Is Gaga sincere about her integrity? (Read or don't post pls)

[Shadow 6,039]

Obviously there are more factors at play than the hopes and dreams that come out of her mouth. She has a contract with Interscope and retiring early could penalize her unnecessarily. Interscope is a company with an interest in making money from their investment as much as Gaga may be a free spirit.  Why blame the fans when they don't have much control over her brand other than contribute to its success or failure?

If Gaga wanted to be a first and foremost artist free to do whatever she wanted with her art, why bother striving to be a commercial artist and hope to get signed on with a record label?

She could have remained a local artist in New York like her old friends and folks around the globe, including those participating in this thread may have not heard of her.

Also, to sell people not keen on spending on music in this day and age, savvy artists like her keep the music and art as aesthetic as possible, with little focus on money to not remind you how much you spent on them in the first place. It's entertainment that is suppose to make you happy and enjoy yourself, or at least relate with her themes.

Who really has hardcore, 100% integrity these days on everything people ever say? You true to yourself tomorrow as you are today, with no change of mind or heart? People change and make thousands of choices everyday that divert our life course like a river.  There are many factors that go into the decisions we make.  They are not always altruistic or even clear to ourselves except for our primal needs and methods of legimatizing our ego and identity to ourselves and how we present it. For example, you don't go into an interview and admit all the mistakes you've made if you're trying to sell yourself. You say enough to show you're human enough, but if you want a job, you need the recruiter to believe you are up for the task and a potential value to the company.  It's the same with performers, especially with someone like Gaga  always in front of cameras, she'll always try sell us her best self or portray the image she wishes to send. 

[TimisaMonster 31,073]

Gaga would love nothing more than to showcase her art as SHE visions it....however, being under a label will always mean artistic compromise and she also relies on them for more financial support to promote her music and tours...

 

It's a love hate relationship and she either sticks with them once her contract is up or she takes her money and invests it into her own label where she can express herself however she pleases....I hope for the latter

[Jamie 608]

She seems so angry in this interview... 

 

( gypsy's MV)

[giskardsb 12,565]

I think she was very close to quitting and when she says "tony saved her" that is basically what she meant. I think she was burned out on the commercial pop industry and its focus on money an industry.  How this will be reflected in the next album will be interesting to see. 

[LastNight 4,130]

I think Gaga has a lot of integrity. I think that she tries with all her might to be as free and true to herself as possible, but at the end of the day she's currently in a record contract; so there are things that are beyond her control. Music is an industry and a business and Gaga has the potential to bring in a lot of money, so the business people are of course going to take advantage of that and pull her in certain directions when they can.

I remember during the SXSW interview she was discussing sponsorship and her playing the Doritos (I think?) sponsored stage, saying hat this is the place the music industry is in - you have to do these things in order to put on a show. My point being that compromises still have to be made in order to be where she is. She has experienced a lot of success and so it is natural to want to continue being successful. There is nothing wrong with her wanting a No.1 record, or being disappointed when something doesn't have as much impact as was originally hoped. I'm sure she does feel like she could quit and retire and make underground music and all of that stuff at times, but then I also think she enjoys the success and fame and the platform she is on - and there is nothing wrong with that. People's ideas and feelings about things change all the time.

I do think that she gets a hard time from fans with stuff like this. People in general are contradictory, it's natural. I don't think she is insincere, I think her life experiences inform and change her feelings about certain things and she grows and develops in the same way that all other people do. However, in her case, there are the added elements of being in the public eye, an intense amount of pressure and expectation plus other people's control over certain aspects of her career. It's a very tricky situation at times I'm sure. 

[Andy McQueen 4,484]

She's very complex, like most good artists. Her inner richness might appear contradictional and paradoxical to many people. 

[darkwolf 590]

People change their minds

[Riot Poof 2,236]

Is Gaga sincere about her integrity?

I think Gaga is sincere at the end of the day, even if she exaggerates or doesn't exactly act out what she previously said. Making compromises still means you have integrity.

Shouldn't she have retired from the commercial market a long time ago if she was actually serious about the quote at the top of this post?

No, because she was most likely OK with the compromises she had to make in the past.

When do you think Gaga will have had enough? What's the limit?

Many people have brought up Gaga's mindset during a certain point in the ARTPOP era as her breaking point, and it makes sense. It seems that the limit is when Gaga feels dehumanized into a money-making product rather than a human being who produces pop music that could be profitable.

Do you think Gaga has and will change(d) herself for fame and profit and wasn't being sincere?

I think every musician who decided to pursue their career professionally has changed themselves for fame and profit in some way. This doesn't mean Gaga wasn't being sincere because her artistic vision could be unified with the monetization of her talents. 

Do you think that Bobby and her new career era changed her mind?

Yes. She seems very refreshed, optimistic, and happy. She said that she regained her love for being a musician or whatever... That makes me very happy.

What do you think would change if her fanbase stopped supporting Interscope's way of suppressing her as an artist?

Maybe her fans would be more accepting of material that's different from their expectations. I don't think it would change Gaga's career much tho. The change has to come from her suppressive label in order to make a significant impact.

Let's say she did retire, what would be your reaction?

I would be very disappointed and I'd probably stop being an active stan (meaning I'll still love her music but I would not continue participating in this forum). I'd move on tho. It's ultimately out of my control and it's not really that big of a deal. I have a lot of other faves who still make music, and I'll always have the Gaga music that made me a stan. Besides, we have to acknowledge that Gaga's entitled to make these choices. It's her career. It's her life.

This was a great thing to debate about. I like threads like this.

[Ronk 14,093]

Great OP! 

Like any other person Gaga has to contend with changing situations and factors she can't control.  We all say things we plan to to, but when the hard choices arise we must choose the best alternative available at the moment.  Quitting would have been personally devastating to Gaga.  She was born for the stage and is happiest when performing in front of people.  She has ideas and music she want's to share with the world.  She want's to spread kindness and inspire art and creativity in her fans.  She want's to help bullied kids and LGBT.  But she needs reach to help people.  Lives would not have been saved if she had quit, and many people would not have been lifted up from their insecurities.  To liberate others she had to allow herself to be chained by the restrictions of the industry.

[shaneybaby 450]

That quote and those examples have nothing to do with each other.

Voice edits and performances cancelations have nothing to do with 'being herself'. They're just normal situations or problems within the industry.

Now if she released an album Katy Perry or Jason Derulo-style, that'd make her a hypocrite and a sellout. Otherwise no.

I was about to type this basically word for word. Well said!!!

Being herself doesn't have to do with not being able to put out ARTPOP act 2 or something with the business that she couldn't control. I always interpreted that quote as her manager was wanting her to change to industry trends and not be true to her artistic vision anymore. For instance, they were loving I Wanna Be With You, because ballads were big at that time. She changed it to Dope because thats what SHE wanted to do. I am certain her label and manager were pissed because it doesn't have the same commercial appeal. She stayed herself through it all despite lower sales than previous efforts. She would not let "industry trends" and managers change her vision. If you ask me, I say she did damn well at staying true to herself through that mess. 

[Miel 15,009]

The last few days, I think back to her SXSW keynote speech and wonder if she would ever startup her own record company, to give herself and other artists a different kind of chance. I wonder what that would be like.

I feel like, at the moment, she is in a good place with whatever powers she is under contractual obligation with. Bobby seems to make her really happy, and I assume Interscope has given her more free reign, creatively and possibly monetarily, after whatever happened during ARTPOP and beforehand.

[Judas Oyster 1,866]

I think she was very close to quitting and when she says "tony saved her" that is basically what she meant. I think she was burned out on the commercial pop industry and its focus on money an industry.  How this will be reflected in the next album will be interesting to see. 

I think that it's already reflected on ARTPOP

[Judas Oyster 1,866]

I imagine she understands that she has to relinquish control and let the label take the lead at times but I think she means if she was controlled to the point where she was a puppet then she would quit. 

What confuses and annoys me more is the preaching of "Music not the bling" yet she was begging her fans to stream Applause on a loop and all the other thirsty stuff she did during that time. 

One second she cares for music, next the bling. 

If you make the music you want and your label let's you release it with some compromises... You better do what you can to get the results the label wants it to get so they still can trust/believe in you.

It started to decline in terms of the labels expectations (and maybe yours too because of your earlier released blockbuster album), and therefore you try at least to do something. No matter who you are... It may seem like a desperate attempt yes, but I would do it too. Wouldn't you?

[Sia Daily 2,045]

who cares

shes a popstar not a world leader

- and before anyone says anything, you know what I mean lool

[djBuffoon 11,740]

Yes. Of course she is. Is everything that she's ever done as good as it could have possibly been? No. Does she aim higher than the vast majority of her peers? Yes. Do I sense a firm creative involvement in every song, music video, and performance? Yes.