“She has the fashion, the performance—the entire vision,”
Officially becoming the most powerful female in the world on May 19th, having overtaken Oprah Winfrey; shows how phenomenally talented Lady Gaga truly is. She's the leading lady of pop culture with a massive 23 million albums sold worldwide, as well as being the most downloaded artist in history. Whether she's arriving to Grammies in a 'vessel' or recording herself fully dressed in a bath tub, this artist is always causing controversy and its exactly what's made her the superstar she is today. With her third album 'Born This Way' released just hours ago, I couldn't think of a more relative and appropriate time to blog about the most influential artist I admire and adore in pop music today.The History
Born Stefani Germanotta, she didn't always have it easy becoming the legend she is nowadays. Her dream of becoming a favourable and sucessful artist began when she dropped out of college to be the lead singer of the 'Stefani Germanotta Band'. Performing to a handful of people in grotty New York clubs, it wasn't exactly the take off she had hoped for. She then began performing go-go dances on neo-burlesque shows, half naked on stage with her fellow band member Lady Starlight. Agreeing with her Dad that she'd go back to college if she didn't suceed in her career, things for Gaga weren't looking too hopeful. Playing the piano at just the age of 4 and having the dream of headlining Madison Square Gardens, not surprisingly she wasn't about to give up just yet. Always having the natural ability to song write, she began writing songs for artists such as Britney, the PussyCat Dolls and the Black Eyed Peas up until Akon noticed her singing ability and signed her to his record label, Konvinct.Her first album 'The Fame' was released in 2008 with her debut single Just Dance catapulting Lady Gaga straight into the limelight. It was quickly followed by her second successful single Pokerface, which again soared to the top of the charts and straight away became N0.1 in 9 different countries. Her fortune wasn't about to end there as her second album 'The Fame Monster' included more massive hit singles such as Bad Romance, Alejandro and Telephone. She then went on to perform her staggering 3 year 'Monster Ball Tour' with a total of 201 performances and a gross revenue of $22.4 million.
The Style
Not only has she taken the music world by storm, but the fashion world as well as Lady Gaga's image has became just as important as her music. Wearing 'normal' clothes isn't in Gaga's books as she never fails to create a stir in the media industry with the outrageous outfits she steps out in. The difference between Gaga's fashion influence is that she isn't afraid of embracing a bold and eccentric look, standing out from the rest of the crowd and being the centre of attention wherever she goes. Dressing to please the eye of others isn't of her concern, nor to look attractive, sexy and appealing to men. Instead, she would rather look ridiculously bizarre, taking high fashion to a whole new level and gaurenteeing all eyes on her at all times...not forgetting that meat dress and those body implants. Her fashion is something I adore- not that you would ever see me parading down the streets of Birmingham in a flammable bra and a slice of red meat attached to my chest. The point is, is that she has no fear of being slated, disliked or critisised for what she wears which is what fashion is all about- taking extreme to the extreme. She is able to go from simple outfits, to ones that most would consider to be wild and out there. Revolutionising the meaning of fashion, she provides nothing but a visual feast, expanding the boundries further and offering nothing less than expected every single time.
'I would rather die that have my fans not see me in a pair of high heels'
The Art
The choreography of Lady Gaga's music videos are a breakthrough from anything we've ever seen before since the days of musical legends Micheal Jackson and Madonna. Again, she doesn't for a single second hold back in expressing her articulate and extraordinary talent through film, creating a whole new era and meaning to pop through music videos. Whether she's lounging in latex, sexually abusing gay men in stilletoes, poisoning her boyfriend or being auctioned as a sex slave in a bath house, she causes dispute and talk in whatever she creates. Lady Gaga's work always has a deeper meaning which is what a lot of the public misunderstand-particularly those who dislike her. It would be crazy for such a creative and gifted artist to not have the ability in metaphorically expressing her feelings through her work. She is very smart and very crafty. Her series of gobsmacking, entertaining and down right abnormal videos, leaves the whole world wanting more with an eager wait for her next cinema extraordinaire. But of course, there was only one nine-minute epic promo created with video genius Jonas Akerlund, for the ground breaking song Telephone. Also starring Beyonce, the video featured graphic violence, nudity, expletives, a lesbian kiss and mass murder all tied into one; making it purely brilliant to watch. With a grand opening of the line 'I told you she didn't have a dick' to the cringy shot of a transvestite prison guard, browsing the website 'plenty of fish'..it was truly unforgettable. Every detail was thought through enormously, from her cigerette shades to her soft drink hair rollers, rat poisoning sandwiches and quirky Beyonce dance routines. Reaching 109, 921, 190 views on YouTube and being the talk of everyones mouth's for months, it was definitely a music video that made pop history.'There's certainly always a hidden message in my music videos. But I would say most predominately, I'm always trying to convolute everyone's idea of what a pop music video should be.'
The Love
10,278,998 followers on Twitter, 34,647,195 likes on her official Facebook page and the most viewed artist on YouTube ever to be known. Statistically, its quite obvious that more people love Gaga than dislike her. The fact that she has a huge voice, plays the piano and the stand-up bass, and wrote every lyric and melody herself adds to the sense that you are in the presence of a true artist who only has just begun to show the world what she's made of. Despite your opinion on her music, there's something to be learned from her marketing skill and the usage of social media to interact with her fans, calling them 'Little Monster's' and constantly declaring her love and appreciation she has towards them. She is unbound, unbridled, and completely without fear as all of her work is proof of that. Songs such as Speechless show her depth, strength courage and vulnerability alongside the rest of her creative capability that makes us realise that Gaga is well and truly ahead of her time, gutsy enough to do whatever she pleases and living the dream shes always wanted. If I could ever be as unique and iconic as herself, proclaimed to be freak or a 'weirdo' would definitely only be a complement in comparison to what the bigger picture really is here.
--<3--
"Peace. it does not mean to be in a place where there is no trouble, noise, or hard work. it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart."
"They can't scare me, if I scare them first."
"People will always talk, so lets give them somthing to talk about"
"A girl’s got to use what she’s given and I’m not going to make a guy drool the way a Britney video does. So I take it to extremes. I don’t say I dress sexily on stage - what I do is so extreme. It’s meant to make guys think: ‘I don’t know if this is sexy or just weird."
"Sexuality is half poison and half liberation. What’s the line? I don’t have a line. "
"Don't you ever let a soul in the world tell you that you can't be exactly who you are."
"I used to walk down the street like I was a fucking star... I want people to walk around delusional about how great they can be - and then to fight so hard for it every day that the lie becomes the truth."
