BONKERS

Lady Gaga

Most artists wait a few years into their careers to experiment with new sounds and styles, after snagging a few #1s, and a few hopefully-hit albums, when it’s safe to finally do so. But Gaga did that right away. After The Fame/Monster made her the biggest star in the world, she gave a very sly “middle finger” to the industry by releasing Born This Way, an album very much her own. As the whole world was watching, and anticipating her every move, she refused to put out just another generic pop record. She could have. Easily. And it would have cemented her “popularity” on the charts. But she’s an artist, concerned with giving her fans quality. Not just #1 hits or recycled versions of something already done. Naturally she saw some backlash. It wasn’t glaring, but we all saw it. Her singles weren’t “as big”. Her videos weren’t “as amazing”. Though what Gaga was doing was setting up her inevitable third era - her martyrdom to fame. While the critics and respected music industry insiders lauded Born This Way, and Gaga herself for taking risks in the name of art, a lot of common pop fans were left confused. Some, even, began to chant “she’s on her way out.” and “She’s over”. But Gaga saw through that. With the Born This Way era, Gaga took the chance, while the entire world was watching, to release an album so rich and artistic, that it left us all in awe. Born This Way is an album that, looking back, will surely be regarded as the standout from this era of popular music. Even if some don’t see it now. It was a one-two punch. Gaga released a very personal, experimental album, but also set the stage for her next era. She knew she’d be criticized, and that “haters” would call for her electro-pop sounds of The Fame. And she expected it. She knew that within months of taking over the world, many former supporters would begin to knock her down.  Lady Gaga, in a rather abstract, artistic way, is a martyr to fame. Just as she planned to be.

Lady Gaga's whole life is a huge big performance.

That’s exactly what I was thinking! People who aren’t very knowledgeable about Lady Gaga really underestimate her genius and brilliance. During The Fame Monster era, she had what you could call a YEAR LONG PERFORMANCE in which she showed birth/aging/death through the colored wigs she was using (blond January-April —> yellow May-August —> gray September-November —> no public appearances or interviews at all during December) and the outfits she wore with said wigs (revealing “Gaga” outfits first half of the year—> elegant “Lady” outfits second half of the year). It was brilliant. It was symbolic of the stages of life. And then, after her “death,” she resurrected at the Grammys by hatching from the vessel (the egg) and being pregnant with her new CD at the Radio One Big Weekend concert and finally giving birth to the Born This Way CD on SNL (Ithink it was SNL - correct me if I’m wrong). That was a carefully planned performance that lasted 365 days! Then there’s the whole D.O.T./Wizard of Oz/Marilyn Monroe puzzle thing that has apparently been going on ever since The Fame era. THAT RIGHT THERE is like three year long performance! Of course what she’s doing now is planned, too. It’s no coincidence she said the new album would be about decay of the celebrity and fame whoring and would “lack maturity,” and then the next two days after she says that she is caught by the paparazzi wearing see-through bras, smoking weed in public, and giving people the finger at LAX. She’s beginning her new long term performance for this upcoming album. Don’t believe me? We’re talking about a woman who wore a fake penis and ball sack to VMAs when she dressed up as Jo Calderone and used the men’s restroom all night long (even after the VMAs ended) and NEVER broke character. We’re talking about a woman who stayed inside the egg/vessel for three whole days just to “get in touch with art” and honor and pay respect to the concept and ideology of her creation that was Born This Way and the birth of a new race. A woman who wore the Born This Way facial horns for like three or four months. People even began to think they were actual prosthetic! Lady Gaga may be “crazy” and “weird”, but she is COMMITTED to her art. It’s not the kind of art like paintings you see in museums. It’s performance art. Like she said in the 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper, her entire life is one big performance.

THE NEW ERA... this is why Lady Gaga is fucking brilliant.

We all know that Gaga smokes a lot of weed and drinks a lot of whisky when she writes but shes taking that even farther for this new era. She said that she felt as if she was being extremely mature with Born This Way. On July 8th during her show she said “Let’s just say I feel, I feel that when I wrote ‘Born This Way’, I demonstrated a sense of maturity, and I feel that, on the next album, there’s a lack of maturity, it’s a tremendous lack of maturity or sense of responsibility.” She constantly talks about how her life is a performance, and lately she's touched quite a bit on how the line between fantasy and reality has diminished. A lot of fans are over reacting and worrying about her recent “Reckless behavior” They obviously don’t understand that this is part of the performance. The bondage collars, the see through bras, walking into the airport with her middle fingers in the air, hanging out with Lindsay Lohan. This is part of the new era. She’s breaking down the bridge that Born This way created. Sure, she obviously still believes in the message that it got across but now shes focusing on getting something else through to us. The decay that fame causes. Princess Die. Diana was an amazing influence, she was strong, beautiful, she did more good than she ever did bad, but the fame killed her. She had to much shit on her plate and she couldn’t fucking handle it. She surendered to the spotlight. Now Gaga is telling that story. Do you honestly think that she’d be this reckless just for the hell of it? Come on. Well all know that her life is a fucking piece of art, everything she does has a reason. If you’re only gonna look at the surface of Gaga, than you might aswell not look at all.