MEAGAN DILL
Lady Gaga as an artist has risen to an almost mythical status. Her edgy, quirky and often downright strange image has attracted attention worldwide, alongside her bubbly, catchy electro-pop music. Love her or hate her, there’s something fascinating about her. But what is it that makes her so irresistible?
Perhaps the best place to start is how she got famous in the first place. The journey begins at age four. While other toddlers were playing with dolls and picking their noses, Gaga (real name: Stefani Germanotta) was teaching herself to play piano by ear. By thirteen she had written her first piano ballad.
After graduating from high school, she had a brief stint in art school, but dropped out to pursue a career in music. Her rise to stardom was by no means quick and easy. She spent years on the club circuit in New York before finally being discovered and the rest, as they say, is history. What is endearing about this story is the fact that Gaga got famous on her own steam, rather than being spontaneously “discovered” or sleeping her way to the top.
But don’t be fooled by this sweet-as-candy first look. Gaga, now 23, is nothing if not scandalous. Her music videos are full of grinding and groping, with the wardrobe typically consisting of either leotards or, well, underwear. An example: in the video for “Poker face” Gaga exclaims, “‘Cause I’m bluffin’ with my muffin!” and confidently grabs her crotch so that there is no mistaking as to what is meant by “muffin”. Thanks for clearing that up.
The reason for this sexually-charged image? “Everybody wants to hear about sex,” says Gaga. “That’s what all music is really about.”
Maybe what makes Gaga most interesting is that, well, she’s different. And that’s exciting. Obvious evidence of this is her outrageous fashion choices. After all, it’s hard to ignore someone prancing around the stage in a metal outfit complete with pointy, silver breasts which shoot sparks. Or posing for a photoshoot in a dress made of Hello Kitty dolls. Or walking down the red carpet with a hat made entirely of her own hair. The list goes on.
Naturally, the whole “pointy breasts” idea harks back to Madonna in her glory days, before she became irrelevant and basically just awkward to think about. Old ladies. Spandex. Yuck. Nevertheless, it should come as no surprise that Gaga has been compared to Madonna. Much like Gaga, Madonna came as a sort of shock to the world and made a profound impact on popular culture, fashioning a kind of alternative pop music with a unique style of dress as a tangible accompaniment. And it’s certain that when Gaga appears on stage or screen, she’ll get people talking. Not just about her crazy outfits or off-the-wall conceptions for her videos and performances, but also about the statements she is trying to make. The Los Angeles Times writes, “She’s tapped into one of the primary obsessions of our age – the changing nature of the self in relation to technology, the ever-expanding media sphere, and that sense of always being in character and publicly visible that Gaga calls ‘the fame’ – and made it her own obsession, the subject of her songs and the basis of her persona.”
Looking deeper into Gaga’s influence on popular culture, it’s interesting to observe the way in which she uses fashion to draw together the worlds of popular or “low” culture and elite or “high” art.
“I think that fashion and music go hand-in-hand,” says Gaga, “And they always should. It’s the artist’s job to create imagery that matches the music – something powerful that will really grab the audience and create a memorable impression.”
She also believes that “pop culture is art”, going on to explain that “it doesn’t make you cool to hate pop culture, so I embraced it and you hear it all over The Fame [Gaga’s debut album]”.
She is famously outspoken about her love of designer clothes and performance art, and by combining these interests with her bubblegum-pop music, she reconciles the two worlds. Maybe this is the secret to her success.
This is all good and well, but one must wonder whether the world will soon lose its fascination with Gaga. The changeable nature of show business is no secret. But one thing that is certain is that Gaga’s contemporaries don’t seem to think so. For one, she collaborated with the legendary Beyoncé not once but twice, both on Beyoncé’s “Videophone” and her own song “Telephone”. Furthermore, she recently appeared alongside 80s icon Cyndi Lauper in a MAC lipstick campaign, with each starlet promoting their very own shade named in their honour. Madonna herself, when asked about comparisons with Gaga, has claimed to be very flattered. And what could be more affirming than being approved by the Queen of Pop herself?
So whether you’ve caught Gaga-fever or can’t stand the sight of her, it’s clear that she’s had some kind of impact on popular culture. If you belong to the latter group, then maybe it’s time to emigrate to Mars. Because Lady Gaga – in her own words – is taking over the world: “One sequin at a time.”
