The Artist Mind

[giskardsb 12,565]

People like to throw around the terms "Try Hard" and "Prententious" often at Gaga, mostly when she "sounds like she's trying to talk artistic."  Now, nearly all my friends are artists, musicians, and creatives.  It's true that Artists can certainly spew a lot of BS on occasion, and in some cases the words actually are covering up the actual art, IMO.   See Tom Wolfes "The Painted Word" for a fun read on the subject. 

However, not everything that is "artist speak" is pretentious ( by the correct definition, not the GGD definition) or "try hard.", and most of the time Gaga does not fit into that category.  Art, as with all fields, has it's own language and way of speaking.  So does acting.  And creative minds are often very non-linear.  Some artists are very analytic, some artists are very non-linear right brained, some a mix.  Gaga is very far to the creative non-linear right brain side of the scale.  This can make it hard to follow for linear thinkers and those that are more analytic.   You want a visual example of non-linear thinking just look at basically any video in the BTW era, but especially You and I.  When you say that Gaga is talking in circles, or taking tangent, and not following a linear thought pattern, this is why.

You don't want to take that away from her, because that is a big part of what makes her who she is.  She can be very analytical and calculating as well, but that's not her dominant mode of thinking.

I'm betting those who are immersed in the art and acting worlds understand Gaga pretty well most of the time.  Now, maybe the very fact that a "pop star" considers themselves an actual artist ( and not just an "artist" label as used for all pop stars), and uses the artist language,  is enough for some of you to label Gaga as pretentious.  However, that is your issue, not hers.  She can't control how you decide to label her, and she certainly shouldn't change the way she is just to avoid the labeling.

It's an insult to artists and Gaga when you automatically label her as pretentious or try hard just because you don't understand what she is saying.  Many times it's simply because her thought process and yours don't match up.  And artistic thought often is contradictory to itself, because again it's not always based on logical relationships.   Sometimes artists just literally think things differently. I sometimes have to consider a while about what Gaga said and how she said it to get an idea what she meant.  That's good though, and I don't think I've ever come to a time when I decided she was just spouting nonsense for the sake of sounding like what she's not.  And sometimes it's just literally difficult to express something in spoken language.  Like most of us she shows occasional ignorance on a subject or makes a mistake, but she's not setting out to deceive anyone. 

Instead of always thinking immediately she is intentionally putting out junk language to make herself sound good, consider that maybe you just don't understand the language.  It's ok, artists are confusing to themselves plenty of times. 

[fashion monster 397]

Couldn't agree more.

[The Surrealist 27,470]

You forgot that some people on here aren't necessarily fans of Gaga they just want to promote their respective fave, themselves or their political beliefs. So you'll probably will find more Gaga haters on here than on a Madonna forum. 

[Lord Temptation 11,209]

100%.

Funny how pop lovers think Gaga is too art and art lovers think Gaga is too pop.

The truth is somewhere in the middle. But where is the middle?

This is why Lady Gaga exists. 

Who, or what, is Lady Gaga?

She is a superstar born by a society obsessed with money and fame (and sexxx and pain). As her ever evolving image was captured by the lens of the paparazzi, she set out to explore how and why pop and art intersect in society. 

In doing so, she declared that we can all be free - but only if we are unafraid to love ourselves.

Never forget that we as a society created Gaga.

She is an idol that represents our highest level of being. 

We're happiest when we do what we want.

What do we want?

Art? Or pop? Or art in pop in art in pop...?

Remember.

We're best when we're in love, and we're in love with ... Being a critic.

Right? Or wrong?

[Eighteen 5,430]

idk i think she can be pretentious at times but i still love her <3

[giskardsb 12,565]

10 minutes ago, Lord Temptation said:

100%.

Funny how pop lovers think Gaga is too art and art lovers think Gaga is too pop.

The truth is somewhere in the middle. But where is the middle?

This is why Lady Gaga exists. 

Who, or what, is Lady Gaga?

She is a superstar created by a society obsessed with money and fame. Caught by the lens of the paparazzi, she set out to explore how and why pop and art intersect in society. 

In doing so, she declared that we can all be free - but only if we are not afraid to love.

Never forget that we as a society created Gaga.

She is an idol that represents our highest level of being. 

We're happiest when we do what we want.

What do we want?

Art? Or pop? Or art in pop in art in pop...Right? Or wrong?

Remember.

We're best when we're in love, and we're in love with ...

I keep expecting Gaga to go back to NYU at some point to get a PHD and writing her doctoral thesis on the "field research" she did on Fame Culture.

[Lord Temptation 11,209]

1 minute ago, giskardsb said:

I keep expecting Gaga to go back to NYU at some point to get a PHD and writing her doctoral thesis on the "field research" she did on Fame Culture.

I would love to hear her go fully academic. My God that would be stupendous. But she is different. She talks the talk but also walks the walk (in ten inch heels) 

[ashamednudist 164]

1 hour ago, giskardsb said:

People like to throw around the terms "Try Hard" and "Prententious" often at Gaga, mostly when she "sounds like she's trying to talk artistic."  Now, nearly all my friends are artists, musicians, and creatives.  It's true that Artists can certainly spew a lot of BS on occasion, and in some cases the words actually are covering up the actual art, IMO.   See Tom Wolfes "The Painted Word" for a fun read on the subject. 

However, not everything that is "artist speak" is pretentious ( by the correct definition, not the GGD definition) or "try hard.", and most of the time Gaga does not fit into that category.  Art, as with all fields, has it's own language and way of speaking.  So does acting.  And creative minds are often very non-linear.  Some artists are very analytic, some artists are very non-linear right brained, some a mix.  Gaga is very far to the creative non-linear right brain side of the scale.  This can make it hard to follow for linear thinkers and those that are more analytic.   You want a visual example of non-linear thinking just look at basically any video in the BTW era, but especially You and I.  When you say that Gaga is talking in circles, or taking tangent, and not following a linear thought pattern, this is why.

You don't want to take that away from her, because that is a big part of what makes her who she is.  She can be very analytical and calculating as well, but that's not her dominant mode of thinking.

I'm betting those who are immersed in the art and acting worlds understand Gaga pretty well most of the time.  Now, maybe the very fact that a "pop star" considers themselves an actual artist ( and not just an "artist" label as used for all pop stars), and uses the artist language,  is enough for some of you to label Gaga as pretentious.  However, that is your issue, not hers.  She can't control how you decide to label her, and she certainly shouldn't change the way she is just to avoid the labeling.

It's an insult to artists and Gaga when you automatically label her as pretentious or try hard just because you don't understand what she is saying.  Many times it's simply because her thought process and yours don't match up.  And artistic thought often is contradictory to itself, because again it's not always based on logical relationships.   Sometimes artists just literally think things differently. I sometimes have to consider a while about what Gaga said and how she said it to get an idea what she meant.  That's good though, and I don't think I've ever come to a time when I decided she was just spouting nonsense for the sake of sounding like what she's not.  And sometimes it's just literally difficult to express something in spoken language.  Like most of us she shows occasional ignorance on a subject or makes a mistake, but she's not setting out to deceive anyone. 

Instead of always thinking immediately she is intentionally putting out junk language to make herself sound good, consider that maybe you just don't understand the language.  It's ok, artists are confusing to themselves plenty of times. 

love this, especially the bold part is very important for me

[fashion monster 397]

1 hour ago, Lord Temptation said:

100%.

Funny how pop lovers think Gaga is too art and art lovers think Gaga is too pop.

The truth is somewhere in the middle. But where is the middle?

This is why Lady Gaga exists. 

Who, or what, is Lady Gaga?

She is a superstar born by a society obsessed with money and fame (and sexxx and pain). As her ever evolving image was captured by the lens of the paparazzi, she set out to explore how and why pop and art intersect in society. 

In doing so, she declared that we can all be free - but only if we are unafraid to love ourselves.

Never forget that we as a society created Gaga.

She is an idol that represents our highest level of being. 

We're happiest when we do what we want.

What do we want?

Art? Or pop? Or art in pop in art in pop...?

Remember.

We're best when we're in love, and we're in love with ... Being a critic.

Right? Or wrong?

IMO there's nothing wrong in being a critic, but if you do it because you love doing it it's obvious that the first thing to do is learn how to criticize. But nowadays, thanks to the internet, people simply enjoy to share the first thing that comes to their mind and think that bashing people and sharing negative thoughts make them cool. Unfortunately we only know one type of criticism: expressing what we like and dislike. Critical criticism is a form of criticism too, but that's not what we need. What we need is to at least try to understand the meaning behind the things we judge, the purpose, the environment, the reasons and all the other factors that were taken in consideration when what is being judge was created. I think that art deserves better than simply stating if it fulfills your parameters. A critic should explain the art piece and only after doing so he should say I love it / I loathe it.

[REALITY 77,038]

I couldn't agree with this more. It's sort of a pet peeve of mine when people cannot seem to comprehend that art is so subjective. You may not understand the art itself, but understanding the fact that art is so subjective and that no one has the right to call out other people's work is pretty much common sense. Calling her "pretentious" for something you fail to understand is arrogant.

It's, to me, always interesting to peek into Gaga's mind via her songs, but mostly interviews. Her artistic mind is unlike anyone else's that I've yet to seen in the music industry of today. It's very rare to see someone so passionate about art and instead of making an album just for the sake of making an album. 

[Lord Temptation 11,209]

6 hours ago, fashion monster said:

IMO there's nothing wrong in being a critic, but if you do it because you love doing it it's obvious that the first thing to do is learn how to criticize. But nowadays, thanks to the internet, people simply enjoy to share the first thing that comes to their mind and think that bashing people and sharing negative thoughts make them cool. Unfortunately we only know one type of criticism: expressing what we like and dislike. Critical criticism is a form of criticism too, but that's not what we need. What we need is to at least try to understand the meaning behind the things we judge, the purpose, the environment, the reasons and all the other factors that were taken in consideration when what is being judge was created. I think that art deserves better than simply stating if it fulfills your parameters. A critic should explain the art piece and only after doing so he should say I love it / I loathe it.

Couldn't agree more. Striking art provokes us to question our parameters. It makes us view everything else differently.

[djBuffoon 12,123]

Agreed. I'm an actor/musician, been around artists of all kinds my entire life. We all, more or less, understand each other, even if we've just met. And sometimes, yeah, the thoughts will be abstract and we will practically dare the other person to follow us into the tangent... In a way, it's just like any other conversation: listening and responding. But speaking with an artistic mind just requires a bit more active listening than usual.

[Twitter 14]

Truth!