I am a big Lady Gaga fan. I suspect this will surprise, perhaps even shock, many of you. So I’ll hasten to clarify.
I do not count myself among the Little Monsters who compose her fan base. They show a cult-like devotion, which rivals the devotion members of Beyoncé’s BeyHive show. But I’m too cynical for all that.
In fact, Lady Gaga turned me off every time I saw her off-stage looking like a one-person float in search of a Mardi-Gras parade. She did so even when she appeared on stage looking like that.
I began bemoaning over a decade ago that this costumery shtick was not only making a mockery of her music but also creating a persona that was more cartoon than cool.
Her costume-heavy act probably never looked so ‘been there, done that’ as when she came out for a somber duet with Elton John. After all, he elevated the spectacle of theatrics over talent to its zenith 25 years ago.
Perhaps, like Elton, she will come to realize someday that her talent alone is enough to make her a superstar – cuz the girl can sing.
(“52nd Annual Grammy Awards,” The iPINIONS Journal, February 1, 2010)
But, sensing that my allusion to Elton John was too anachronistic, I followed up a year later with this more contemporary lament:
Lady Gaga literally personifies the triumph of packaged and formulaic acts over talented performances. …
Come to think of it, though, most performers today seem to think that the key to success is looking and behaving in a way off stage that makes what they do on stage seem almost irrelevant. …
By sterling contrast, Adele not only sings like an angel, but she might just be the music industry’s saving grace.
(“2011 MTV Music Video Awards,” The iPINIONS Journal, August 30, 2011)
Incidentally, do you think it’s commendable that Lizzo is becoming more famous for twerking in thongs off stage than for performing songs on stage…?
Anyway, it appears Gaga has come to the realization I hoped for ten years ago. Because she’s all over the media this week confessing that her grand and garish outfits were just a way of covering up the little monster she herself was becoming.
I watched her confess this on the most recent episode of CBS Sunday Morning. The interviewer introduced her as follows:
Used up not by the industry or her fans, but by the very entity she invented, Lady Gaga had cast such a long shadow that Stefani Germanotta (her real name) was all but left behind.
Then came the metaphorical violins – as Gaga performed a clearly rehearsed soliloquy on the pitfalls of fame, which she used to crave more than life itself. I’ll spare you her woe-is-me details, but the following captures the essence of all she said:
My biggest enemy is Lady Gaga … look at your outfits! I hated being famous, I hated being a star, and I felt exhausted and used up.
Frankly, she evoked about as much sympathy as I imagine Donald Trump would if he confessed in a few years that he hated being president. The pathos is just too Barnum and Bailey to take seriously.
Hell, even Forrest Gump could have told her, famous is as famous does. Besides, the confessed cynic in me cannot help thinking that this public confessional is just another way of getting the wanton attention she has always craved and courted.
Not to mention that she just happens to be promoting a new album – complete with the self-pitying title, ‘I Didn’t Want to Be Myself‘. Naturally, this compels the question: Which self is she referring to — the costume self, the little monster inside, or the Stefani she proudly left behind to become Lady Gaga? Like I said, she has always found a way to turn me off.
To be fair, though, Gaga would not be the first person to use public confessionals as a marketing strategy. Oprah became a billionaire doing so.
Yet there’s no denying Gaga’s irrepressible talent. This is why, despite hating her carnival shtick for all those years, I am still a fan – cuz the lady can sing. By the way, she can act too – as she displayed in her critically acclaimed movie A Star Is Born.
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