Gaga was ahead of her time

[Moebius 8,965]

This is from a reddit post I just made, thought I'd share it here too 🌌

I've had the idea for a thread like this for a long time. It mostly stems from my late experience with modern pop culture. Understandably, Gaga is a pop icon and a potential legend. But people only seem to focus on her 2008-11 success and ignore just how influential and ahead of her time she was.

My main point here is this : have you ever stopped to to wonder just how much pop culture has changed in the past few years? And just how influential liberal ideas have become? Shows get cancelled and people get fired from (righteous) public outrage. Make a racist remark? Youre cancelled. Show acceptance towards minority groups? Youre hailed. Its interesting to think just how normal such things have become, when a few years ago this was hardly a problem for the vocal general public. Or, if it were vocal, it would be for issues that transcend the ordinary, for example, Rihanna's assault. 

Dont you think its interesting how nowadays everyone wants to have variety in their music videos, and movies, and videogame characters? Or, better said, everyone NEEDS to have variety, otherwise battle it our with public accusations of discrimination and ignorance. It has become such a normal thing now for people to react casually to these things, and to demand representation in popular media.

Where am I going with this? Well, remember when a certain pop star freak emerged back in 2008 and did all of this before it became a norm? Remember Lady Gaga, who went and basically jeopardized her career by dedicating an ENTIRE ALBUM ERA to honouring minorities and their struggles? Remember the popstar whose main influence was gay culture before every single person in the world started using WIG and SLAY and YASS? 

Do you also remember just how much **** she got for doing the right thing? For being provocative? 

Nowadays, a video that has diversity in its cast is praised and hailed for its ideas. Nowadays, its a norm to be a supporter of the gay community. Or to be a feminist. Its such a norm to be so inclusive, that your image cannot be based on it anymore. Its not progressive, its normal. Alejandro/Judas got so much backlash, Ariana's God is a Woman was seen as progressive. Bear in mind I am NOT pitting the two together; its a simple comparison.

What I wanna say is that people undermine just how ahead of her time Gaga was. Like it or not, I think, in some ways, she really is/was our Madonna. She got so much hate for her videos and support of minorities, it affected her career greatly. The Born this Way era is a pop culture phenomenon. Its a testament. And I would want every single person invested in pop culture to appreciate its glory. 

I guess, in a way, I just want people to know how ahead of her time Gaga was, and how she suffered these blows for future artists to not suffer the same. She paved the way to modern freedom of expression in so many ways. And I am proud to say I stan an artist like her. I dont care what happens with her mainstream career in the coming years, because I know she has already made her mark on the industry and pop culture itself. 

Thank u for reading this essay 🌌
 

[Aglaya 8,388]

[Lana Del Gay 853]

 

[ryanripley 86,575]

it's weird cus she's ahead of her time but also after her time

if she had debuted before streaming boomed during her backlash era, her streaming probably wouldn't be an issue... probably

but if she had debuted now (assuming TF and TFM have the same amount of success and impact), i doubt ARTPOP would have been that bad

[ShayCristoforo 10,607]

She raised the bar for pop artistry. And now people are required to not only have high value production, but also high talent and thoughts. Queen.

[Moebius 8,965]

7 minutes ago, ryanripley said:

it's weird cus she's ahead of her time but also after her time

if she had debuted before streaming boomed during her backlash era, her streaming probably wouldn't be an issue... probably

but if she had debuted now (assuming TF and TFM have the same amount of success and impact), i doubt ARTPOP would have been that bad

I focused on cultural impact and not how her albums would have done, but yeah, if she had debuted now, in this atmosphere of openmindedness, she would have won.

[Notget 502]

No it wasn't 'ahead of time'. A lot of artists/bands have done this if you research.

[Itsbrenda 2,983]

She invented the future x

[Moebius 8,965]

3 minutes ago, Notget said:

No it wasn't 'ahead of time'. A lot of artists/bands have done this if you research.

But did they gear it to the mainstream?

[Yuuri 21,636]

59 minutes ago, ShayCristoforo said:

She raised the bar for pop artistry. And now people are required to not only have high value production, but also high talent and thoughts. Queen.

[Letmelivemylife 8,715]

Gaga changed everything ♥️ When Sharon Needles won season 4 of drag race, she referred to 2012 as "the year of the freaks" because it was during the height of the Born This Way era and Sharon herself has said that she doesn't think she would've gotten on drag race if Gaga hadn't made being a "freak" cool. 

Thats why I get so offended when people call us a fanbase. We're so much more than that. We're the freaks, the misfits, who were lucky enough to be saved by someone who said "I love you just the way you are".