Why other pop artists are still hugely popular, but not Gaga.

[Ronk 14,762]

Applause wasn't big enough and DWUW was a dud.

 

That's the only reason.

 

Applause might've been hurt by Katy, it's hard to get radio play when you are competing with someone who pays the radio stations to play their music. If DWUW had a music video, it could've risen slowly on airplay and done really well, let's not beat around the bush about that.

 

At the point of G.U.Y., radio was mostly uninterested.

 

It's all about the radio. The radio controls what the masses listen to and therefore what they like. So the most successful are the ones that the radio plays the most. That doesn't necessarily translate into album sales though, as we've seen.

This.  If other artists are doing radio "deals" and Gaga isn't, that makes a huge difference.

 

The other reason;  Gaga doesn't sell out and create basic music for commercial success.  She creates to her vision, take it or leave it.   Imo that makes her the truest of artists.

[mister 17]

People! You're kidding yourself if you think the reason for Gaga's decline is that she is too artistic or opinionated for the GP. Lets be real. 

 

Here's a breakdown of everything that went wrong:

 

 

1. The way she cultivated her fans

The foundation for Gaga's decline was laid all the way back during the TFM era. The whole 'little monsters' thing took off, and grew into something awkward. Following the gay-focus of BTW, 'Little Monsters' almost became synonymous with "Gaga's pet gays". Its great that she acknowledges and fights for her gay fans, but she gave it so much attention that it sent the message that she is a "gay person's artist". It made straight people feel like she wasn't singing to them anymore, and even stirred fear in insecure kids of being labelled gay for openly listening to Gaga.

   The whole Little Monster/Mother Monster **** also spiraled overboard for other reasons. On social medias it became like a cult, and a way to brand yourself. It's probably really cool when you're like 13, but people who call Lady Gaga "mommy" are just cringe-worthy. No one wants to be associated with that kind of mess.

 

2. Her craftsmanship suffered

Somewhere during the BTW era Lady Gaga took it upon herself to direct her music videos, and as a result of that her visual craftsmanship suffered. Gaga's main vessel for success was her incredibly high quality music videos, and with the videos from TFM she had set the bar very high for herself. Gaga has had several videos following BTW that were eagerly anticipated, but proved to disappoint when they were released. The timing of this coincides with a lot of fans loosing interest. 

 

3. Preaching & Pretentiousness

No, its not a Jane Austen title. Gaga's political media-chants throughout BTW, came across as in-genuine because it conveniently coincided with her album promotion. To some, she appeared to be pushing her album camouflaged in name of the social issue, and many people found that to be in bad taste. But the Judas video was the tipping-point. The fact that Lady Gaga was allegedly trying to stir controversy was what offended people, more than the actual video offended anyone. Lady Gaga's branding as a controversial artist became the subject of controversy itself. The GP started seeing Gaga as someone who tried too hard. 

   Artists always get dragged when they think too highly of themselves. Take for instance U2/Bono, and what a douchebag he is known as. That is how a lot of people started to see Gaga. The BTW era saw Gaga talking about herself and her work in a new way. The album was repeatedly hyped as the album of the decade, and Gaga not only stopped being humble, but frequently declared her work as art. A great artist should never have to tell you their work is art, great art should speak for itself. It is patronizing and offensive to be told something is art, as people like to think they are capable of making that decision for themselves.

   The announcement of the title ARTPOP was the final nail in Gaga's career's coffin. It was a title that came across as try-hard and pretentious before anyone even bothered to listen to the fabulous music. A following string of bad promotion ensured that the album wouldn't win back any fans. 

 

 

 

I still believe Lady Gaga can and will resurrect, and reclaim what she had and was a few years ago. She is a great musician and an exciting artist who takes risks and is unconventional. That was never what hurt her career. People still like these things about her. They were the reasons she became successful in the first place, and if she stacks her cards right they will be the reasons she gets back to the top.   The CTC project is already doing a lot of damage control.

[Nick 29]

MASS. APPEAL.

[shane_c 480]

People! You're kidding yourself if you think the reason for Gaga's decline is that she is too artistic or opinionated for the GP. Lets be real. 

 

Here's a breakdown of everything that went wrong:

 

 

1. The way she cultivated her fans

The foundation for Gaga's decline was laid all the way back during the TFM era. The whole 'little monsters' thing took off, and grew into something awkward. Following the gay-focus of BTW, 'Little Monsters' almost became synonymous with "Gaga's pet gays". Its great that she acknowledges and fights for her gay fans, but she gave it so much attention that it sent the message that she is a "gay person's artist". It made straight people feel like she wasn't singing to them anymore, and even stirred fear in insecure kids of being labelled gay for openly listening to Gaga.

   The whole Little Monster/Mother Monster **** also spiraled overboard for other reasons. On social medias it became like a cult, and a way to brand yourself. It's probably really cool when you're like 13, but people who call Lady Gaga "mommy" are just cringe-worthy. No one wants to be associated with that kind of mess.

 

2. Her craftsmanship suffered

Somewhere during the BTW era Lady Gaga took it upon herself to direct her music videos, and as a result of that her visual craftsmanship suffered. Gaga's main vessel for success was her incredibly high quality music videos, and with the videos from TFM she had set the bar very high for herself. Gaga has had several videos following BTW that were eagerly anticipated, but proved to disappoint when they were released. The timing of this coincides with a lot of fans loosing interest. 

 

3. Preaching & Pretentiousness

No, its not a Jane Austen title. Gaga's political media-chants throughout BTW, came across as in-genuine because it conveniently coincided with her album promotion. To some, she appeared to be pushing her album camouflaged in name of the social issue, and many people found that to be in bad taste. But the Judas video was the tipping-point. The fact that Lady Gaga was allegedly trying to stir controversy was what offended people, more than the actual video offended anyone. Lady Gaga's branding as a controversial artist became the subject of controversy itself. The GP started seeing Gaga as someone who tried too hard. 

   Artists always get dragged when they think too highly of themselves. Take for instance U2/Bono, and what a douchebag he is known as. That is how a lot of people started to see Gaga. The BTW era saw Gaga talking about herself and her work in a new way. The album was repeatedly hyped as the album of the decade, and Gaga not only stopped being humble, but frequently declared her work as art. A great artist should never have to tell you their work is art, great art should speak for itself. It is patronizing and offensive to be told something is art, as people like to think they are capable of making that decision for themselves.

   The announcement of the title ARTPOP was the final nail in Gaga's career's coffin. It was a title that came across as try-hard and pretentious before anyone even bothered to listen to the fabulous music. A following string of bad promotion ensured that the album wouldn't win back any fans. 

 

 

 

I still believe Lady Gaga can and will resurrect, and reclaim what she had and was a few years ago. She is a great musician and an exciting artist who takes risks and is unconventional. That was never what hurt her career. People still like these things about her. They were the reasons she became successful in the first place, and if she stacks her cards right they will be the reasons she gets back to the top.   The CTC project is already doing a lot of damage control.

I agree with all of that. I would just add the Madonna/Express Yourself controversy and her looking weird (face horns...) as well.

[GAGA IS A QUEEN 0]

Bad management decisions, for the most part.

[GAGA IS A QUEEN 0]

I think people read too much into this.

 

The reason why the GP is sick of Gaga is not because "she's too complex", it's because to them, her ish is getting old.

 

She relied so heavily on her clothes and costumes so early in her career that people ONLY associate her with her outrageous fashion, and it was never really about the music. Now that she's constantly trying to tell people to take her seriously as an artist and constantly telling people she's original and great, the GP is taking her a pretentious and trying to be someone she's not.

 

 

 

She honestly just needs to quiet down the "I'm an artist" speech down for a bit and focus on marketing her music right. To most people, she writes mindless pop just like everyone else.

 

This.

 

It feels like she has nothing new to offer anymore. It feels like there aren't many places and situations you can play Gaga's new music. For example, Do What U Want would've been the right lead single decision because it is SO radio friendly, you can play it at a party, you can play it while chilling with friends, but even its release as a single was all over the place.

[RBNLM 1,640]

this is reaaaaching gurl

this is reality you don't know enough pop art and pop culture if you say so...open a book and good reading there is a lot to learn

[Lumiere 5,704]

The fans are also a big factor, I think. We were very supportive during TF/TFM. Before we were like, "OMG PAWS UP MAMA MONSTAH" but now, "GAGA, WTH IS THIS? WTF IS THAT? I'M DONE."

 

Some, if not the majority, of "Little Monsters" are getting really annoying. 

[Scarlet Witch 1,626]

She's polarising.

[Pure Adrenaline 1,518]

people don't want to admit to liking her stuff because they see her as the 'weird' one  

she's also not as easy to understand, not as basic or accessible as perhaps some of the other pop stars her songs aren't just catchy bops with no meaning behind them

:thetea:

[MusicNotTheBlin 0]

I think people read too much into this.

 

The reason why the GP is sick of Gaga is not because "she's too complex", it's because to them, her ish is getting old.

 

She relied so heavily on her clothes and costumes so early in her career that people ONLY associate her with her outrageous fashion, and it was never really about the music. Now that she's constantly trying to tell people to take her seriously as an artist and constantly telling people she's original and great, the GP is taking her a pretentious and trying to be someone she's not.

 

 

 

She honestly just needs to quiet down the "I'm an artist" speech down for a bit and focus on marketing her music right. To most people, she writes mindless pop just like everyone else.

 

 

:reductive:

[Danny Boy 0]

People just got bored of her :(

[SEANGT 5,252]

o<(0_0)>o

 

First let me start by saying that Gaga is obviously still very popular and successful all over the world. And to this day, no modern pop artists has reached the amount of impact, influence, and success that Gaga did during her peak. But it is also quite obvious that compared to some of her contemporaries, she is the one that decreased most in popularity.

 

So why are many pop artists like Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Rihanna, ect. still hugely successful but not Gaga? The answer, I think that we all know it deep down. And that is that Gaga just takes too many risks and deviates the most of what is considered the norm. Her lyrics can be overtly s-xual, complex, and metaphorical. She regularly sings about subjects that only a select group of people would like and or that many could see as offensive/controversial. Her fashion is alien, artsy, weird, and maybe even scary to some people. Her performances, while spectacular, are often shocking and controversial too. And her music, often includes sounds, genres, and or musical influences that you would not normally hear in mainstream radio. Her contemporaries on the other hand tend to write for the masses. They sing about subjects that are easily relatable to a wide range of people. And they keep an image that would be consider cool and s-xy by most. If these contemporaries deviate, is usually some small deviation.

 

In conclusion, I personally love that Gaga takes risks. And there is nothing wrong with Gaga exploring her ideas and being a true artist. But if Gaga wants to continue following her vision, than huge mainstream success could potentially be sacrificed.

but she used to make songs that catered to the masses and you could look more into it if you wanted. Telephone...Bad Romance...Love Game, etc. Then Born This Way started to get a little more deep, and I loved it. Applause was released and she's singing about being a huge star and wanting applause (ok there's more to it but thats al people hear) and it is just not relatable.

 

I loved it because I understand it all, but nothing is very accessible on ARTPOP besides maybe s-xxx dreams. Everything else has a deeper message that isn't mainstream and is pretty up-front. Most people can tell DWUW is rapey, for example, and it makes for an uncomfortable song to jam to. Nobody could tell Poker Face was about having lezzie thoughts or some deep other meaning until she explained it. She'll go back to being more subtle in her lyrics if she has more time to work on it, because I think the essence of her work is about hiding and spreading these messages in mainstream pop music. We'll see. If she gets *even more* explicit, I'll LOVE her for it and her bad-ass rebelliousness. But it probably won't be super popular. 

[Emvee 8,350]

Reading this thread makes me cringe

Gaga's clothes and "pretentiousness" arent keeping people from listening to her music. The MUSIC ITSELF is.

99% of the population dont obsessively watch her "pretentious" interviews like you do. All they hear is what radio plays for them. Applause was not a big enough hit to make ARTPOP a greater success. It's simple. No need for an outline of reasons that really only affect stanbases on ATRL and such

And Gaga is not oblivious to what makes a hit record on mainstream radio. She has on multiple occasions during interviews acknowledged what it takes to have appeal. There's two ways of looking at it: she's a knucklehead for refusing to listen to her label when they tell her to make more ballads like Adele or she has a lot of artistic integrity that should be admired.

Either way you spin it, Gaga does not like to follow trends. Take it or leave it. Don't spread your passive aggressive resentment to the rest of us.

[SvenK 0]

I think she has to go basic in her popmusic. OK some guys in here will probably want to kill me but it's the truth. When you make music you do it for the fans but also for other people (maybe new fans). 

The Fame and The Fame Monster were songs with a message (and also Born This Way). And that's were it stops...
Please an album with songs like: aphrodite, lady seashell bikini? We could belong together ARTPOP? 
Ask the fans, a lot can not answer this question about her new album ARTPOP: What does all of the songs mean. And don't come up with things like: combining art and pop. That's basically the thing she did her whole career.

 

She has to make basic pop (Max Martin, Dr. Luke, Red One, Fernando Garibay,...) and some lyrics with a message and please not so many metaphores, people don't understand this s**t.

 

Amen.