Lady Gaga
I think Lady Gaga is a fraud.
I know Gaga is hailed as a glorious goddess of the pop world, so pristine in her weirdness that no one dares touch her. But I’m getting sick of her and her lies.
I can say this because I know Gaga. Gaga and I go way back, before the meat dress, back when she started getting popular after “Just Dance” was released and she shot to the peak of late-2000s pop music. I know the intros to her obscure songs. I know her real name and the history of her rise to stardom.
My Gaga enculturation wasn’t my own doing. My younger sister is probably Lady Gaga’s biggest fan. Her room is covered with Gaga posters. She has Gaga T-shirts. She has a Gaga lanyard for her car keys. She has Gaga lipstick. She has Gaga piano books to clunk out songs on her keyboard. She badly wants Gaga perfume for her next birthday.
She was Lady Gaga for Halloween in a homemade costume before she was old enough to understand some of Gaga’s lyrics. When I’d drive her around, she’d insist we listen to either The Fame or The Fame Monster or Born This Way. I know that when I’m home for Thanksgiving, the new album Artpop will be playing 24/7. Am I dreading it? Of course.
When I ask my sister why she likes Lady Gaga so much, I get three-word answers — “Because she’s awesome,” she’ll say. But I know why she cares for this pop star on a deeper level: Gaga represents confidence and power and compassion. She seems to be the queen of I-don’t-care-what-you-think. And for many — especially younger people finding their way or people who feel oppressed — she is a mascot and champion.
Lady Gaga preaches activism for the LGBT community. Her Born This Way Foundation helps in areas of youth issues. All this is admirable, no doubt.
But her work sends a different message. Among the glitter of pop hits “Born This Way” and “Applause” are subtler messages — her thirst for fame and fortune and, more egregiously, her willingness to succumb to the mob mentality of Hollywood superficiality are abhorrent, especially after she built herself up by opposing it.
How else can you explain lyrics like “I’m addicted to a life of material,” “Can’t read my poker face,” “I’m your biggest fan/ I’ll follow you until you love me” and “Do you want love or you want fame?” on the same album? In “Applause,” her new album’s first single, the chorus repeats: “I live for the applause.” Gaga isn’t hiding anything: She craves fame and the title of queen of pop.
Perhaps Gaga’s whole life — including the seemingly altruistic charity work and weird costumes — is all a facade in service of her goal of achieving that often-elusive fame.
To me, she is a walking contradiction and a hypocrite. She tells her audience — dubbed “Little Monsters” — to be confident and be themselves, to be unafraid to be different. But she also tells them to emphasize fame, materialism and pop culture.
Be yourself while being just like everyone else. Show off and be loud and exuberant, because the end goal is recognition. … Something doesn’t click. How can people be themselves if they’re coated with a superficial top layer?
At the end of the day, despite the number of times we applaud and take paparazzi pictures while claiming that we were born this way, we’re still left with a feeling of unease that comes with Gaga’s superficial fame. To cater to the unhappy, Gaga should be promoting themes of honesty and realness, not plastic-wrapped Hollywood images. She tells people to love themselves, but then shows the wrong effects of that love.
Stop telling us to be ourselves because we were born this way but then sell our souls to the most manufactured industry: fame. Your Little Monsters know how to be themselves. Start showing them how to do it in a real way.
I’ve seen Gaga at her most brilliant. It’s when she’s alone, on a stage, with just a piano. She plays a simple piano arrangement of her songs, stripped down from all the pomp and frill of her stage show. And it’s phenomenal.
I’ve seen Gaga at her most beautiful. It’s when she’s without makeup and without the outrageous costumes, just her and her hair down, looking straight at us.
When she’s in that place and singing, I see she is an ultra-talented musician. I see why my sister loves her. And — if I’m in the right mood — I’ll even hum along.
This piece is part of our Friday package about Lady Gaga in light of her upcoming Artpop.
