Your evolution as a Fan through the years? (My 8 year journey)

[Alex C 254]

When I became a fan of Gaga's, I was still in art school (university), and I was only 23 years old. Now I am 30 for heaven's sake.

In the beginning, I questioned her artistic ethics, and I thought that she was going to be a one-album trick pony. But when I saw (around Paparazzi era) that she is the composer of the songs and that she plays the piano, I transformed from a 'fan' to a STAN.

How I viewed her in Paparazzi ---> Alejandro era, before BTW:

I thought she was revolutionary. Her drastic make-up changes, made me beleive that this is some kind of trick, and that multiple gagas exist, only to **** with us. I thought that after 2 albums, the Label would say "ooops! trolled! they were 7 women pretending to be 1 pop artist!".

When Bad Romance came out, that was it. Knowing by then that she is the composer, I was blown away by the talent. Afterwards, Telephone came out, and that cemented herself to me as an Artistic Genius. The reason was small details. Like, in the Telephone videoclip, women in the prison (which represented the industry) were saying "She's not gonna make it....", essentially repeating my false thoughts when I first saw her in 2008. She had a full grasp of, not only pop culture, but also she knew very well how people perceived her, and played with that.

And then, Born this Way came along:

This is not only my favorite Alberm of hers up till now, but I think it's one of the most underrated (yes, underrated) works of art in the music industry. Before this release, nobody was talking about queer issues, "underdog" narratives and/or being bold and political in their artistry. Gaga was the first one. She included the words "gay, lesbian, transgender" in a pop song that was #1, in times where these discussions hadn't even started yet... I am sure she had a tremendous impact in Trans individuals who recorded and/or made public their transition process. Gaga changed the Zeitgeist of the Planet.

When the full album was released, I became from a "stan", to a co-artist that has found an exceptional artist in pop culture, and I reached manic levels of stanning. That album had a cohesive theme (lgtb issues expressed through a beautiful Religious/Spiritual metaphor(s) throughout the tracklist), an incredible production, which I didn't find "over-produced", but "futuristic and forward thinking".

Scheisse, Heavy Metal Lover, Marry the Night, Bloody Mary, Goverment Hooker, Americano = the hard, pop-techno songs that gave me life, and also carried POLITICAL messages, a thing that I appreciate more than anything in an artist.

You and I = my summer love ballad that made me feel nostalgic immediately

Marry the Night = My personal anthem of "**** you" to society about who and what I am, more than BTW (the song) itself.

Fans who think that BTW was a flop, are probably looking for "safe" things about Gaga, like good chart positions, twerking, and being "Relevant". Girl, who cares about these things when you are an artist that literally changes the History of World Culture? Yes, I am not over-stating anything. I truly believe she has changed the world.

The ARTPOP Era:

Allow me to say "no comment", because we all know that probably what was served to us was not the original ARTPOP album. I loved VENUS, but the album lacked of bold social commentary, and after BTW, I expected almost Revolutionary narratives, even pushing people to riot against oppressing. Alas.

The LG5 Era we await:

First of all, I am as thirsty as everyone else here, but I want her to take her time. I want her (and I have a feeling that I am correct), that she will deliver an excellent album that will follow Born this Way's footsteps, but this time from a more mature perspective. Let's not forget that she is not 24 years old anymore. She can't dance like a basic popstar for ever. I really hope that -especially with Ronson- they will create a Rock album in core, but with the Pop-Disco-Funk-70s influence and trends of 2016. Even more, I have faith that she will transcend the "trends", and the album will literally be 2017-18, and the next 3 years everyone will start mimicking her, again.

Topics I want her to explore in the new album:

Revolution.

Global politics (How terror in ISIS is happening in the same planet and year with the PC Wars of the West, and how we desperately need some perspective as westerners)

Love (duh, not my favorite, but when she does it, it's nice, see: speechless and you & I)

Punk, Underground, Illegalism.

LGTB politics, but with a new, grass-roots twist. Her fans are not 12-16 anymore. She can talk to them more maturely about how to fight socially.

Woodstock teas, but translated to our era.

Not so much "peace and love", but "hate for the elite" and "gender and class war".

-------

Come on Gaga. Make us gag. Dare. Don't hold back. I love you, and I always will. Just like u said that without Bowie you wouldn't have an Identity, I feel as a singer/songwriter, the same about you.

Bring it on.

[FATCAT 60,301]

I just became a fan of her after AHS. Can't say I enjoy her music, but her acting is really something

[Alex C 254]

2 minutes ago, FATCAT said:

I just became a fan of her after AHS. Can't say I enjoy her music, but her acting is really something

But your profile says that you joined in 2012...

[bayonse 6,525]

i became a fan after the release of ARTPOP

tbh the album was good but i fell in love with her earlier stuff

[SamJ 8,008]

Well I became a fan of gaga when I first heard Judas on the radio I just thought it was an amazing song so powerful up until then I had never been that interested in gaga of course I knew all about every song of hers because she was pretty much inescapable after hearing Judas I became obsessed with the born this way album for about two years and now I really like lady gaga from the fame and fame monster era bad romance is my all time fav song now. I was the most excited about the release of applause though.

[Xaylan 1,326]

I used to hear her songs on the radio and like them. (Just Dance and Pokerface) but it wasn't til Vmas 2009 that I really started to like her. That Paparazzi performance was very cool to me. (I was like 10 bc it was on my b'day) Anways, I've stuck with her ever since. And I don't think i will ever leave 

I was here through The Fame Monster success, the Born This Way rebellion, the ARTPOP fail, though I loved it, and the Cheek to Cheek storm. Now I'm eagerly waiting for LG5.

I've seen Gaga at the Monster Ball, artRAVE, and C2C tour.

My favorite album is BTW. 

annndddd now I'm 16, so it's been like 6 years wow

[SarahYuko 1,002]

I was only 10 years old when I discovered Gaga. I was so intrigued by her. Gaga was the first artist I truly became a fan of.

The Fame era- most people in my town liked her, but none as much I did. I had my dad buy me the CD and played it so much it wore out in a few weeks. I drew her outfits, watched all her interviews. I started piano lessons after watching her live performances. I was in love.

The Fame Monster - this is the era when her "Satanism" was a hot topic at school. I was about 12 then, and boy was I agitated by the rumours. I had some pretty intense arguments with classmates on the subject of her Satanism or whatever. It strengthened my belief in her. It made me want to protect her from all the haters, and I was heavily influenced by her fearless music videos and performances.

The BTW era- I was a complete and utter Stan by this era. Everything about it was beautiful for me. The songs and their angry, passionate, powerful sounds, they were just amazing. When she was still in those darker eras, her songs pulled me through the hardest hormonal preteen days of my life. I loved everything about it; every hairstyle, every outfit. I watched her concerts in YouTube Videos pretending I was there. God , how I wish I was there!

ARTPOP era - I didn't love it as much as the others. I could feel with every song in the album that she wasn't in a great place in her life. I wish some things had been different. But I felt more protective of her since then.

Cheek to cheek - I feel this album deserves mention because it is wonderful to me. I love it. I still listen to it everyday. They're like lullabies to me.

LG5 era - I am soooooo excited! And impatient! But what can I do haha! I hopes it does well commercially though numbers aren't everything. I know it will do well in terms of musicality. I also hope she gives out powerful messages to the people like before. I want a revolution!

I can't help but add how lucky I feel to have discovered our Mother Monsterand all you awesome Little Monsters. Where would I be without her music?

P.S. If you actually read all that I just typed then thanks haha I realize it's a lot from a 16-year old.

[SarahYuko 1,002]

13 minutes ago, Xaylan said:

annndddd now I'm 16, so it's been like 6 years wow

Me too lol time flies doesn't it?

[RadioIsOurs 13,876]

I was a young child, so my journey as a fan wasn't as hardcore or dedicated.

Back then I was only interested in MJ's music because his death actually made me know more about him and his music. But it first started when I heard Bad Romance on the radio and instantly fell in love with the chorus. By then, I have heard some people talk about this strange celebrity called 'Lady Gaga' and her weird antics, but I didn't really look into it until I like realise that the song was by her. My mom and I were instantly interested in that Gaga person and looked up her music.

Her music videos was what hold our attention. Bad Romance stole my virginity. I have NEVER seen anything like that before in my life, and seeing Gaga naked and saying the word 'b***h' brought me to another world out of my own. And we realised that we've also heard Poker Face somewhere before and had that hook unconsciously in our heads already. Gaga then released more singles with music videos and we picked up from there. Telephone even introduced us to the flawless Beyonce. That's when we got really interested in pop music and all this other pop-stars like Katy Perry and Rihanna came into our world.

When Born This Way came out, we thought that song was so revolutionary and huge. Before that, the LGBT subject was absolutely taboo in where I live and should never be talked about, but it opened my mind to this subject and made me realise that it's okay to be who you are, and I also became less homophobic. It may or may not have also made me gay... Judas's music video blew my mind even further and it's my bop of the year. But by the time Marry the Night came out, I was honestly quite done with her already. I kinda just stopped being interested in pop music for some reason, maybe because I had a major exam that year.

When Applause came out, I was like "Oh that b***h finally released that ARTPOP sh**", and I listened to it, and it was...good. I mean it was a nostalgic feeling to see my childhood idol back to the scene. But I felt that magic was kinda lost... I don't know why really. I didn't really cared much about the rest of ARTPOP's era either. She was kinda just there. GUY was a mess and flopped, so I assumed the rest of her had flopped anyways by then.  Then it was blackout again. She just disappeared from my mind.

C2C just came and go for me. But at least it made me remembered that 'wow, this girl can actually sing!'. Then came the SoM performance. BLEW MY MIND! It redefined my overall perception of Gaga and won me back. Since then, I followed her throughout the year, watched her on AHS and was also introduced to Ryan Murphy and Scream Queens, which I LOVED so much! Yeah, and so I'm right here now, gayer than ever. 

[FATCAT 60,301]

28 minutes ago, Alex C said:

But your profile says that you joined in 2012...

It's a joke, love

 

[Alex C 254]

2 minutes ago, FATCAT said:

It's a joke, love

 

[Xaylan 1,326]

11 minutes ago, SarahYuko said:

Me too lol time flies doesn't it?

So basically we are the same person lol

[StarstruckIllusion 52,938]

awh I love this thread :3

okay I think I always liked her and listening to her music. My earliest memory was when I was in the fourth grade and my class was in a slaying rink and Paparazzi came on and we all sang along to it :3 Then Born This Way was on the Grammys and I ignored it bc I thought my mom was lying saying it was a new song but then I found out it was, and I really liked it and became a fan.

Then Judas happened and it slayed me to my core and I sold my soul to her. Amazing. Spectacular. Innovative. SUCH a bop my 11 year old ass wasn't ready ?. Now that I look back, it was probably my shitty headphones, but when I first heard BTW, I didn't like it bc it gave me a headache (MTN was too electronic for me) but I gave it a another try and now I love electronic music.

2012:

the waiting era was cute, and way more fun than this, bc we actually got hints about ARTPOP and it was fun to speculate on Little Monsters.com. Made 2 of my best friends during that era, which glued me even more to the fanbase.

ARTPOP:

ugh. No comment as well. Actually nvm. It all fell apart after DWUW and I'm still annoyed about it. I was frontline in the Katy vs Gaga war on Twitter. It really ****ed me up bc It wasn't fair-I felt like I bought an apple pie from the store but it spoiled 3 hours later. I wanted to leave but I was too attached. I hate the memory of ARTPOP but my god I love the album to death. Probably listened to it like 20,000 times and im still not over it.

CTC:

it was cute. bought the album. that's it. got tired of it so quick lmao.

RN:

im bored lol

I'm just not as active as I used to be (maybe bc I'm growing up). I miss all the clues from ARTPOP. I can take all the rumours and run wild with them, bc I know to NOT get upset when they all turn out to be lies. 

I never got to experience a #1 single as a Stan so I'm praying hard for LG5 

[PMKKARDASHiAN 8,570]

I became a fan after I heard just dance on the radio. I was like who is this?!?! I loved the song but thought she was a one hit wonder at best, then pokerface came out and I was hooked! I was obsessed with her. I started dressing like her, and acting like her. 

The VMAs performance did me in. I would mimick the piano part at work, and I would blast the song in my car. Then badromance dropped and I lost my mind. I would wake up at 3am the wait for it to play on nocturnalstate on MTV (this was before youtube was accessible on certain phones) and I was obsessed. 

Then I saw her at TMB and she smiled and pointed at me, and it was everything!! I had framed pics of her all over my apartment, and a room dedicated to her. 

The BTW came out and as a good fan I tried to support her, but it was really hard. I remember the premiere of TEOG video, and I was at a friend's house and her daughter was dressed as a mermaid to honor the video and we waited and couldn't have been more excited.. then the video came on and we were all like....what....... 

Then I gradually started backing off, because she almost became a caricature of herself. AP was a dark time for me that we don't really discuss. 

Now I'm casually dying inside because I'm waiting to see how LG5 will unfold. The glory days are gone for me, but I still follow her career and want my fandom back.  

[Fernster7 7,923]

The Fame Era: I didn't care for it.

TFM: Same, I just didn't like Gaga at all until my friend showed me the Alejandro video and I loved the song but hated the MV, I was kind of interested by her since then.

BTW: I followed that era like a stan, watching every interview and performance, I was like wtf most of the time when she purposely looked ugly and that stuff but I didn't care that much because I loved the music and the message, I must say it was my favorite era even with all its ups and downs.

ARTPOP: I liked the album, was expecting a lot more, especially from the lead single, although I love Applause it wasn't my favorite choice, I was excited for the performances and interviews until they started being so messy. I think my favorite moment from the era was the last ArtRave.

LG5: I can't wait anymore tbh, I want her to take her time of course but I wish she would release the lead in March-April. I'm here imagining all the bops she has under her sleeve.