Stache / depression / Jean Paul Sartre / weed dependance

[hELXIG 43,038]

I've recently just had a total epiphany about some lyrics in Stache after reading them more carefully and thought I should share!

In the song she references Jean Paul Sartre, a famous philosopher. In Stache she sings:
"There's no exit, we're in Jean Paul Sartre"

'No Exit' is the name of a famous existential play that Jean Paul Sartre wrote in 1944. The play is about "the struggle of being caused to see oneself as an object in the world of another consciousness."   and a famous quote from the play is "hell is other people"

I always knew that Stache is more of a sad song if you pay attention to the lyrics, but it all makes sense in hindsight after hearing her speak out about her high days around 2012.

She's since said that she got high to 'forget that she's famous'. I think her fame was really getting overwhelming for her in 2012. "Hell is other people" ... "caused to see oneself as an object in the world of another consciousness (other people's minds)" She felt like she was an object to the people of the world and that the way people treated her was as if she was trapped in her personal hell.

 

Also I think the way it's worded is a play on words. She's saying "there's no exit from this life/the way I feel. I'm in a Jean Paul Sartre situation"

 

Spoiler

Other more obvious points to think about

 

Stache all seems to tie in with other songs like Princess Die (about fame killing celebrities and her own suicidal thoughts), and Do what You Want (about the world owning her/seeing herself as an object in the world of another consciousness) and obviously Mary Jane Holland she sings "I think that I could be fine, if I could be Mary Jane in Holland tonight" and Dope is very blunt about her dependence and how it affected her life.

She also sings:
Princess die high/Princess high die. Which I hear to mean:

Princess die-high (ie she's princess die-while-high)

Princess High, die (ie she thinks the world wants to see her, 'Princess High', die)

 

She sings:

And when I can't find my stache (stash of weed) I give up. I need to deal with myself and get messed up. Obviously talking about how she uses weed as a form of escapism and can't handle/gives up when she can't get high, and talks about her dependence on the drug to get messed up so she doesn't have to 'deal with herself'.

 

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I love the depth of her writing and I love when I'm able to come to epiphanies about what the lyrics mean or what the songs message is or how it ties into her life. Dissecting her songs in relation to her interviews and her past is so rewarding, because you can really get an understanding of how much thought and talent is poured into what might initially sound like a generic song to some. She's so intelligent and creative 

[Carmex 964]

She should go back to smoking weed everyday. She was much more tolerable in '12.

[Didymus 34,379]

To be connected to:

"I was ****ing tired! I was overworked. It became all about the money. I began feeling like a corporate machine – and my art was paying the price. I didn’t get into this business to sell perfume or take selfies with strangers." (IN Magazine, 2016) + the Instagram post where she's surrounded with fans and looks lost where she quotes Sartre as well, seemingly digging at her fame itself and what it's "done" to her.

Nice find. I never thought of connecting the two.

Clearly she's struggling with defining herself right now. Cue her blasting all social media communication last year even though that's how she built her connection with her fans. Interested to see how it's gonna go in the future.

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8 minutes ago, Carmex said:

She should go back to smoking weed everyday. She was much more tolerable in '12.

Did you read the post though??? She was expressing how her life felt like her own personal hell and how she abused substances to escape reality. She's explicitly stated many times since about how bad that period of her life was. She wrote dope about it. And yet people STILL want her to go back to that dark time, just so they can be entertained by her and how she sings and dances and dresses for them. Like some kind of sick puppet show. But she's not a puppet, she's a living human being.

I guess she really is treated like an object in the world of other people's minds. 

Literally what the lyric is about, is how you just spoke of her. You just proved her point. 

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3 minutes ago, Didymus said:

To be connected to:

"was ****ing tired! I was overworked. It became all about the money. I began feeling like a corporate machine – and my art was paying the price. I didn’t get into this business to sell perfume or take selfies with strangers." (IN Magazine, 2016)

Nice find. I never thought of connecting the two.

Clearly she's struggling with defining her image. Cue her blasting all social media communication last year even though that's how she built her connection with her fans. Interested to see how it's gonna go.

Oh and not to mention that even her entire perfume campaign (which she didn't want to partake in) was about the dark side of fame... 

She's really had to build her mind back from the ground up since 2013 I think. I remember her talking about taking all kinds of antidepressants, anti anxiety medication, trying ayurvedic medicine, meditation, everything under the sun to curb her substance abuse so that she can tolerate her  difficult life.

[Carmex 964]

3 minutes ago, Disenchanted said:

Did you read the post though??? She was expressing how her life felt like her own personal hell and how she abused substances to escape reality. She's explicitly stated many times since about how bad that period of her life was. She wrote dope about it. And yet people STILL want her to go back to that dark time, just so they can be entertained by her and how she sings and dances and dresses for them. Like some kind of sick puppet show. But she's not a puppet, she's a living human being.

I guess she really is treated like an object in the world of other people's minds. 

Literally what the lyric is about is how you just spoke of her. You just proved her point. 

Well she is a musician and that is a form of entertainment.... So naturally, I would assume her fans would want her to be entertaining.

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1 minute ago, Carmex said:

Well she is a musician and that is a form of entertainment.... So naturally, I would assume her fans would want her to be entertaining.

 

[Didymus 34,379]

7 minutes ago, Disenchanted said:

Oh and not to mention that even her entire perfume campaign (which she didn't want to partake in) was about the dark side of fame... 

Yup. The scene of her shooting at her own reflection in the mirror comes to mind, esp. since she's all dolled up there.

I loved the philosophy behind the perfume. The idea of fame being a poison that becomes invisible when activated, smelling actually sweet and desirable despite its real color "black, like the soul of fame". It was one of her most elaborate artistic statements, which is brilliant indeed, since we know now she didn't care for releasing a celebrity perfume in the first place. Making one that acknowledged fame's power but denied its beauty was a stellar "compromise".

7 minutes ago, Disenchanted said:

She's really had to build her mind back from the ground up since 2013 I think. I remember her talking about taking all kinds of antidepressants, anti anxiety medication, trying ayurvedic medicine, meditation, everything under the sun to curb her substance abuse so that she can tolerate her difficult life.

The pressure she was under post-2009 was absurd. No time to rest whatsoever. It must be quite horrifying to know you have to re-enter the game after your first "time off" and a real enjoyment of creativity and performance again.

LG5 will be very interesting to analyze for sure

[Carmex 964]

1 minute ago, Disenchanted said:

 

Is that not the truth? Plus, weed isn't addictive. It's clear she was abusing weed, but that only means that she had some other underlying issues that she was avoiding.

[Didymus 34,379]

2 minutes ago, Carmex said:

Is that not the truth? Plus, weed isn't addictive. It's clear she was abusing weed, but that only means that she had some other underlying issues that she was avoiding.

Isn't that how all addiction works though?

She literally said weed can be addictive and assuming it's not is dangerous. I've known three people personally who were clearly addicted to it and there are many more examples. Whether or not that's "abuse" of a substance makes no difference to me, it's addiction and that's final.

Wishing someone to go back to the habitus that caused their addiction surely isn't an admirable way of talking about someone lol

[PartySick 160,394]

11 minutes ago, Carmex said:

Well she is a musician and that is a form of entertainment.... So naturally, I would assume her fans would want her to be entertaining.

She's not solely an entertainer. Music is an art form that can be used for entertainment but also for expression of deep thoughts and stories like the above.

OT: I don't have much constructive to say other than this woman's a genius

3 minutes ago, Didymus said:

Isn't that how all addiction works though?

She literally said weed can be addictive and assuming it's not is dangerous. I've known three people personally who were clearly addicted to it and there are many more examples. Whether or not that's "abuse" of a substance makes no difference to me, it's addiction and that's final.

Wishing someone to go back to the habitus that caused their addiction surely isn't an admirable way of talking about someone lol

Weed's very addictive tbh. I don't have any studies to cite but I have plenty of friends who smoke who say it's the hardest thing to give up. Actually, one of my best friends gave up cigarettes and alcohol before she could stop smoking dope

THC is like caffeine. Did I just pull that out of no where? You bet your ass I did, but it makes sense *shakily drinks Pepsi*

[hELXIG 43,038]

8 minutes ago, Didymus said:

Yup. The scene of her shooting at her own reflection in the mirror comes to mind, esp. since she's all dolled up there.

I loved the philosophy behind the perfume. The idea of fame being a poison that becomes invisible when activated, smelling actually sweet and desirable despite its real color "black, like the soul of fame". It was one of her most elaborate artistic statements, which is brilliant indeed, since we know now she didn't care for releasing a celebrity perfume in the first place. Making one that acknowledged fame's power but denied its beauty was a stellar "compromise".

The pressure she was under post-2009 was absurd. No time to rest whatsoever. It must be quite horrifying to know you have to re-enter the game after your first "time off" and a real enjoyment of creativity and performance again.

LG5 will be very interesting to analyze for sure

Yesyesyesyes. I agree with everything you said. The Fame fragrance was brilliantly done! It's too bad we didn't realise until a few years later exactly where the motivation came from to express herself in that way.

 

8 minutes ago, Carmex said:

Is that not the truth? Plus, weed isn't addictive. It's clear she was abusing weed, but that only means that she had some other underlying issues that she was avoiding.

Again, you're eliminating her humanity and treating her like an object. And also yeah, that's what dependence means. Depending on a substance to function or get by. And yet again, you're not treating her like a human being. When people have that amount of pressure put on them (by people like you and other entitled fans) their mental health can really suffer. And when someone's mental health is suffering it is incredibly difficult sometimes, if not impossible, for them to admit it or even seek help. Especially when they are using a substance to self-medicate. But she's not a person right? She doesn't get the same sympathy a normal person who was struggling with their life or career choices would, right? Because "it's her job". "She's supposed to get over it and keep going". Well guess what; she broke, she contemplated suicide, she wanted to die rather than continue on with the life she'd ended up with, she wanted to quite her career as a pop star. But she can just "get over it, because it's her job to entertain us".

[Carmex 964]

3 minutes ago, Didymus said:

Isn't that how all addiction works though?

She literally said weed can be addictive and assuming it's not is dangerous. I've known three people personally who were clearly addicted to it and there are many more examples. Whether or not that's "abuse" of a substance makes no difference to me, it's addiction and that's final.

Wishing someone to go back to the habitus that caused their addiction surely isn't an admirable way of talking about someone lol

Weed isn't addictive. Just like alcohol isn't addictive, yet there's people who abuse it and they are usually labeled alcoholics. Yes, there can be people who abuse weed and depend on it like an alcoholic depends on alcohol. However, it technically isn't an addictive substance.

Anyway, if Gaga's weed dependency was so to help her cope with being famous, why not just stop? She still went on tour, still launched perfume, still released music, still performed at A list award shows, and the list goes on and on.

Furthermore, she still smokes today... Some addict she was.

[Carmex 964]

5 minutes ago, PartySick said:

She's not solely an entertainer. Music is an art form that can be used for entertainment but also for expression of deep thoughts and stories like the above.

OT: I don't have much constructive to say other than this woman's a genius

Weed's very addictive tbh. I don't have any studies to cite but I have plenty of friends who smoke who say it's the hardest thing to give up. Actually, one of my best friends gave up cigarettes and alcohol before she could stop smoking dope

THC is like caffeine. Did I just pull that out of no where? You bet your ass I did, but it makes sense *shakily drinks Pepsi*

But she is a mainstream entertainer... How are you going to deny that sheer FACT? Gaga has stated several times that she is a performance artist. She performs to entertain people, at her concerts, and at award shows, is she not entertaining people? Is her music not being released with the intention to entertain people so that she and others can make a profit off of it?