How has your life changed (for better or worse) as a Gaga fan?

[Katie14 4,828]

I can honestly say that being such a huge fan has impacted my life drastically. Have you ever thought about how much Gaga has influenced your life?

I feel like I better at debating and understanding other people’s perspectives just from having friendly arguments on here.  I am also better at a--lyzing songs and music videos which probably translates to picking up on symbolism, metaphors, ect in movies, shows, books, and other forms of media. I feel like I have become better at expressing myself through language. Making threads and posts are good practice for organizing thoughts and explaining ideas in a cohesive way.

From following Gaga’s career, I know a lot more about how the entertainment industry works. Before becoming a fan I didn’t care about pop culture so I didn’t pay much attention to it. Gaga has opened my world to new music and art and made me appreciate artistic people more.

I think Gaga has inspired me to embrace my creative side and she also made me feel like being a little weird is okay. I remember there was a quote that has always stuck with me. She said something like, “Those traits that make you feel ashamed or embarrassed are going to be the traits that you love about yourself when you get older”.  This is so true and I feel like if I was a little younger and became a fan of her when I was in Middle School, she would have impacted me even more. When you are a kid, you just desperately want to fit in with everyone else and then as an adult you realize that your differences are your strengths. She helped me understand this.  Maybe I could have found this out faster if I became a fan when I was younger.

There are all these little life lessons that everyone tells you as a kid like, “Don’t read a book by its cover”, “be yourself” ect. The thing is, these concepts don’t sink in until you experience them yourself. For example, Gaga made me realize how important it is to not read a book by its cover. I used to think she was a typical untalented pop star and I have never been so surprised by someone in my life. Now I really try to give people and things a chance and I am a lot less likely to judge.

Now for the negative. I think that being a fan just takes up a lot of time and mental space. I am definitely obsessed with her and she is always in the back of my mind. I can’t even count how many hours I have spent checking this site and reading posts. I keep thinking that maybe I would have used the time I spent doing Gaga related things more wisely. In reality, if I wasn’t spending time here, I probably would have been just watching tv or something…. But you never know.

I also think that being a Gaga fan has made my life too comfortable. Because of her, I have this endless entertainment resource and constant access to the fan community. Gaga is always doing something that is somewhat interesting that we can discuss on here. I am the kind of person who has to feel really miserable in order to be motivated to actually do anything productive. So I feel like I can’t ever get that miserable because being a fan keeps me happy and entertained enough to not feel the need to change anything in my life. In a way, I feel like being a fan is a distraction from me pursuing my own life and ambitions. I sort of feel like I am pulled into her world and this gives me less motivation to want to actually build my own world.  I am getting over this feeling now but I feel like being a fan has stunted me developmentally in this way.  This may sound ridiculous but I actually think this is true. I don’t even know how to describe this feeling properly. Maybe someone else can relate?

Anyway, this is my life as a Gaga fan. How have you changed since becoming a fan?

[mister max 18,480]

well, I dont hate gaga anymore now! does that count?  

[mister max 18,480]

also I am being much more positive and now accept people, and myself, more for the way they are #bornthisway

[Didymus 34,379]

My life didn't really change, I'm afraid. But that's probably because she was one of many artists I was/am exposed to and I got the ideas that many fans cite (freedom of expression, identity,...) elsewhere.

This didn't really change my life but she still is an example of what a young artist can bring to the table in a context of pop culture. Her first era is still deeply engraved in memory simply because I felt so aligned with the whole idea of a persona that was at once a social commentary and a transcendence of what's commented upon, while still reaping the benefits of the very thing you reject.

That idea is still very fascinating to me and I play with it in my thoughts in many other contexts than just pop culture to this day, so I guess that's her biggest contributor to the way my life developed.

[VTV 12,842]

pro: i became more tolerant, understanding and more wiser. actually too many to mention

con: i'm infected with littlis monsteritis - a multigenerational lifestyle virus that is incurable.

[Lona Delery 7,214]

Pro: More tolerant, a new hobby, I listen to more music etc.

Contra: Over 1000$ spent on Merchandise, CDs, Tour Tickets etc.

[Sia 314]

She has made me come out of my shell more, I used to extremely shy and get anxiety about the dumbest things. ( All Of Elementary School) And then when i started listening to her music and her message my self confidence went up and anxiety went down.  I'm still working on it but it's getting better so 

[Bradley 59,064]

I agree so much to that part about endless entertainment source. There are only two things in my life that I anticipate, I'm a huge movie fan, I watch movies very regularly and the cinema is my second home, so I'm always excited for upcoming movies because I believe movies to be very educating, entertaining and that they're able to make me change my perspective towards life and so many things. The second thing being Gaga's music. At first I thought I was just a usual fan but today I've been following her for so long, I feel like I'm part of this journey and I can't leave the track anymore. I have been and will be with her until whenever this ends. I just am in love with her discography and everything she does and I want to see her grow. I like seeing her evolve and compare things she's done and predict how current projects are going to influence her future work. There are just so many things to be excited for being a Gaga stan. And yes she's taught me to open my mind and appreciate all kinds of music. Whenever I watch a movie or listen to a song, I try to understand what the artist is trying to deliver and I find myself able to enjoy a lot of things which I couldn't have enjoyed before, ARTPOP contributed most to this.

I also agree with you about wasting too much time on her but I feel like that's worth it.

[djBuffoon 12,120]

She was/is a huge boost to my confidence as a person and as a stage actor.

She has shown me to judge someone's art by whether or not it challenges or affects me, not by how much I understand it.

Point blank, she's the reason why I came out when I did.

[Bradley 59,064]

She was/is a huge boost to my confidence as a person and as a stage actor.

She has shown me to judge someone's art by whether or not it challenges or affects me, not by how much I understand it.

Point blank, she's the reason why I came out when I did.

I applaud for you.

[Head Empty 25,150]

Oh my god your OP describes exactly what I've been unable to put into words for ages . Totally relatable. I've suffered with depression for years now, and although Gaga has certainly helped me in a lot of ways (on a creative level, but also on a personal level), the obsession I have with her is functioning as a numbing agent for the things that are happening in my life . Which leads to me not dealing with things properly. 

But as you said, if it weren't Gaga, that obsession would probably be replaced by something else.

[Sister 9,907]

Liking Gaga has made my life more fun and keeps my head current. I usually like my own little abstract entertainment things, from the past and long ago and can only look at antiques and things of that nature, so she keeps me more modern and gives me new things that are happening now that I can look forward to or try to catch in real time. It has been like that since Bad Romance.

[Clip 5,100]

It has definetly changed my life and my way to think

Cons:

-I'm obsessed with her and I'm constantly checking these kind of fan sites.

-Some people find it annoying when I bring her up in conversations

-I get really frustrated when in every ****ing tour she performs too far away from where I live so I can't go to see her live and in the next tour she goes exactly to the same place.

-I don't know what I would do if she dies one day (I wouldn't know what I would become obsessed with)

 

Pros:

I have learned a lot of English and technical words from the pop culture (I'm not a native English speaker) 

I started to listen to different music genres and artists not just pop mainstream music

 

[Phoenix 17,395]

Saved my life  

 

 

not really, I mean I was extremely depressed and her music helped me, but I wasn't suicidal.

I learned a lot of new things thanks to her. 

[Katie14 4,828]

I agree so much to that part about endless entertainment source. There are only two things in my life that I anticipate, I'm a huge movie fan, I watch movies very regularly and the cinema is my second home, so I'm always excited for upcoming movies because I believe movies to be very educating, entertaining and that they're able to make me change my perspective towards life and so many things. The second thing being Gaga's music. At first I thought I was just a usual fan but today I've been following her for so long, I feel like I'm part of this journey and I can't leave the track anymore. I have been and will be with her until whenever this ends. I just am in love with her discography and everything she does and I want to see her grow. I like seeing her evolve and compare things she's done and predict how current projects are going to influence her future work. There are just so many things to be excited for being a Gaga stan. And yes she's taught me to open my mind and appreciate all kinds of music. Whenever I watch a movie or listen to a song, I try to understand what the artist is trying to deliver and I find myself able to enjoy a lot of things which I couldn't have enjoyed before, ARTPOP contributed most to this.

I also agree with you about wasting too much time on her but I feel like that's worth it.

I feel like I get way too excited about Gaga related news and releases. Sometimes I feel like I wouldn't have anything to look forward to if I wasn't following her career.

Oh my god your OP describes exactly what I've been unable to put into words for ages . Totally relatable. I've suffered with depression for years now, and although Gaga has certainly helped me in a lot of ways (on a creative level, but also on a personal level), the obsession I have with her is functioning as a numbing agent for the things that are happening in my life . Which leads to me not dealing with things properly. 

But as you said, if it weren't Gaga, that obsession would probably be replaced by something else.

Exactly. I became a fan at the most depressed point in my life and I just latched on to try to distract and numb myself from how I was feeling. Its really quite sad but its good that we are at least aware of what we are doing.

It has definetly changed my life and my way to think

Cons:

-I'm obsessed with her and I'm constantly checking these kind of fan sites.

-Some people find it annoying when I bring her up in conversations

-I get really frustrated when in every ****ing tour she performs too far away from where I live so I can't go to see her live and in the next tour she goes exactly to the same place.

-I don't know what I would do if she dies one day (I wouldn't know what I would become obsessed with)

 

Pros:

I have learned a lot of English and technical words from the pop culture (I'm not a native English speaker) 

I started to listen to different music genres and artists not just pop mainstream music

 

I literally cannot even imagine what I would do with my spare time if she was no longer with us. I don't think I could stan for anyone else. I would probably become obsessed with some show or something and go on a forum for it. Then again, I didn't have any obsessions before Gaga so many I wouldn't need another obsession.