Should Gaga stop working with overconfident/cocky people?

[Chickens in Malibu 7,873]

Gaga herself is most of the time down to earth and humble about her work. And so are all of the true artists. Being humbe and open-minded is key to giving yourself a reality check and realizing when you're headed in the wrong direction.

But unfortunately, in the past few years Gaga has been surrounding herself with people that are overconfident and cocky. And ironically enough, her only song that received great praise and got nominated for a grammy since You & I is "Million Reasons", a song that she wrote with someone who's the just the opposite of that (Hillary Lindsay who's very down to earth and not talkative).

1. DJWS:

Sometimes it feels like he's in a different reality. He can produce decent music sure. But what bothers me is his over-confidence (like when he said "i'm pretty sure i got it" when asked whether redone was working on LG6 too) and sensitivity to criticism. We don't see this type of behavior from the most successful producers, the likes of Greg Kurstin, Max Martin, Steve Mac.

2. Mark Nilon or the infamous "#2018RadioIsOurs":

This is such a low point, overhyping people for nothing. First of all, any reasonable person would not say such a thing. Because no one can tell ahead of time how the radios will respond to a song. Radios snubbed many songs thought to be successful, including songs from Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Adele etc... The most important thing about art, is remaining humble about your work and self-critiquing yourself. If you think your work is perfect, then you'll keep living in your own little bubble without trying to actually improve and exceed expectations.

3. Boys Noize "I wrote a hit with Gaga":

Same thing? A hit song is a song that performs well commercially. That's a fact, and that's the definition. A hit song doesn't mean a song you think is good. Producers should know better. How can you know for sure that the song will perform well commercially? Did you ever hear Adele, Taylor Swift or any of the people who dominated the charts say that they wrote a "hit" ahead of release? Even Adele said many times she wasn't sure "25" was going to do well. And that's exactly what you need in an artist: a sense of reality and understanding how the music industry works. If you think you're the best, then you won't be looking for improvements and you'll just stay in your little bubble when others outperform you.

4. Mark Ronson:

I like Mark Ronson, but there is one incident that struck me as a bit cocky in the making of A-Yo video and how he kept telling Gaga that it should be like Uptown Funk. Not to repeat myself but exactly what I said above applies to him

Bottom line is, one common trait you'll see among the most successful artists in history: being humble and down-to-earth. From Michael Jackson, to Whitney Houston, to Adele etc...

And I certainly agree with what Ed Sheeran said. I don't view it as something aimed at Gaga, because people generally forget that at the time he made that statement, Katy Perry, Madonna, Coldplay performed at the superbowl in the recent years, and none of them were at a good time in their careers when he made the statement:

“I have to know when to listen to people. Otherwise I’ll end up like artist that you’ve interviewed over the years who you’ve seen be the biggest artists in the world, and then suddenly they’re like ‘I know everything!’ And then they’re no longer the biggest. The smartest thing to do is listen to people who know what they’re talking about.”

He even praised her superbowl performance: "Lady Gaga's Super Bowl performance was incredible. I was really blown away by it".

[PrinceGaga 7,586]

I remember Gaga during 2016 Howard Stern after having played ‘Ayo’ - she said “now that’s a hit song”. Given your definition of overconfident I wouldn’t put Gaga necessarily into the category of humble imo. 

[Babel 41,543]

She already did by stopping working with Laurieann Gibson and Troy Carter. 

And Redone. 

[Chickens in Malibu 7,873]

59 minutes ago, PrinceGaga said:

I remember Gaga during 2016 Howard Stern after having played ‘Ayo’ - she said “now that’s a hit song”. Given your definition of overconfident I wouldn’t put Gaga necessarily into the category of humble imo. 

That's my issue. You become who you surround yourself with.

[AnnTakamaki 6,872]

i dont see how this is being cocky or overconfident,  it's just artist being proud of their work, it's not like "yes i'm the queen/king, top of the chart, i will slay you with greatness" or anything.

[RAMROD 111,977]

Gaga is also very proud of her work. And nothing wring with that. Thise are her "babies" so to speak. Do not blame other people. It is none of their faults and neither Gaga's.

[Irrelevant 20,293]

K

[Chickens in Malibu 7,873]

1 hour ago, RAMROD said:

Gaga is also very proud of her work. And nothing wring with that. Thise are her "babies" so to speak. Do not blame other people. It is none of their faults and neither Gaga's.

I think you misunderstood what I said. During a creative process, the last thing you wanna do is think that your work is perfect, especially in songwriting, because overconfidence simply caps your true potential. If you write a song as good as Bad Romance, and it ends up being successful, of course you can be publicly proud. But my issue with these producers, they're calling their unheard songs "hits" before they're even released, which seems to me like an alternative reality to be honest. 

[Tom Nook 37,820]

1 minute ago, nicolasrumet said:

I think you misunderstood what I said. During a creative process, the last thing you wanna do is think that your work is perfect, especially in songwriting. If you write a song as good as Bad Romance, and it ends up being successful, of course you can be publicly proud. But my issue with these producers, they're calling their unheard songs "hits" before they're even released, which seems to me like an alternative reality to be honest. 

Well would you rather hear a producer say they produce a hit or a flop  like I get what you’re saying but is it really bad to be excited or proud of something you made, cuz if they don’t give a sh*t why should we?

[Der Meister 3,000]

Gaga is the cockiest of them all, she has all the confidence in her work and that's not necessarily a bad thing. She loves what she does and if she's happy, we are happy.

Spoiler

I still think she should stop working with DJWS. He is a terrible producer and arrogant.

 

[Schizophonic 7,015]

when boys noize said "thats a hit" he just wants to say that he belives in the song and sees potential in it. he´s proud of his work and think this could really work out well.

 

no one will put a song out when he thinks the song is shitty.

[ctherainbow 3,162]

What's wrong with bein' confident?  

Ah

ah

ah

 

 

Tbh, it would be nice to see her work with more people who are like Florence; not super flashy or cocky, just keep their head down, work hard, and don't talk themselves up so much.  We can all use a humility check once in a while, and I'd love to see her work with more people who are in tune with that kind of humble, grateful energy.

[giskardsb 12,565]

Saying all true artists are humble is a false premise. It takes a certain confidence to even get to a successful point and many artists are very egotistical yet still produce.  Warhol was not exactly humble.  Having healthy self belief also helps put forth groundbreaking work when everyone else sticks with the status quo.

Redone is actually the worst tho at calling everything a hit.

[TheAlpha 3,830]

You do know that the GP thinks Gaga is cocky herself?

[GypsyBabe 22,836]

What’s wrong with being confident and standing behind your art or creativity?   You can be both humble and confident in yourself (Gaga is a good example) as an artist and it shouldn’t be something that you should have to apologize for or change. 

I think it most important to surround yourselves with people who have vision and who have a hold on who they are creatively. Magic doesn’t happen when you get a producer or an artist in the room who are too “humble” to voice an opinion or are pushovers. A lot of times new and innovative ideas come to fruition from banging heads together, so to speak.