. Maybe this is a sign that I am too influenced by the media, but whatever it is her songs are catchy. This is the reason for Lady Gaga’s success: she makes a statement. Gaga makes this clear with her appearance. Quoted saying, “I feel freer in underwear, and I hate fucking pants,” she is always seen wearing leotards, layered with elaborate accessories, a platinum blonde wig, and crazy make-up. Looking at a picture of her I have no idea what she really looks like, she is so done up. The fact that we never really see Gaga is what confuses me, yet that’s her whole point. She is supposed to confuse and shock people, which is what makes her memorable, which is what makes her famous.
Will her fame last, and if not, when will it run out? This question hit me after watching her performance at the MTV Video Music Awards. She performed a Poker Face/Paparazzi medley in a white leotard and after banging her foot on the piano, blood started to soak through her leotard, and her performance ended with her hanging by a cord. My jaw dropped at her crazy performance, but I loved it. It was weird and slightly creepy, but so entertaining. Many viewers watched her performance and hated it, for those exact same reasons I loved it. Gaga took a risk because she set the bar higher for the next time since her performance was so provocative. Myself, and other viewers, whether it be in America or in Europe, are waiting for what she will do next. How will she top that performance, and then the next? Pressure is on, Lady Gaga.
This blog was so much fun to read, it was written really well and flowed very nicely through the topics the author wanted to cover. I was able to learn so much about a topic that I thought I already knew so much about. I couldn't find anything that really confused me in this blog, it was extremely straight-forward and I understood exactly what was being said, well done! I was wondering if the author wanted Lady Gaga to continue with her rampage of success or if she thinks her time should start to dim out.
ReplyDelete^^ABBIE... I always forget- my bad
ReplyDeleteI love this blog! The most engaging part for me was the part about how she is so made up and why. Its very intriguing and my question for you is why does she do that? Is she hiding something? or is it more of a hannah montana, duel personality thing but in a much more pop icon way.
ReplyDeleteEliza
I think you tease out a weird contradiction in the Gaga-nomenon. On the one hand, her music is really accessible, and pretty unobjectionable. Disco beats, sugary synths and breezy vocals are a combination soccer moms, high school students, and Italian tailors alike can appreciate-its almost vanilla. Are there provocative things in the music I am missing?
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand she has created this superhero character, complete with a ridiculous name, costume (or non-costume, it seems), and you write about the overdramatic stunt she executed at the MTV show.
How long will she be around? With the best superheros, like batman their eccentricity or superhuman power leads us to understand a very human struggle underneath that. Whats beneath the surface of GaGa? What are the tensions in her character or condition that resonate with us? Do we care what happens to her? Or is she just a slutty-weird, flavor of the week pop princess?
I thought this blog was very insightful. I never realized it until now but I hear Lady Gaga almost everywhere I go, whether it be a dance or supermarket. I can completely agree that she is a different kind of singer-songwriter. A question I have for you is do you think she will fade out sooner or later because everyone loses fame at one point? My other question is would you want to be Lady Gaga?
ReplyDelete-Sterling
This blog was a fantastic read! I exprecialy like the parts where you take us back and tell us how she used to be. And then you disscus how she never shows her face. Although i hear her songs on the radio and on MTV and shows like it, i guess i never thought much about never seeing her face. But now looking deeper into it, it leaves me with the question; Does she hide herself as a label image? Or does she really have something to hide?
ReplyDeleteWell,lady gaga is fine.
ReplyDeleteher songs are sorta catchy.