I think Christopher Titus said it best, “When did mediocrity become excellence in our country? … Music is dead in 2011 because Lady Gaga lives. Really? Is that the best we can do? Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-poker face. Really? … This midget with a speech impediment is music, really? This vapid, pop cancer, Madonna mini-me? She makes Miley Cyrus look like John Lennon.” Yes, I don’t like Lady Gaga.
Stefani Germanotta’s (her real name, as I dislike her brand name) music is not the reason I dislike her; there are plenty of “artists” out there with mediocre melodies that many love, but they would be described as fakes or egotistical if they try to brand themselves as something they aren’t. Yet Germanotta gets away with it.
For those who don’t know, she is the self-anointed “Queen of the Misfits.” All of this emits mainly from her concerts or “youth churches” filled with adoring “Little Monsters” who take her message (whatever it is) and persona as real. So much for individualism, eh?
The singer’s other problem is her amazing arrogance, mainly claiming that only she is the truly authentic performer of “art.” In November 2010 she said of her music and thought, “The funny thing is that some people have reduced freedom to a brand. They think that it’s trendy now to be free. They think it’s trendy to be excited about your identity. In truth there is nothing trendy about ‘Born This Way.’”
Given the lackluster sales after its initial release, that confirms it. And what do cuts like “Just Dance” (getting drunk), “Poker Face” (sex), and “Telephone” (ignoring a partner) have to do with self-identity? Lemme guess, it’s like the Bible and it’s metaphorical? Still doesn’t work, and isn’t art.
But aside from indirectly bashing other performers’ similar works on being yourself, she has the audacity to claim that she isn’t an act at all. Has she not forgotten her roots? She was raised in New York City, and went to a ritzy private girls school there (not cheap), the same place where the Hiltons went. After performing in some nightclubs around the city (where her music is really hers and very good) she teams up with Rob Fusari (who helped make “Paparazzi”).
But once Germanotta learned how Nelly Furtado regained her popularity by acquiring pulsing dance music, she dropped her original ideas and music and went right for club beat music, with a new look and everything to gain attention. It’s hypocritical to change one’s persona and expression to rise in fame and fortune and then say to the fan(atic)s that she is real, and that they should never compromise themselves to gain approval.
Perhaps the most aggrandizing stance is how she acts as the leader of the gay community. “I’m just like you. All my little monsters.” Not even close. At her “church” sermons she always likes to thank “the gays,” almost as if it is a blanket term for all homosexuals. In observing her interactions with gay men, she’s similar to those who need only to know one is gay at which point they’d probably say, “Oh my God! We should go shopping. We’ll look at boys, model clothes, put on eye-liner…”
It’s rather condescending too, as it implies that gays themselves can’t stand or speak for themselves. Also despite the intentions, as with any celebrity, the star overtakes the cause.
People are free to listen to and like anything they want to. I’m not saying that some of this pop-tart’s tunes aren’t okay (though I prefer her pre-Gaga music and persona) but the messianic character of Lady Gaga is just a joke with a bad punchline.
The punchline being she makes her millions off of her devoted “Little Monsters.”
