An Overview of Gaga pos-BTW

[Swine 504]

I was going through some threads around this topic, and decided to give my two cents on this matter.

 

Gaga's views on commercial success

Many of us are still wondering what are Gaga's actual views on success. Until BTW, she had a great team surrounding her, helping her understand what should be done, said and released. There was barely any information about her personal life. She was going through a rough relationship with Luc, doing drugs, etc, but literally almost no one was focused on those aspects because the work she was presenting was just too good and interesting. Her team helped her with the visuals, music videos, choreography, maybe even interviews. It was the perfect formula, especially considering she had the talent to serve as a backbone for that commercial team. But we never really understood what were her views on commercial success. It seemed obvious that she wanted to be famous and sell (just came to mind that she admitted that it was a rough period for the fans during ARTPOP because of the backlash on the sales - she even knew how much the album sold). And I guess everyone wants to be successful with their work. To be successful in her position doesn't mean to sell a lot, but at least the impact of her work needs to be substancial. And that has been sort of lacking since Born This Way. So, what are Gaga's views on success? I guess she enjoys being successful, for personal reasons and to make her friends/fans proud. She will naturally say: "I don't care about sales" when those sales are not that spectacular. But she was the first to brag about selling 1.5 million copies in the first week with Born This Way. There was always some focus on commercial success, whether she wants to admit it or not.

 

Haus of Gaga and the album cycles

Ever since BTW the album cycles have been lackluster, with lazy videos being released, creative differences with directors, creative differences with her label, etc. There's always some sort of problem to mess up the single/album. But why? Is this a problem to any other pop star? Does Taylor Swift or Katy Perry face this type of problems? Is Gaga's need to control her career in her own way to becoming successful again? Born This Way was cohesive when it came to a theme and aesthetics, whether people liked them or not. But it was then the problems started. The Judas single was a mistake by the label, looking for the controversy surrounding the theme, and the video was probably the most well done by her/her friends - which doesn't mean it wasn't sort of lackluster as well. The Edge of Glory video was a technical mess because she refused to work with a professional director who had a proper storyline for it - which majorly influenced the success of the single, in an era when YouTube views were very important. The You and I video was shot by I&V, also her friends. While I appreciate their own work, and I understand that Gaga likes to work with them, they should NEVER be video director for her - the result was a plot mess, bad shots and overall boring video. Let's not even talk about MTN. The video mess continued with Applause, also shot by I&V - and there are no words to express how boring and badly shot it is. Lol to DWUW. And then GUY - total poor choice of a single, probably made by her, since the video was 100% paid by her and not her label. She believed the single was on the top 10 and very successful, the delusion was real. I am also not talking about the videos from the Joanne era, because the struggle with the videos was real. So there's clearly some need for her to control her videos and music. While I understand why she wants to do it, because she is basically the artist, looking back, the formula to success is when she delegates some of her responsibilities to PROFESSIONALS. That's when she shines the most and is most successful. So maybe it's not so dumb to give up a bit on your vision in prol of a better result, otherwise better prepare herself to disappointment and critical backlash. People can't love something just because she made it all by herself, that's not how the game works. Yes, the respect is there, but the interest is not. And she lives for the applause. Why release something not many people want to applaud to? Just a thought.

 

Gaga's portrayal on the media

It was only after BTW that we got some insight into her personal life: love, health and family. She became a celebrity rather than just a musician. The focus is now basically on her personal life, which was exactly what she avoided the most during TFM. And the overall image she/her team is now trying to convey is this "empathy for the sick/sad", which is honestly causing more damage than good. What is the purpose on revealing that she is dealing with drugs now, when she has been doing it her whole career? What's the objective by releasing a documentary where she addresses her sickness? It was Lupus, then her breakup with Taylor, the death of her friend, the fibromyalgia... There's always some serious, heavy subject on the news surrounding her. And that's not good... She's an artist. The main focus should be how good the music is, how visually interesting her videos are, how daring her performances are. People can relate to her sickness and sadness, but that's going to make them buy or like her artistry.

[Stefani Gaga 3,359]

8 minutes ago, Swine said:

Let's not even talk about MTN.

I stopped reading after this. 

[JustaMonster 4,909]

So you want her to be more controlled by the label just to get smash hits and do less of what she wants to do? She has stated multiple times that she hates being just a cash cow for people to make money from.

[Swine 504]

1 minute ago, JustaMonster said:

So you want her to be more controlled by the label just to get smash hits and do less of what she wants to do? She has stated multiple times that she hates being just a cash cow for people to make money from.

That's the answer to all of those asking when is the commercial/youtube power coming back.

[sweet spot 3,241]

i think gaga is now an album seller - no matter if the records themselves get hits or not. you see, perfect illusion had a moderate commercial success, but joanne still did 200k+ first week and is on track to reach 1,5kk sales worldwide, which are amazing numbers for the streaming era (specially considering the album only had 2 singles). also - she is a pretty strong ticket seller, which is a plus because that's where most part of an artist's profits come from.

 

[PMKKARDASHiAN 8,570]

Oh wow. 

Oh wow. 

I was with you on some parts but the way you ripped the BTW era to shreds with half truths is just  I'm not sure if you're misinformed or just mixing up certain points but that's not an accurate recollection of the era. (And that's coming from someone who doesn't even care for the BTW era) 

i will agree that every aspect of her career leading up to BTW was planned out PERFECTLY, but she said it herself at one point, people LOVE to see celebrities crumble (fall of the blonde pop star) so her fall was inevitable. Was it due to a few bad choices, of course, but you've painted the past 6 years in a very heavy negative light when it hasn't ALL been bad, maybe just bad to you. 

Has it been any surprise that she's used drugs in the past? It hasn't been broadcast but it's not been a secret either. 

Theres just so many points you made that are speculation, I'll-informed, or just not true, and even unsympathetic. 

Praying for you honestly sis 

 

[JustaMonster 4,909]

1 minute ago, Swine said:

That's the answer to all of those asking when is the commercial/youtube power coming back.

Yeah and its a good answer. I don't want her to do things that will make her unhappy just so she can get more sales. I'd rather her do whatever she wants until she decides she wants to smash again. Especially right now with all the pain that she is in. I want her to have a huge comeback too but only if she wants to do it.

[JR Gg 12,985]

I think her messy single choices and promotion are the label+her faults. They can't seem to decide properly. When you have a plan, stick to it and not change it. Venus X DWUW Mess.The Applause video was kinda messy because she had little time to execute it, I believe the MR video had the same fate. I guess the promotions are not her fault at all, because The Cure was a buzz single so why the hell would she spend promo on it? Believe it or not, Bobby handles her very well, in fact he's a great manager, but sometimes the label and Gaga has conflicts so Bobby can't really do his job well. They should just plan out the whole album cycle's layout but we know that's impossible cause Gaga changes her mind too frequently. Her label chooses shitty singles  Judas and PI as singles are basically the worst choices ever. Good songs but bad singles 

[ryanripley 86,575]

i stopped reading once you began to trash Y&I video  

that video is anything BUT boring  

I&V have made 2 amazing videos with her and incredible photoshoots so she should continue to work with them since they clearly mesh well when creating art

edit: sorry but this entire OP is just a biased mess. her MVs for joanne have been good videos, minus MR. they're nothing up to par with anything from TFM to ARTPOP but they are good  videos that successfully gel with the music  

[Swine 504]

3 minutes ago, PMKKARDASHiAN said:

Oh wow. 

Oh wow. 

I was with you on some parts but the way you ripped the BTW era to shreds with half truths is just  I'm not sure if you're misinformed or just mixing up certain points but that's not an accurate recollection of the era. (And that's coming from someone who doesn't even care for the BTW era) 

i will agree that every aspect of her career leading up to BTW was planned out PERFECTLY, but she said it herself at one point, people LOVE to see celebrities crumble (fall of the blonde pop star) so her fall was inevitable. Was it due to a few bad choices, of course, but you've painted the past 6 years in a very heavy negative light when it hasn't ALL been bad, maybe just bad to you. 

 

I loved BTW to death. I was just pointing that the management/direction issues started then.

[ryanripley 86,575]

19 minutes ago, Swine said:

There's always some serious, heavy subject on the news surrounding her. And that's not good... She's an artist. The main focus should be how good the music is, how visually interesting her videos are, how daring her performances are. People can relate to her sickness and sadness, but that's going to make them buy or like her artistry.

 

god forbid gaga wants to be a real human being and go through things and talk about it  

[PMKKARDASHiAN 8,570]

Just now, Swine said:

I loved BTW to death. I was just pointing that the management/direction issues started then.

We can't be sure of that. We can only be sure that that's when they started to appear, but we don't know what it was like behind the scenes 

[Swine 504]

1 minute ago, ryanripley said:

god forbid gaga wants to be a real human being and go through things and talk about it  

You missed my point. The problem is not that people are talking about that. The problem is that THAT is the only thing people talk about these days, instead of her music.

[ryanripley 86,575]

Just now, Swine said:

You missed my point. The problem is not that people are talking about that. The problem is that THAT is the only thing people talk about these days, instead of her music.

well that kind of makes sense since her next big project isn't an album, it's a documentary that goes very deep and rawly into her personal life

[SHALLOW 16,386]

Inez and Vinoodh are GREAT. I think se needs to do things 100% how she wants them to be.