I’m very happy for Gaga but..

[Diamond heart99 5,262]

1 minute ago, Andreu said:

@Ktaylor99 why would you be dragged for posting the truth

Because that should be the title of my GGD Biography!

[Sassy McSass 814]

I get it. After being a fan for so long - and I think this must have something to do with my age as well -, I feel like if it goes ok with the gp it’s great, but a high chart position is not gonna make much difference for me, personally. I have enough problems to worry about already.

[Diamond heart99 5,262]

@mauvais did the GP not like Joanne? I didn’t follow closely then. I loved the album and consider myself more of a GP than an LM. 

[Cookie Tookie 10,546]

This fanbase focuses too much on success and the charts. I don’t ever think I’ve seen this fanbase so focused on charting position, views, general public’s perception, etc. Who gives a f**k about all of that. I’d rather see growth artistically and songs that aren’t made to be palatable by the GP. Just enjoy the song and who cares about the numbers. 
 

I’m personally waiting for Gaga to hopefully blow my mind lyrically and artistically this era. Don’t know if she will, but i’m hoping she does.

[not Chromatica 5,393]

5 minutes ago, Ktaylor99 said:

My point is - I should be more open to the people who have this connect - but I still feel like it can end badly for some. But I certainly do not want it to. 

Well, you didn't come off as insensitive so don't worry. Basically what I'm trying to say is — use it while you need it and if you don't, ditch it or tone it down.

[Regina George 59,387]

Just now, mauvais said:

That's why I love it, though. I can't find it now but I read an article about the tweet (either they considered the tweet her best or the best tweet ever) and they wrote something like, "This tweet is amazing because it was originally about NY allowing gay marriage but now it's about every  inconsequential pop culture moment."

I remember the day it was tweeted but honestly I totally forgot why she tweeted it and it's amazing how it lost it's original meaning through the years  I swear I thought it was for when BTW went No1 and you just mentioned it and I remembered 

[Diamond heart99 5,262]

In full discloser tho - I do get giddy that LG has an Oscar and some other people do not. 

But I only say that here amongst friends. I don’t take it to social media. 

[TWICE on hatius 4,746]

It’s just an expression. It’s not actually rain cats and dogs, isn’t it. I think we are all capable of understanding that we are the ones losing more money not gaining. 

But have you ever heard the philosophy of Asians that a person life never belongs to an individual but to a whole as a society. If we attach ourselves to a community, we somewhat share the same happiness coming from our common goal. We all want Gaga to be successful, when she does, we feel our hope full-filled hence “we won” in that sense. But again, I don’t think anyone who is delusional enough to take credits for her success.

 

At least, this is what I always think when I said “we won”.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Ktaylor99 said:

Her success is not “ours” - it is not an extension of our own lives and we should not live vicariously through it. 

Deep and true

[Diamond heart99 5,262]

4 minutes ago, mauvais said:

I'd say Joanne was just a non-event for the GP (especially in the run up of the election) but I definitely have a biased perspective. I'm not an OG stan and Joanne is my favorite LG album but I barely knew it existed at the time. For instance, I didn't know Gaga performed at the Grammys with Ronson until way later in the year (whereas I clearly remember hearing about the Bowie tribute, etc). Frankly, I don't think most people know about MR even if MR did all right on the charts.

I generally consider myself up-to-date in terms of pop music (I work for a major record label god help me) so for me to just not know... I think speaks to the lack of interest. But maybe I'm off base! 

That makes perfect sense! Thank you!

[Franch Toast 26,873]

I totally get what you're saying. I'm around your age (but I don't think of myself as old, and thank goodness for good genetics and an oily T-zone that has left me looking 15 years young than I am), and I don't consider myself part of "stan" culture. I don't use Twitter, and I only opened an Instagram so I could buy something from a small business owner who prefers to communicate via Insta instead of email (I've never posted anything on it). My Facebook is private and friends-only. I don't worship celebrities or get starstruck over them – generally I avoid them if I see them in public. (The exception was when I went to Disney World as a kid – I definitely was starstruck over Mickey, Goofy, Wendy from Peter Pan, etc.) 

I originally came to this site researching how to get reasonably priced Enigma tickets and tips for what to wear to Enigma, and I stayed because people here crack me up, especially the comments everyone made on her "software people tour" last summer. 

I'm happy for LG's successes, but I'm well aware that her achievements are not mine, especially because I'm not out there promoting her on social media, and I'm sorry, but buying her single on iTunes is enough for me – I'm not spending my hard-earned money buying it on other platforms as well. I do find her inspiring however in terms of encouraging me to continue working on my own art, and like most people, I'm happy to see artists whom I admire and whose work I appreciate succeed. For example, I love the film Parasite and rooted for it through awards season, and I screamed and jumped up and down when it won the Oscar for Best Picture – I didn't see it as a personal achievement of mine, but I was genuinely happy for Bong Joon Ho and his team, as well as for the larger implications of what this win meant.

I feel like there must be some academic studies on fandoms that would be relevant here, but I need to go put in a load of laundry and cut up veggies for a pasta sauce for dinner, because I'm an old broad, and this is how we spend our Saturday afternoons. 

[blankpaper 21]

A couple more takes that I don’t think have been said here yet—

“We did it” gives a sense of community and connection to other people. A lot of people don’t have good relationships with their friends or family, so ~stan culture~ or whatever gives them a connection to a community of people where they might actually feel like they belong 

This one is more personal and might sound weird, but I have this thing about watching people achieve their goals/dreams. Maybe because I never had the balls to go after my own and now I feel too old to change careers. Living vicariously not in a weird toxic way, but because it’s something I’ll never actually experience first hand 

[gagasicebath 2,340]

So many interesting points in this thread! I think it depends to some extent on whether people are the stanning type or if it totally passes them by, which I think is often a personality type thing.

I mean, I'm a couple of years older than @Ktaylor99 (some days I feel my age, other days Stupid Love drops and I feel 25) and I think I have an addictive personality and a tendency to obsess if I don't catch myself and rein it in. I've always been this way and it's the reason I know I can't allow myself to do certain things anymore because I know I struggle to quit before I spiral into disaster. I think this kind of personality can easily lead to a co-dependency, especially with someone like Gaga who has always embraced her fans so fully and made them feel almost like they are part of her success.

My sister (younger than me ) is at the absolute opposite end of the scale- she's never been a massive fan of anyone to the point of stanning, and she totally doesn't get it. Her mind was BLOWN when I went to watch ASIB at the cinema numerous times and she would laugh her ass off at the idea of me spending hours on here  yammering on like I do! 

I think what I'm trying to say is that I definitely agree that it can be unhealthy to hang your own happiness on whether someone else's career is flying high or not, especially if you're putting your own life and goals on hold somewhat while you do. I guess "we did it!" is fine as a reaction if it's in good humour and you understand that you actually didn't, she  did, but that it was with your support.

 

[Francis 105]

In Gaga's early days, specifically in The Fame era, she often says that she wants the stan culture to be back. She thought that the "superfan" has been lost, and it's her mission to bring it back. Stanning and becoming a superfan is an investment, financially and emotionally. In psychology, we have this thing called positive projection, where a person counts themselves as belonging to another person or group, and they get so invested in it that whatever that person or group accomplishes (or fails to achieve) they get it too. It happens all the time: when a family member gets into a prestigious university, or when your country's team wins a competition, or when a fellow fan gets onstage with your idol. It's a natural part of being social creatures as humans are.

[DonatellaPop 3,482]

I think since a lot of us grew up on Gaga, we feel a strong mostly one sided emotional bond with her, thus why some of us feel like 'we' won