Friends with fans

[Schwerk 7,368]

I'm very intrigued by Gaga making some fans her friends. I mean look at what's happening lately. It's just so interesting to see how she 'ignores' her superfans in Europe, leaving her hotel from the back not stopping even when there's only a handfull of fans, yet when her superfans in Chicago wait at her appartment she hangs out with them. I understand the traveling is tiring, confusing and she's simply not in Europe enough to have the same connection with fans she sees in the US, not to mention a language barrier.

I'm not judging her, like I said it's just interesting to me. I love to think about these aspects of fan culture and artists and a--lyze them a bit.

For example Gaga has quite a view fans that became friends. Some are more 'quiet' like Emma or Helen. But does she ever hang out with Helen? Yet, she's in the Haus. The ones she does seem to chill with seem quite brassy, some might say rude even, kids who love to look stylish, love attention, are seemingly shallow to the naked eye....

Sometimes I feel it almost seems like they make her feel like a highschool kid again, but maybe unlike her own schoolyears, now she is the cool kid everybody wants to be friends with. 

Am I the only one fascinated by this?

 

[Supersonic 49,376]

I think this is just a matter of how often they see each other. That highschool reference reminded me of a fitting sentence I read up somewhere.

"After school you start to realize that 90% your friends in high school were only your friends because you HAD to see them almost everyday, not because you have mutual sympathy or similar interests."

I think that applies here as well a teeny tiny bit.

[Crescent Bloom 1,085]

 I've met Gaga before and she was the absolute sweetest. I met her 2 days before the first artRave and she was so nice. She asked if we had any questions, signed all of our stuff (with our names) , took pictures, and she even had Asia with her (introducing her puppy). I think Gaga gets a bit overwhelmed when there are hundreds of fans screaming and yelling at her behind a barricade. In my situation all (ten) of us were chill (besides me loudly telling her how much of a queen she is) ((She smiled)). I agree though especially about how most of these "friends" (fans sorry lol) are rude. When you ask for help (even if you're in a different state or country) they refuse to tell you and act like Gaga is only for them. I don't care though because even though I didn't get help from those rude Chicago monsters, another monster in my area helped.

EDIT: I recall that earlier in the day she passed us by in a car and didn't meet us because she had to go rehearse. She still acknowledge us by throwing up the peace sign.

[Dominic 11,922]

I wouldn't say they are her friends. More so people she is forced to see because they don't ever leave her alone 

[Schwerk 7,368]

I think this is just a matter of how often they see each other. That highschool reference reminded me of a fitting sentence I read up somewhere.

"After school you start to realize that 90% your friends in high school were only your friends because you HAD to see them almost everyday, not because you have mutual sympathy or similar interests."

I think that applies here as well a teeny tiny bit.

I dont think it's not just how often they see eachother because I know a lot of superfans who see her just as much, yet they don't stand out. 

That quote is very interesting. I never fit in at school but I always had a close group of friends. What was nice about that is that we never became a clique. We all felt free to be ourselves so we all looked pretty different. Most of them are still my close friends today. But for some reason that feeling of belonging to a group, that powerful dynamic and being 'liked' or popular still is a feeling I sometimes long for, even now I'm 30. Not wanting to be the content outkast.

[Iwontell 7,312]

She sees those Chicago fans in an almost daily basis, so eventually a bond is formed...

What are the other options?
Faking a friendship with fans she has seen only once?
Ignoring and not recognizing fans she sees everyday?

They don't sound better to me...the first one would make her seem full of ****, while the second one would make she look so snobby...

[Woolfsmck 2,763]

Like most people she has moods.  I don't think she purposefully snub's any particular group of fans.  Might be that she had a tight travel schedule in Europe and needed to get a move on.

The fans that hang out near her residence must make her feel comfortable other wise the security would sho them away...

[Schwerk 7,368]

I wouldn't say they are her friends. More so people she is forced to see because they don't ever leave her alone 

Well she calls them her friends and chooses to hang out with them, in some cases even inviting them personally to go out and stuff.

Friendships are complex anyways when you're as famous as she is. Beyonce used to be her friend, but are they really when they never have time to sit down and talk? Their lives are so busy it's hard to imagine.

And Gaga doesn't strike me as a person who likes to be alone, she is used to having people around, so when she doesn't like these past couple of days, she wants to see some familiar faces I guess.

[Schwerk 7,368]

What are the other options?
Faking a friendship with fans she has seen only once?
Ignoring and not recognizing fans she sees everyday?

They don't sound better to me...the first one would make her seem full of ****, while the second one would make she look so snobby...

True but there's another aspect to this. It's that she seems to 'forget' the ones that are more quiet and calm and is drawn to the 'loud' ones even when they've met the same number of times. 

[elijahfan 26,676]

Well, what you're saying is very interesting, and I think it has a lot to do with the purpose of Gaga's presence.

When she's in Europe, she's basically working. Every time she sets foot outside is a show. There are even events during which she could seem cold, but you gotta keep in mind that it's part of the game, it's her controlling her image. Remember when she promoted the FAME perfume? She put on a b---hy persona that vanished as soon as she stopped the promo.

I'm gonna take another example: last time I saw Gaga in Paris was during the Balenciaga fashion show. She wore Balenciaga head to toe during the entirety of her presence: she was in constant representation. Getting out of the hotel, she walked like a diva. Hanging out with famous friends, she acted like a diva. Even fashion critics said that her presence at the fashion show felt like a performance. The bodyguards were even giving info to the paparazzi so they could get the best angle for their shots. I mean, she wasn't really being herself - she was working. She was being a Balenciaga walking advertisement. And I swear to you, trying to catch her attention was nearly impossible - my friends and I were near the party bus in which she spent the evening with Alexander Wang, Kate Moss and a ****load of other celebs, and I swear to you, we were desperately waving at her, even knocking at the windows, she acted like she wasn't seeing us. In the end, she finally stood up and waved at us, but in a very dramatic, theatrical way, which really relieved me but also made me understand that she was still in representation, still in character, and therefore she couldn't really interact with us in an honest way. She wasn't being Mother MonsterGa, she was being businesswomanGa hanging out with famous people and going to Fashion Week, 2 things that we know she actually hates doing.

On the other hand, when she's in NY and Chicago, most of the time she's just relaxing. She doesn't even dress up when she's in Chicago. She's not working, she has no obligation towards the media, so there is no reason for her to put on a persona. In this state of mind, it's only logical for her to interact with the few hardcore fans that are waiting for her on the streets 24/7, for the simple reason that she sees them all the time and they aren't that many. She could never do that anywhere else, because when she's travelling, there's always so much people waiting for her that she can't possibly interact with anyone. I got my selfie with her on the NY streets - out of all the times I saw her in Paris, I've never been able to get a picture or an autograph. She's not ignoring anyone, you just gotta meet her at the right place, at the right occasion (or absence of occasion, to be really honest).

[Iwontell 7,312]

True but there's another aspect to this. It's that she seems to 'forget' the ones that are more quiet and calm and is drawn to the 'loud' ones even when they've met the same number of times. 

Well, I'm not by her side to tell if this is true or not...by the (few) videos I've seen, her approach seems way more practical: she talks to whoever is in the front (loud or not) and tries to keep a big crowd from forming, so ppl won't get hurt...

[elijahfan 26,676]

Well, I'm not by her side to tell if this is true or not...by the (few) videos I've seen, her approach seems way more practical: she talks to whoever is in the front (loud or not) and tries to keep a big crowd from forming, so ppl won't get hurt...

That's exactly how it happens, at least when I saw her in NY.

[Bad Bromance 5,809]

Well, what you're saying is very interesting, and I think it has a lot to do with the purpose of Gaga's presence.

When she's in Europe, she's basically working. Every time she sets foot outside is a show. There are even events during which she could seem cold, but you gotta keep in mind that it's part of the game, it's her controlling her image. Remember when she promoted the FAME perfume? She put on a b---hy persona that vanished as soon as she stopped the promo.

I'm gonna take another example: last time I saw Gaga in Paris was during the Balenciaga fashion show. She wore Balenciaga head to toe during the entirety of her presence: she was in constant representation. Getting out of the hotel, she walked like a diva. Hanging out with famous friends, she acted like a diva. Even fashion critics said that her presence at the fashion show felt like a performance. The bodyguards were even giving info to the paparazzi so they could get the best angle for their shots. I mean, she wasn't really being herself - she was working. She was being a Balenciaga walking advertisement. And I swear to you, trying to catch her attention was nearly impossible - my friends and I were near the party bus in which she spent the evening with Alexander Wang, Kate Moss and a ****load of other celebs, and I swear to you, we were desperately waving at her, even knocking at the windows, she acted like she wasn't seeing us. In the end, she finally stood up and waved at us, but in a very dramatic, theatrical way, which really relieved me but also made me understand that she was still in representation, still in character, and therefore she couldn't really interact with us in an honest way. She wasn't being Mother MonsterGa, she was being businesswomanGa hanging out with famous people and going to Fashion Week, 2 things that we know she actually hates doing.

On the other hand, when she's in NY and Chicago, most of the time she's just relaxing. She doesn't even dress up when she's in Chicago. She's not working, she has no obligation towards the media, so there is no reason for her to put on a persona. In this state of mind, it's only logical for her to interact with the few hardcore fans that are waiting for her on the streets 24/7, for the simple reason that she sees them all the time and they aren't that many. She could never do that anywhere else, because when she's travelling, there's always so much people waiting for her that she can't possibly interact with anyone. I got my selfie with her on the NY streets - out of all the times I saw her in Paris, I've never been able to get a picture or an autograph. She's not ignoring anyone, you just gotta meet her at the right place, at the right occasion (or absence of occasion, to be really honest).

Your post makes a lot of sense to me and I completely agree with you've stated.  When Gaga is working, she doesn't have much time to interact with fans, let alone sign autographs or take pictures with.  When she has down time in NY or Chicago, she seems to be the most accessible and that is when fans have the best chance to interact with her. 

[Schwerk 7,368]

Well, what you're saying is very interesting, and I think it has a lot to do with the purpose of Gaga's presence.

When she's in Europe, she's basically working. Every time she sets foot outside is a show. There are even events during which she could even seem cold, but you gotta keep in mind that it's part of the game, it's her controlling her image.

 

 

...

 

She could never do that anywhere else, because when she's travelling, there's always so much people waiting for her that she can't possibly interact with anyone. I got my selfie with her on the NY streets - out of all the times I saw her in Paris, I've never been able to get a picture or an autograph. She's not ignoring anyone, you just gotta meet her at the right place, at the right occasion (or absence of occasion, to be really honest).

You hit the nail on the head about the representing part. 

I wanted to leave my personal experiences out but to give an example, Gaga kinda 'broke' her pattern last September when she was in Holland for artrave. She spend 3 days in Amsterdam locked in her hotelroom, even Lacee barely saw her. C2C was being released so she spend all her time promoting it online. While she write an open letter here on Gagadaily asking us to do what we could to promote the record, she paid dust to the handfull of fans sitting under her window. But then she realized this and started apologizing via Instagram, posting every step of her getting ready to come out and meet us. And when she did she took her time. She was in her theatrical mode but yet I got to chat with her and she wrote lyrics on my arm to get tattoed. She even went back on LM.com, which she never did anymore, the next day to like my friends pics and even comment on my tattoo. Im lucky to have met Gaga many times and I don't wanna sound like Im bragging so just let me say most  have been more than just a brief moment. Yet I don't think she knows who I am. I'm cool with that and I don't expect her to. I'm not gonna start screaming for her attention, way too old for those shenanigans anyways ;)

[Schwerk 7,368]

That's exactly how it happens, at least when I saw her in NY.

Funny how my friend and I had the total opposite experience. She walked out the door of Roseland straight at us and as we sweetly smiled as she came closer a kid on the left started to scream and wave and she stopped only a few feet away from and turned to him insteadd. Me and my friend had a good laugh over that WTF? moment. Ofcourse it's easier for her to spot a fan when they're obviously ecstatic to see her. Sweet smiles can easily be mistaken for interesting bystanders.