Bill Maher drags Gaga for her materialism

[Concertaholic 5,019]

Bill Maher did his closing piece on his show last night about the pervasive culture of materialism in music and pop culture in the 21st century. To my surprise, he used a Gaga twice as an example. Both of the examples were from her early days (Money Honey and Fashion) so I wrote it off and thought to myself well she’s changed, her music is more substantive now. And then I realized, while her music may be more substantive, her main job as of late has been to sell us things like makeup, watches, champagne, and so on and so forth 

Gaga referenced at 2:30 and 5:50:

 

[King of the Fall 2,285]

Ugh I can't stand Bill Maher and I think using fun pop songs to make some weird point is pretty silly.

That being said, Gaga has really given off materialistic vibes lately, I can't deny that.

Edited February 4 by Angelene

[Delulu Rogers 6,388]

She sold out wbk 

[SpiritBunny 2,992]

Yeah sadly Gaga is a businesswoman first and an artist second now. 

[Agunimon 20,402]

What's his Gaga Daily username? I'll give him a follow.

Edited February 4 by Agunimon

[Didymus 32,822]

WHEN will people, incl some fans, realize that Money Honey is about how materialism is actually no match for the luxury of falling in love?

It blows. my. mind. that people still interpret it as materialistic.

That said, yes, pop stars are caught in the web of big companies exploiting everyone and Gaga is, sadly, a great example of that in the last few years.

[Roughhouse Dandy 5,201]

Media literacy is kicking yalls butts. 

[63grekke 518]

Those who refuse to acknowledge that Gaga has embraced commercialism and taken a purely materialistic path are undoubtedly in denial and holding onto false hope. Over the past five years, it has been a constant stream of advertisements, lacking any genuine passion or energy.

[Edonis 26,226]

27 minutes ago, Didymus said:

WHEN will people, incl some fans, realize that Money Honey is about how materialism is actually no match for the luxury of falling in love?

It blows. my. mind. that people still interpret it as materialistic.

That said, yes, pop stars are caught in the web of big companies exploiting everyone and Gaga is, sadly, a great example of that in the last few years.

This. Y'all need to read the damn lyrics to her music. 

Anyways, Bill Maher is a straight -up racist punk, I don't know why he still gets attention from people. His takes are always half-baked, he's a bigot in liberal clothing, and he's unfunny. 

[skaxboy 3,556]

A man with a net worth of $140-180 million dollars and a yearly intake of $23 million is saying this? He’s not wrong but isn’t it a little hypocritical to deflect onto silly pop music with fun and fantastical themes? I know he’s not “flashy” or anything, but there’s something a little odd about the criticism coming from him. 

 

https://www.thethings.com/how-bill-maher-spends-net-worth-fortune/#bill-maher-drives-a-luxury-car
Per this article:

-Maher's favorite brands include Dolce & Gabanna, Prada, Paul Smith and Royal Park & Ball. The latter making his custom tailored suits.

-He lives in a lovely Beverly Hills mansion that’s at least $10M along with owning the land next to it. A lovely $1M condo on the coast. 
 

-He invested $20M on The Mets. Also owns a Ferrari, a Porsche, and a Mercedes Benz. 
 

Seems to me he sees the appeal of luxury brands. But sure, his audience tends to be snobby people who think they are smarter than most so anything to feed their little ego. Not every single song is about money or materialism. He talked about The Grammys. I don’t think “Flowers” mentions luxuries. “Dance The Night” uses diamonds as an analogy. “Anti-hero” and “Vampire” aren’t about materialism. I get the point he was trying to make and I agree, it just seems a little bit too sloppy, especially for someone like Bill Maher. 

[dit 43,478]

werent those songs kinda sarcastic? The whole The Fame project was her basically putting out there ideas of celebrity and fame with a dark twist...that obviously includes the toxicity of consumerism in music and just the money hungry aspect of the industry...she wasnt literallty saying she just wanted endless amounts of money. Bad example tbh.

That said, I do agree that her makeup line and all that sutff has sort of diluted my idea of her in some regards but not to some crazy extent. It just showed me she was a little more capitalistic and money hungry than I thought but I am under no illusion that other artists do the same damn thing and that I probably would have done the same thing if i had the same opportunity to do so....anyone on earth would want to make more money...even if your already super rich..it's a vice...humans are GREEDY by nature. Some are better equiped at resisting it but I'd say 80% of the world isnt and Gaga and I both fall into that cateogry and I suspect much of the users on this site do to lol

[Butters Stotch 4,505]

I will never understand people reading too deep into this kind of songs which are obviously made in an attempt to have fun with music.

It's giving "I think I'm superior" and that's very 2010.

Fashion is a song about love for clothes and designer culture which, coming from a 20 year old raised in Manhattan, makes a lot of sense. Money Honey is a song about feeling that a lover's kisses and love is better than all the money in the world (also written by a 20 year old). So, again, reading too deep into those songs sounds like a dumb attempt to feel superior.

Why not analyzing songs like Paparazzi, Dance in the Dark, Bloody Mary, Sinner's Prayer, Always Remember Us This Way or Replay? Because that will not prove his stupid point. The world has always been materialistic, it's not just now.

Boomers are embarrassing 

[Butters Stotch 4,505]

52 minutes ago, Didymus said:

WHEN will people, incl some fans, realize that Money Honey is about how materialism is actually no match for the luxury of falling in love?

This. Like the lyrics are so literal that I can't comprehend how people still think this song is about money. She is saying she prefers love over money and expensive things throughout the whole song. Also, she used to say how much she hated money before singing this song during TMBT.

"It's good to live expensive, you know it, but my knees get weak, intensive, when you give me k-kisses". Can't people see it???

[Didymus 32,822]

9 minutes ago, Butters Stotch said:

I will never understand people reading too deep into this kind of songs which are obviously made in an attempt to have fun with music.

Well, to be fair, usually it is deliberate.

Leaked e-mails in the past have shown that a) artist representatives routinely reach out to luxury brands suggesting product placements in lyrics in exchange for a fee; b) luxury brands reach out to the artists themselves.

The Kluger Agency has been exposed of this, for example, and they represented Gaga around her debut. It's likely Gaga's team got a lot of money for Fashion this way for instance, as it accompanied a fashion oriented movie.

Meghan's Made You Look is another obvious example. They're essentially just ads. And, yes, ads can have disproportionate impact on consumers.

Edited February 4 by Didymus

[BUtterfield 8 38,601]

I could care less what this twat has to say