Celebrity worship syndrome and your interest in Gaga

[Kermit the frog 1,761]

2 hours ago, Katie14 said:

I have such mixed feelings about it. Gaga was going through her own issues, which we really didn't even know about, and was trying to connect deeply with us to fill her own loneliness and feelings of disconnect. I think she somewhat relied on this fan connection to be happy. Now, she is over it, but so many fans are not. Its weird even typing this out. It seems like some type of fan delusion but im pretty sure this was actually real. 

It's difficult to trust but it's also difficult to be a complete cynic in this case. Especially when I've had so much joy and liberation thanks to her.

[Oriane 18,990]

Artist or celebrity ? I can understand being obsessed about an artist (we're all more or less obsessed about Gaga here) but a celebrity like the Kardashians or the Hiltons etc ? I think it's an issue on a whole other level when you're obsessed with them just because they're celebrities...

To answer the OP, I don't think I have this syndrome, at least not at a high or serious level. Yes I'm obsessed but I don't live through her, I've got my own life and I don't suffer from depression etc. But I understand it's complicated when you're already depressed and lack confidence, you just start loving an artist and they become bigger than you because you think you're not as good...

[Katie14 4,828]

53 minutes ago, Kermit the frog said:

It's difficult to trust but it's also difficult to be a complete cynic in this case. Especially when I've had so much joy and liberation thanks to her.

What do you mean hard to trust? Hard to trust that she had our best interest at heart?

[xoxo cupcakke 4,781]

Stan culture is just such a strange phenomenon. In a sense, it is borderline obsession depending on what level of interest you have in the celebrity. For instance, I stan for Gaga, but I understand that she's a human being as well and that she has to keep an image up at almost all times. We mostly know nothing of who Stefani is, but many fans of Gaga like to think that they do. It's one thing to appreciate Gaga, her line of work, and the effects that Gaga has had on an individual, but it's another thing to think of her as someone you feel entitled to know

Most fans do not draw the line between a celebrity and the person behind the celebrity. We only ever catch glimpses of celebrities, but we will never be able to know them as well as, say, one of our friends, coworkers, or family members. Sure, we have plenty of interviews of celebrities, but even then, those celebrities are most likely promoting a product, are being promoted themselves, and aren't all necessarily being all that genuine. I was surprised to find out that many interviews that we see on TV or online aren't all that authentic to begin with.

Overall, I think some people are able to discern where the guise of celebrity ends and the reality of humanness begins. Some people can't and they end up getting punch by Justin Bieber, but Justin is a douche to his own fans so I don't get why his fans hold him to such high regards as we do with Gaga. But, yeah, I treat Gaga for what she is on the outside and for the few moments that we are allowed to experience Stefani, either through emotion, politics, and music like that found on Joanne. It's one of the reasons why I don't hate on Joanne, because it is lyrically as close as we can get to Stefani in spite of the whole Gaga persona that is meant to separate Stefani and us from reality

[OMonster 14,213]

2 hours ago, princetomc said:

I'm studying fashion promotion and within that I focus on marketing and image construction. For my dissertation I wanted to look into and write about how celebrities are used to buy products, how they themselves are products and how we view celebrities and that basically looks at people dedicating their social media accounts to a celebrity and people spending time out of their lives to be on forums discussing the life of someone they don't personally know ()

That sounds so, so interesting. Such a cool topic for a dissertation. 

I guess the promotion of fashion directly links to this from a lot of angles. If a celebrity wears or promotes a certain piece for example, the people 'suffering' with this 'syndrome' are more likely to buy it ect, ect.

It's also kind of cool to just use this as an example of how attached and invested people can become to things... is it all just a product of good marketing? Is fan connection (and the commercial value this brings) just a product of business?

Spoiler

Personally, I don't think that is the case with Gaga. I do believe there is a genuine connection their between her and the fans (or maybe I have this problem too, idk). But with other artists, their own marketing and clever promotion I think creates a fabricated connection solely for commercial gain. 

Really thought provoking Thanks for sharing! 

[Sister 9,907]

8 hours ago, DoWhatYouWant said:

I think this is true for people who are obsessed to the point where they will want to stalk a celebrities family/friends etc etc. 

I think that this is where the line gets crossed over and is a sign that you have gone too far.

[Katie14 4,828]

4 minutes ago, Sister said:

I think that this is where the line gets crossed over and is a sign that you have gone too far.

There are a lot of levels before that stage that I think are still disruptive and damaging. 

[Red Velvet 10,973]

I was always interested of her since The Fame.

 

I was also interested of Katy and I worship her like a goddess whereas Gaga is the one I worship as the head mistress of the goddess.

[Bebe 16,562]

I have heard of this before, it's interesting and I'm sure some 'stans' fall under this category. With me I'm not sure, during my teenage years in highschool Gaga was no doubt a bit of an escape to me - especially in her otherworldly music videos. She gave me a world to escape into and she was a figure I could project my dreams on to (dream performances, and music videos and fashion looks). Now I'm not sure though. I don't really project like that any more.

There are times when I will binge Gaga performances/music videos/interviews but at the same time there are times when I will go to Youtube and binge old lets play series's or re-watch old simpsons episodes. I think that's probably more a reflection of the fact that I'm a fan of Gaga and I find her entertaining, so watching her is a way that I know will keep me entertained and relieve some stress.


I'm not one of those fans who is super concerned about controlling her life. I'm not the type that's like "She needs to release a song like this with a video like this, so that she can get a #1 otherwise she will become a flop and she won't become a legendary icon!!!" That just doesn't interest me at all. I avoid most stuff charts tbh.

There are some people, I think, that project their fantasy life onto Gaga. They try to live vicariously through her and so they need her life to be *perfect* so they meltdown when (A) performance wasn't the best performance or when (B) song is released when it's not radio friendly or stuff like that.

I mean there are people here that melted down when Gaga changed her twitter handle to "Joanne". People literally screamed about how her management was clueless and had a meltdown about how her career was going to be over because she had built this brand as "Lady Gaga" and was now going by "Joanne" on twitter.

It's one thing to be like "I hope Gaga can still tour, because obviously I want to see her live" - I think it's a little ridiculous, because I think Gaga can still clearly tour, but I get it. It's also okay to be disappointed by a performance or music video. If you are having a meltdown though, like if you are that upset over one video or performance or song or twitter handle then I think things are going a little too far.
 

[Katie14 4,828]

22 minutes ago, Bebe said:

I have heard of this before, it's interesting and I'm sure some 'stans' fall under this category. With me I'm not sure, during my teenage years in highschool Gaga was no doubt a bit of an escape to me - especially in her otherworldly music videos. She gave me a world to escape into and she was a figure I could project my dreams on to (dream performances, and music videos and fashion looks). Now I'm not sure though. I don't really project like that any more.

There are times when I will binge Gaga performances/music videos/interviews but at the same time there are times when I will go to Youtube and binge old lets play series's or re-watch old simpsons episodes. I think that's probably more a reflection of the fact that I'm a fan of Gaga and I find her entertaining, so watching her is a way that I know will keep me entertained and relieve some stress.


I'm not one of those fans who is super concerned about controlling her life. I'm not the type that's like "She needs to release a song like this with a video like this, so that she can get a #1 otherwise she will become a flop and she won't become a legendary icon!!!" That just doesn't interest me at all. I avoid most stuff charts tbh.

There are some people, I think, that project their fantasy life onto Gaga. They try to live vicariously through her and so they need her life to be *perfect* so they meltdown when (A) performance wasn't the best performance or when (B) song is released when it's not radio friendly or stuff like that.

I mean there are people here that melted down when Gaga changed her twitter handle to "Joanne". People literally screamed about how her management was clueless and had a meltdown about how her career was going to be over because she had built this brand as "Lady Gaga" and was now going by "Joanne" on twitter.

It's one thing to be like "I hope Gaga can still tour, because obviously I want to see her live" - I think it's a little ridiculous, because I think Gaga can still clearly tour, but I get it. It's also okay to be disappointed by a performance or music video. If you are having a meltdown though, like if you are that upset over one video or performance or song or twitter handle then I think things are going a little too far.
 

I think I feel similarly to you. I could not care less about charts. I mean, I would prefer her to be more popular but I am not upset about her not preforming well. I was a little upset about the mediocre metacritic review of Joanne however.

My motivation to make this thread is really about the [unwanted] thoughts I have about Gaga just randomly during the day. My brain naturally settles to thinking about her almost by default because I do not want to think about things in my own life that I am worried about. I go to that comfort zone. I just think its weird and I am disturbed by it. Can you relate to thinking about Gaga a lot when you are not actively consuming Gaga related material for entertainment?

[Bebe 16,562]

4 minutes ago, Katie14 said:

I think I feel similarly to you. I could not care less about charts. I mean, I would prefer her to be more popular but I am not upset about her not preforming well. I was a little upset about the mediocre metacritic review of Joanne however.

My motivation to make this thread is really about the [unwanted] thoughts I have about Gaga just randomly during the day. My brain naturally settles to thinking about her almost by default because I do not want to think about things in my own life that I am worried about. I go to that comfort zone. I just think its weird and I am disturbed by it. Can you relate to thinking about Gaga a lot when you are not actively consuming Gaga related material for entertainment?

Not so much any more, maybe when I was in highschool - but I can't really remember. I do relate to wondering if it's normal and feeling weird and embarrassed about my fandom. (which like you isn't about Gaga, but about being seemingly obsessed with another person). It sometimes feels a little awkward and embarrassing that I'm a moderator on a fansite.

I mean, I spend a lot of time on GGD - to the point where last night I had a dream about talking to another user in a support thread about some warning point they had received   A couple of nights ago I had a dream about Gaga at the superbowl.

I suppose that's the thing though, if I'm working or at uni my thoughts are usually with what I'm doing - but if I have my laptop with me I'd say I check GGD more than I check Facebook. Maybe I'm not thinking of Gaga a whole lot when I'm not 'actively consuming Gaga related material' but I'm almost constantly consuming Gaga related material seeing that I'm a moderator on GGD - you know what I mean?  So that's where I can feel a little disturbed - feeling like I'm devoting a lot of my time and life to following the life and work of another person.

It does weird me out a little that I'm having dreams about Gaga (and GGD) and I do sometimes think about my place here and think "Is it normal or healthy for me to spend so much time on a fansite about some other person?" It's definitely something I will occasionally think about.

[Katie14 4,828]

6 minutes ago, Bebe said:

Not so much any more, maybe when I was in highschool - but I can't really remember. I do relate to wondering if it's normal and feeling weird and embarrassed about my fandom. (which like you isn't about Gaga, but about being seemingly obsessed with another person). It sometimes feels a little awkward and embarrassing that I'm a moderator on a fansite.

I mean, I spend a lot of time on GGD - to the point where last night I had a dream about talking to another user in a support thread about some warning point they had received   A couple of nights ago I had a dream about Gaga at the superbowl.

I suppose that's the thing though, if I'm working or at uni my thoughts are usually with what I'm doing - but if I have my laptop with me I'd say I check GGD more than I check Facebook. Maybe I'm not thinking of Gaga a whole lot when I'm not 'actively consuming Gaga related material' but I'm almost constantly consuming Gaga related material seeing that I'm a moderator on GGD - you know what I mean?  So that's where I can feel a little disturbed - feeling like I'm devoting a lot of my time and life to following the life and work of another person.

It does weird me out a little that I'm having dreams about Gaga (and GGD) and I do sometimes think about my place here and think "Is it normal or healthy for me to spend so much time on a fansite about some other person?" It's definitely something I will occasionally think about.

I definitely check this site and the Gaga thread on Popjustice a lot, like whenever I get a spare chance between classes, waiting for the subway, on line, ect. Checking Gagadaily is on the forefront of my mid when I have free time. Its the last thing I do before going to sleep and the first thing I do when I wake up. Gaga related sites are the only social media that I participate in. I feel almost creepy in a way and I think the shame of it all is worse than what im actually doing. If anyone found out, I would be completely devastated. I wonder if its as weird as I think it is but I can never gain a realistic perspective because I would never tell anyone about all this  Does anyone in your life know about your online Gagadaily life?

[Bebe 16,562]

1 minute ago, Katie14 said:

I definitely check this site and the Gaga thread on Popjustice a lot, like whenever I get a spare chance between classes, waiting for the subway, on line, ect. Checking Gagadaily is on the forefront of my mid when I have free time. Its the last thing I do before going to sleep and the first thing I do when I wake up. Gaga related sites are the only social media that I participate in. I feel almost creepy in a way and I think the shame of it all is worse than what im actually doing. If anyone found out, I would be completely devastated. I wonder if its as weird as I think it is but I can never gain a realistic perspective because I would never tell anyone about all this  Does anyone in your life know about your online Gagadaily life?

I can relate to this

I kept it as a secret for a while, I have a couple of friends that know I'm a moderator on GGD - but they were surprised to even know I was a member on GGD. It's not something my family would know and it's not something I would talk openly about.

It felt a little embarrassing to tell my friends I was a member of a lady gaga fansite, but they didn't seem to think it was abnormally weird - I'm sure they think it's kinda weird but not in a bad way, just a "I don't personally get it" kinda way. I actually told them because I wanted to gauge their reaction a little bit - because I was feeling like "Is it super weird, am I abnormal?" but they where fine about it. 

Other than that it's not something I admit to people and it's something I do feel awkward about.
 

I think there was a time when I was a depressed, anxious, bullied 14 year old without a strong support group that I took 'stanning' far too seriously. But as I grew up, matured and made more friends I found that the more obsessive traits naturally kinda stopped and my 'stanning' became a lot more casual. I think my priorities changed too and what I valued.

I think that's why I personally worry a bit too - I remember being 14 like "Gaga is the queen of Pop! She needs to be #1!!!" and caring about that stuff and I often run into posts here where I feel like I'm coming from a different mindframe all together and where I'm reminded of that unhealthy place.


I think where I'm at now with Gaga is pretty healthy, If I could change one thing I'd probably take a month break from this site or something - but I'm a moderator so I'd feel bad leaving the work to others haha. I also tend to comment mostly on world news and conversation stuff here  - obviously I love Gaga, I love her work and find her interesting but I think there is enough separation where I'm like "Yeah I like Gaga, I'm always checking to see if she has a new performance/photoshoot/music video out or something" but I'm also subscribed to Youtube channels that I check out daily, there are T.V shows I check out daily. Gaga is just another entertainer that I'm interested in.

[Sister 9,907]

2 hours ago, Katie14 said:

There are a lot of levels before that stage that I think are still disruptive and damaging. 

There are, but I would guess that especially at that level, one would have to question their motives for any good reasoning of excuse of going this far. It's truly disruptive of one's own life and the celebrity.

[Katie14 4,828]

29 minutes ago, Bebe said:

I can relate to this

I kept it as a secret for a while, I have a couple of friends that know I'm a moderator on GGD - but they were surprised to even know I was a member on GGD. It's not something my family would know and it's not something I would talk openly about.

It felt a little embarrassing to tell my friends I was a member of a lady gaga fansite, but they didn't seem to think it was abnormally weird - I'm sure they think it's kinda weird but not in a bad way, just a "I don't personally get it" kinda way. I actually told them because I wanted to gauge their reaction a little bit - because I was feeling like "Is it super weird, am I abnormal?" but they where fine about it. 

Other than that it's not something I admit to people and it's something I do feel awkward about.
 

I think there was a time when I was a depressed, anxious, bullied 14 year old without a strong support group that I took 'stanning' far too seriously. But as I grew up, matured and made more friends I found that the more obsessive traits naturally kinda stopped and my 'stanning' became a lot more casual. I think my priorities changed too and what I valued.

I think that's why I personally worry a bit too - I remember being 14 like "Gaga is the queen of Pop! She needs to be #1!!!" and caring about that stuff and I often run into posts here where I feel like I'm coming from a different mindframe all together and where I'm reminded of that unhealthy place.


I think where I'm at now with Gaga is pretty healthy, If I could change one thing I'd probably take a month break from this site or something - but I'm a moderator so I'd feel bad leaving the work to others haha. I also tend to comment mostly on world news and conversation stuff here  - obviously I love Gaga, I love her work and find her interesting but I think there is enough separation where I'm like "Yeah I like Gaga, I'm always checking to see if she has a new performance/photoshoot/music video out or something" but I'm also subscribed to Youtube channels that I check out daily, there are T.V shows I check out daily. Gaga is just another entertainer that I'm interested in.

I could never tell anybody. Im afraid to even tell my parents that I am going to buy Joanne Ball tickets for fear they will somehow speculate that I am obsessed. Its really ridiculous and I need to get over that. I have always had that problem of having difficulty sharing interests that I have a deep connection to and I can't seem to change it.

People have their sports teams that they check up on, Facebook, tv shows, ect. So I guess checking up on Gaga is not that different. It just feels weirder because its an individual person I guess, so it makes me feel stalkerish. I also think being obsessed over a celebrity is more addicting because you never know when new material will surface. I remember learning about how either interval or ratio rewards in Psychology is the most addicting because its unpredictable when the "reward" will come. You have to keep checking over and over again. Its the reason why slot machines are so addictive.