The Provocative Faith of Lady Gaga

[NotMyFlop 1,979]

(I think this counts as a review?) 

Anyways, Washington Post wrote this super interesting read on Lady Gaga before the Superbowl. (It's short, I promise). It's about how her faith ties into her disocgraphy, her progressive values on LGBTQIA+ rights and how the right and left tend to ignore her spirituality. It honestly brought up some good points. I put some of my favorite quotes in the spoiler. 

Spoiler

"Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta will step on the world’s biggest stage as Lady Gaga, the Catholic schoolgirl turned chart-topper. Along with the electropop and theatricality, she will deliver an overt, yet often unnoticed, faith."

"In an American context where the media equates religion with social conservatism, Lady Gaga represents a welcome, non-fundamentalist Christianity. She is the closest pop culture version, in values if not tone, to her fellow Catholic, Pope Francis."

"Lady Gaga’s faith confounds a popular narrative of religion in America. She is considered both a practicing Christian and a passionate advocate for progressive values. She simply doesn’t fit in the controlling narrative, endorsed by both the secular left and the religious right, that relegates religion be the sole domain of social conservatism."

"But some conservative Christians reject her as heretical. The dancing alone is enough to damn her. The secular left doesn’t know what to make of religious progressives, so they largely ignores her Christian identity."

 

 

I've always found her faith being in her music (and hits) is super empowering. Truly fearless when it comes to expressing herself. Million Reasons, her last big hit, displayed a call for prayer and to seek the lord (the article mentioned this). It asked when was the last time a popular song did that? and I can't think of any. Queen!

Thoughts? 

[ZephyrInTheSky 1,235]

In the most biblical sense shes beyond repentance but in the cultural sense she just speaks in future tense. 

[PunkTheFunk 121,511]

[Trxstan 1,568]

In this day and age it seems like so many religious people are demonized for 'backward values' or being 'anti-progression' but Lady Gaga is just another proof that religious people today are so different from how they were even a century ago.

We stan!

[Edonis 25,992]

I mean, she's been open about her Catholicism since the start of her career, but I think it didn't get highlighted in mainstream America until she did that interview with Barbara Walters (maybe it was later?). Regardless, I think her brand of faith is a good example of how interpretation is critical in  how you find religion to fit into you life, and in turn, how you treat others. I consider myself a Muslim, and yet am gay, a graduate student in Biology, and yet still can be critical of some of the more traditional practices in my faith. I consider myself to be quite progressive.To say you identify with a particular religion shouldn't always equate to following every single "traditional" practice that is associated with your faith. It's healthier to let free will have an influence as well. 

[Jessica Germ 1,612]

We stan Mother Mary  2.0

[NotMyFlop 1,979]

18 minutes ago, Trxstan said:

In this day and age it seems like so many religious people are demonized for 'backward values' or being 'anti-progression' but Lady Gaga is just another proof that religious people today are so different from how they were even a century ago.

We stan!

 

17 minutes ago, Edonis said:

I mean, she's been open about her Catholicism since the start of her career, but I think it didn't get highlighted in mainstream America until she did that interview with Barbara Walters (maybe it was later?). Regardless, I think her brand of faith is a good example of how interpretation is critical in  how you find religion to fit into you life, and in turn, how you treat others. I consider myself a Muslim, and yet am gay, a graduate student in Biology, and yet still can be critical of some of the more traditional practices in my faith. I consider myself to be quite progressive.To say you identify with a particular religion shouldn't always equate to following every single "traditional" practice that is associated with your faith. It's healthier to let free will have an influence as well. 

I grew up in a catholic school, but was ostracized because of ... you guessed it, my sexuality.  I grew away from my faith alot. I don't attend church anymore (I want to eventually go back when I am settled down with a husband, career and maybe kids). Gaga's faith has always inspired to me to continue to believe, when at times it is hard. 

I definitely believe in equality, inclusivity & open-mindedness. I am far from conservative (as many religious people are painted as such), but I feel bad for my more progressively-minded conservative friends, as they are constantly ostrachized. 

[River 91,020]

I might piss of some people but in the US I always got the impression that if you don't say how religious you are and how much you love Jesus, you can lose a lot of support..

So I'm always doubtful when a celebrity is praising "god" every single minute.. an atheist celebrity won't have a chance to survive in the US, it's a taboo, just like coming out 10 years ago.. and in general, there's a lot of fake life when a celebrity is promoting themselves, just to sell their product.. I tend not to believe what comes out of their mouths most of the times..

So Gaga is not an exception for me.. she might or not as really as religious as she wants the public to believe.. (but as long as it's helping her get sales, I don't care lol )

[NotMyFlop 1,979]

7 minutes ago, River said:

I might piss of some people but in the US I always got the impression that if you don't say how religious you are and how much you love Jesus, you can lose a lot of support..

it’s honestly a mixed bag. religion is not pushed as much as it used to be. i can name a handful of celebrities who believe in god, a few who are very vocal about it, but i also know tons of celebrities i cannot tell you a single thing about their faith. 

there are definitely some resepected atheists though (neil degrasse tyson, ricky gervais, steven hawking). it just depends on how you approach it. 

i can name a few people who are vocal about their faith and they’ve actually gotten backlash. 

ex: kendrick lamar is very vocal about his faith, but doesn’t force it on anyone and is open-minded about others views. people stan! 

mike pence is very vocal about his faith, forces it, and is very closed-minded sbout other views. very few people stan. 

[GypsyBabe 22,836]

24 minutes ago, River said:

I might piss of some people but in the US I always got the impression that if you don't say how religious you are and how much you love Jesus, you can lose a lot of support..

It really isn’t like that, in my opinion. If anything, it is seen to be more beneficial to not mention religion at all as to avoid alienating others. 

[gabeoz 7,899]

1 hour ago, ZephyrInTheSky said:

In the most biblical sense shes beyond repentance but in the cultural sense she just speaks in future tense. 

But does a fame hooker prostitute wench vomit her mind?

[ZephyrInTheSky 1,235]

9 minutes ago, gabeoz said:

But does a fame hooker prostitute wench vomit her mind?

Idk but Judas kissed her if offensed or wore ear condom this time tbh. 

[gabeoz 7,899]

Just now, ZephyrInTheSky said:

Idk but Judas kissed her if offensed or wore ear condom this time tbh. 

But does she really want to love him?  

[River 91,020]

9 minutes ago, NotMyFlop said:

it’s honestly a mixed bag. religion is not pushed as much as it used to be. i can name a handful of celebrities who believe in god, a few who are very vocal about it, but i also know tons of celebrities i cannot tell you a single thing about their faith. 

there are definitely some resepected atheists though (neil degrasse tyson, ricky gervais, steven hawking). it just depends on how you approach it. 

i can name a few people who are vocal about their faith and they’ve actually gotten backlash. 

ex: kendrick lamar is very vocal about his faith, but doesn’t force it on anyone and is open-minded about others views. people stan! 

mike pence is very vocal about his faith, forces it, and is very closed-minded sbout other views. very few people stan. 

But when the atheist will start to be very loud and vocal about it, they are doomed.. because "they can change the minds of our kids" and things like that..

there are those points that can trigger religious people across the US and they actually want an approval..

Like let's take Paramore, a rock band that should not give a damn about anyone, when Misery Business was a big hit, they had to apologize for "but god does it feels so good" and to claim that their are believers..

So it's very very delicate issue.. but at the end you always need to claim that you believe..

The religious public is stronger and one mistake can doom your career..

11 minutes ago, GypsyBabe said:

It really isn’t like that, in my opinion. If anything, it is seen to be more beneficial to not mention religion at all as to avoid alienating others. 

Gaga is an example how it's beneficial to mention.

BTW was seen as anti religious and she received a lot of backlash and her career suffered a lot, so she had to clean her image with Joanne, a very religious album, MR is not just a single, it's THE single to bring back many people to her, there's a reason why she even added it to the SuperBowl as a piano break and didn't sing any other Joanne song, she gave them what they wanted, she bows down to pray to the lord, she's one of them, a good American girl.. it was actually her only way to recover.. and she succeed.. MR is her biggest hit in years..

[ZephyrInTheSky 1,235]

2 minutes ago, gabeoz said:

But does she really want to love him?  

She wants to but somethings pulling her away from him TBH.