Lady Gaga: the culture icon

[Miracle 14,068]

As Lady Gaga says in her latest interview, she doesn't want to be commercially succesful, she wants  to be cultural succesful, and she is getting it. Since the first moments of her career, people knew she would become a fashion, music, culture icon that was going to create a pop revolution. And it did, she really did. But now she's trying new things, let's explore Gaga's impact all throughtout her career

 

Back in 2008, Gaga was presented as an extravagant version of Britney Spears singing pop dance music (what was unusual for pop artists back in that time) that could become the new gay icon. And she did, everyone was talking about Lady Gaga, about her looks, about her scandals, that were, in fact, a part of the "Lady Gaga rise". She shocked the world with the video of Just Dance that included a crazy party, uncomfortable s-x movements (the koons whale tribute), with the bis-xual theme of Poker Face and with Paparazzi's video. But Lady Gaga's peak of her debut was the performance of Paparazzi, a teathrical performance where she sings, plays piano and dies on stage on a luxury white corset and blonde / pink hair.

After that, everyone was talking about Lady Gaga but the best had yet to come. She released her new single "Bad Romance" in an Alexander Mcqueen runway, representing its white, dark and baroque essence. Nobody would have thought back in 2005 that a song like Bad Romance could top the charts on every country and become the most iconic song of the decade released by a pop girl. Maybe it didn't hit #1 on USA or even Roar is going to surpass its views on iTunes but who cares? Bad Romance (well, Lady Gaga), started a new era, that hasn't end yet and she's still the reference when it comes to sales, video views and outfits. Everyone tried to be like her

 

 

But, after all this success, Gaga was still the biggest artist of the year, and 2010 was, obviously, her year and maybe, the best year for a popstar since Madonna's Like a Virgin (if we don't count Adele). Selling millions with TF / TFM and with her singles, Telephone, featuring Beyoncé and Alejandro, wasn't enough. She got a lot more. She released Telephone, a short film inspired by Tarantino that was the continuation of Paparazzi, it was considered the best video of the century and best video in pop music after Thriller by some important magazines. The Fame Monster became one of the most important albums in pop history.The best time of the year for Gaga came in September, at 2010's VMAs, where she created another pop moment worth the praise, the iconic Meat Dress. Lady Gaga, in two years, got more than any other popstar in the scene, she got 8 VMAs, including the video of the year, that she received by Cher and announced her new album, Born This Way, an album that changed not only the pop culture but culture in general.

She pronounced about gay men not being allowed to get into the American army. Although she wasn't the only one that fought for gay rights, she did a lot of them. That law was abolished in 2011, the year she released her most social succesful album.

In January Gaga released a new song in a Mugler show, called Scheisse. Later, on February, she released her social changing single "Born This Way", that broke all of the iTunes and radio records, becoming one of Gaga's most succesful singles. She released it at 2011 GRAMMYs, where she won 3 GRAMMYs and became of the most awarded contemporary pop stars. She was everywhere, everyone had their eyes on her. She did a lot of promo, including GRAMMys and loads of interviews in GMA, Gagavisions to promote her album, twitter Q&As. The real scandal of this era came when Gaga released Judas, a song that wasn't commercially succesful but it had a big impact. Every religious group tried to ban the song and video from everywhere, although they didn't get it. The song didn't do great on radio so they decided to release another song, a dance rock glory anthem that was considered one of best Gaga songs and one of best 2011 songs. although the video wasn't really excited because of some problems with the director. In the middle of all of this, she walked the Mugler runaway, made a deal with Farmville, and did tons of tons of performances including SNL and Paris movie festivals. She didn't have a lot of success with her future singles (You And I and Marry The Night) but she shocked the world once again going to VMAs dressed as a man and receiving the Best Female VMA in her Jo Calderone alter-ego. She collaborated with Tony Bennett and got back to her jazz roots, the ones that would turn into big trees in 2014.

2012 wasn't a big year for Lady Gaga musically talking, even if she got one of the most succesful tour of the years (with less shows than expected) and got the second most sold perfume for women, FAME, an innovative, revolutionary fragance that represented the duality of FAME. Gaga continued being everywhere but people said she was in her decay time.

And yes, maybe, she was. She didn't have good luck at all and for working so hard that was unhealthy, she broke her hips. No good times for Lady Gaga, but she recovered and in July, she announced her new album, ARTPOP. ARTPOP was meant to be the inclusion of Gaga in performance art and art in general. She worked with the best, Koons, Marina, Wilson, Inez and Vinoodh. She trained alone with Marina Abravomic to get her performance skills better. Rob Wilson made the stage of her Applause VMAs performance (where she changed her outfit 4 times in 3 times) and made Gaga into the Louvre, one of her biggest dream since 2008, where she said she wanted to be at Louvre. She released three singles, Applause, a mediumbig success which chorus could be one of the most remembered Gaga hooks, Do What U Want, a midtempo that explored new Gaga voice possibilities which featured R.Kelly and Christina Aguilera and G.U.Y, a song with a 9 min video filmed at Hearst Castle. She did a lot of inventions and artistic videos that were presented at the original artRAVE, the day this album got released.

 

One of the most said words to Gaga this era is that she is a flop. But she isn't. Gaga hasn't got a real peak, she has different peaks. She got her pop scene / commercial peak back in 2010, her social peak in 2011, her art peak in 2013 and now she's going to have her music and performance peak

 

Great times are coming for Lady Gaga, she's releasing a new jazz album with Tony Bennett performing American Jazz Standards in September, a succesful tour on the road, a new perfume coming with a photoshoot made by Steven Klein and big music plans experiments coming,

And most importantly, she's doing a super secret performance in space that we haven't got many details of but we know is happening.

 

Are you still calling Gaga a flop when she has been in the Louvre, has a Koons a sculpture of herself, a jazz album with one of the most iconic jazz artists of history being released in September been the face of Versace, has been awarded a Diamond Award by her giant smash hit Bad Romance and has a performance in space in the coming?

 

 

Fashion, music, performance, theatre icon. She's every icon, as she said back in Applause era. Cheers for Lady Gaga!

 

 

[TimisaMonster 31,073]

What a read....however I agree with the fact that Gaga had a MASSIVE impact on music, fashion, and fan interaction!

[Speechless94 545]

You stole weaves 

[RBNLM 1,640]

HIHII WHT R YO SAYIIIING IT IS BILLBOARD THAT COUNTSSSSSSSSS #FLOPGA #ARTFLOP #EAUTHEFLOPGA

[Mr Josh 3]

She's amazing

[Jenniferella 2,774]

I stopped reading at :

 

 

Nobody would have thought back in 2005 that a song like Bad Romance could top the charts on every country and become the most iconic song of the century.

 

I'm here for the comments

[Koala 3]

I love this. Gaga's impact is real. Everybody started dressing weird and wearing colorful wigs

[Miracle 14,068]

What a read....however I agree with the fact that Gaga had a MASSIVE impact on music, fashion, and fan interaction!

what do you mean by what a read tho

[RBNLM 1,640]

I stopped reading at :

 

 

I'm here for the comments

oh god you're annoying as ****, "decade". are you happy now?

[TheOriginalOne 8,206]

:worship2: :golfclap:

[Miracle 14,068]

I stopped reading at :

 

 

I'm here for the comments

Well, what song was more iconic that Bad Romance? I'm not talking about sales, I'm talking about IMPACT. The only ones I can think of are Umbrella and Crazy In Love although I think Bad Romance surpasses them in many aspects

[Koala 3]

I stopped reading at :

 

I'm here for the comments

I agree that it was not the most iconic song of the century and whoever says that is a bit delusional. But Gaga's impact was really big imo

[Salvador Dali 0]

Yaaaaaassss! Gaga is so important to pop music/culture no matter how much people try to discredit her. A figure like her doesn't just disappear because of one moderately unsuccessful album. Her "fall from grace" was heavily publicized and people were having a ball calling her flop, saying she's over, etc... But it only proved that she's still THAT b---h because people can't shut up about her. Keep on slaying, Queen.

[Alien Tulip 12,428]

I think you're over exaggerating her cultural impact a bit. Bad romance also is far from being the song of the century.

[Tears 756]

so right i absolutly agree