Why Fans Constantly Mention ARTPOP

[27monster27 13,744]

Whenever ARTPOP gets brought up this topic comes up a lot, but I think a lot of people don't understand why. The fact is, just like I mentioned recently in the thread about difficult times to be a fan, ARTPOP was a bad time. Like seriously.

When Lady Gagas own manager betrayed her then lied to the world about her firing him:

(@7:15)

 

When he would then take advantage of the hate train to say that he loved it (and other people who say that she was being selfish and ungrateful by "firing everyone"):

https://www.fastcompany.com/3024171/step-up-troy-carter

 

When you had "news organizations" like Pop Trigger bullying her over everything and disgustingly dragging her at every turn (also by Breeland who claimed to be such a victim of Shane Dawson but was literally joining in on bullying a woman in 2019 and making her severely mentally distraught):

 

When people she was feuding with were trying to live near her AND she was being victim blamed over it:

 

When blatant misinformation was spread to slander Lady Gaga like with the false claims about the Born This Way foundations funds:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/14/lady-gaga-denies-born-this-way-foundation-funds

 

When shows and movies like Victorious and Let It Shine were blatantly dissing the movement she created to be different and express yourself with fashion and art* (the latter didn't even try to hide it, not that the former did either):

 

When everyone was bodyshaming her:

 

When there was a stigma that you had to be gay to like her, which was rooted in homophobia:

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/736043-Is-it-gay-for-a-straight-guy-to-go-to-a-gaga-concert

 

When you have people TODAY who still insult the fans and Lady Gaga (@0:00), and even go as far to say that her s3xual assault trauma at the time was just "daddy issues" (@1:09:46) (Most of her other videos seem to be okay, but this one irked me, pop culture reference intended.)

 

When you've had a few years ago respond to leaks like Hallelujah and say that ARTPOP was just a "drug and lip injections infused mess", which is extremely insulting to her trauma and health issues at the time.

 

Some things that (thankfully, though not for evidence purposes) have been lost to time:

When you had a "journalist" saying in April 2013 that "Lady Gaga is a Lying Sack of Sh!t" (aside from the censor that was the genuine article title) and claimed that she faked her hip injury to both garner sympathy over the hate she was receiving and to get plastic surgery

When you had the "blog" "Lady Gaga: Her Face is an American Horror Story" in 2015 speculating if she was self-harming and was questioning whether or not she was doing it for attention

When you had an OGH make an account on a fan forum and not only bodyshame her but state that Lady Gaga flopping caused gay people to die which would "help" to fight the AIDS pandemic (People still publicly viewed her death and fans dying as a good thing as late as 2016)

When trolls like Barbarka Volters (a troll primarily active in youtube comments) were being openly homophobic to fans in the mid-2010s

 

...when all of this happened and still does, people have the right to speak up about ARTPOP. Justice for ARTPOP was never just about the charts, it was about reclaiming something that was viewed as the symbol of ending a movement that made LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, survivors of bullying, survivors of SA, etc. feel confident again. People didn't just hate Lady Gaga to hate her. They hated her as a concept. They wanted to destroy the woman that was trying to make the people who were "othered" feel a sense of purpose that many others wouldn't give them. People have the right to take back what was once a horrible time and try to get victory over those who try to hurt and put others down.

ARTPOP was an anti-capitalist and anti-corporate album that was a direct response to much of the hate she was receiving, as well as the problems with the industry. It's not about forcing people to like something; it's about making people realize that Lady Gaga was crucified for fighting against things that harm the industry and marginalized communities before it was trendy to do so. As a privileged white woman she was fighting against late stage capitalism and its effects on corporatism and how that can impact people before the class consciousness of the 2020s. I think that's beautiful, and it is something that we have the right to discuss so we can fight back against the problems of the world and the industry.

----

*The context behind both of these scenes was shading the outfits and calling them "fake" and implying that they were attention seeking.

 

NOTE: This is no shade to anyone who has had issues with ARTPOP being brought up a lot! I think this is an important conversation for us to have so we can better understand Lady Gagas career and the truth about the state her career was in at the time.

Edited 11 hours ago by 27monster27

[faysalaaa 4,885]

The same controversies (if not worse) were happening during Fame, Fame Monster, and Born This Way eras. The Fame was the worst because everybody saw her as a one hit wonder trash pop star thats looking for attention. They openly called her ugly and a man and everyone agreed. Yes she had hits, but it quickly turned into a joke and a meme. Gaga was so uncomfortable it was hard to watch her on TV. In my opinion, ARTPOP backlash was nothing compared to the beginning of her career.

Edited 10 hours ago by faysalaaa

[BadKid58 68]

She went through so much at the start of her career, poor thing 

I remember not wanting to read comments for years on articles (especially from my own country) and youtube because of all the hate

Edited 10 hours ago by BadKid58

[nATAH 50,816]

1 hour ago, faysalaaa said:

The same controversies (if not worse) were happening during Fame, Fame Monster, and Born This Way eras. The Fame was the worst because everybody saw her as a one hit wonder trash pop star thats looking for attention. They openly called her ugly and a man and everyone agreed. Yes she had hits, but it quickly turned into a joke and a meme. Gaga was so uncomfortable it was hard to watch her on TV. In my opinion, ARTPOP backlash was nothing compared to the beginning of her career.

no, she had way more support from an exploding fanbase and her team in those eras

the major key difference is she was the It girl from 08 to 11, that flame had died out once ARTPOP came around and even her team ditched her

[Creyk 17,942]

ARTPOP was the last time she was a fierce pop star. She majorly toned down her image afterwards and never returned. You might say Chromatica this or Mayhem that, but just think: when was the last time Gaga was involved in any sort of genuine controversy? When was the last time she did anything truly polarizing? Well I can tell you, back in the ARTPOP era with the vomit performance.

That was the last moment of the fearless Gaga, and she never returned. As she told us in the Mayhem era interviews, she was scared for many years. And now that she grew older she has a much more corporate oriented mindset.

Edited 9 hours ago by Creyk

[nATAH 50,816]

9 minutes ago, Creyk said:

That was the last moment of the fearless Gaga, and she never returned. As she told us in the Mayhem era interviews, she was scared for many years. And now that she grew older she has a much more corporate oriented mindset.

you're confusing a "corporate oriented mindset" with a woman who's been through a lot of sh*t and just wants to protect her peace

she still is fearless, just not stupid about it. rage baiting the audience just to make headlines gets stale fast, effortlessly putting on one of her greatest shows to an audience of 2+ million people is way more admirable and iconic whilst being just as fearless

[Bronco 12,730]

17 minutes ago, Creyk said:

That was the last moment of the fearless Gaga, and she never returned.

Was ARTPOP Gaga fearless? Or was she self medicating with drugs and alcohol to cope with PTSD from SA/her hip injury alongside the Fibro pains and as a result taking way more risks than the average person?

[faysalaaa 4,885]

35 minutes ago, nATAH said:

no, she had way more support from an exploding fanbase and her team in those eras

the major key difference is she was the It girl from 08 to 11, that flame had died out once ARTPOP came around and even her team ditched her

She was never the it girl, she only became the it girl during Bad Romance, and that was very short lived.

And considering flop eras, it wasnt that bad at all. ARTPOP was still successful, and people loved it.

The only issue unique to ARTPOP was her manager leaving her

[nATAH 50,816]

1 minute ago, faysalaaa said:

She was never the it girl, she only became the it girl during Bad Romance, and that was very short lived.

And considering flop eras, it wasnt that bad at all. ARTPOP was still successful, and people loved it.

The only issue unique to ARTPOP was her manager leaving her

...again, you must have experienced these eras in an alternate universe

she was unstoppable in her debut years, in the papers and media every day just for walking down the street

she quite literally was the definition of it girl who redefined pop music at the time

[faysalaaa 4,885]

1 minute ago, nATAH said:

...again, you must have experienced these eras in an alternate universe

she was unstoppable in her debut years, in the papers and media every day just for walking down the street

she quite literally was the definition of it girl who redefined pop music at the time

Yes she was the biggest thing in the world, but being too famous is different from being the it girl. She was very polarizing, misunderstood, and unrelatable to be the it girl. 

[elsamars 2,938]

I don’t know why but I really hope they stop 

[nATAH 50,816]

3 minutes ago, faysalaaa said:

Yes she was the biggest thing in the world, but being too famous is different from being the it girl. She was very polarizing, misunderstood, and unrelatable to be the it girl. 

it girls aren't about being relatable, understood and correct, they're all about being the person everyone wants to be

all the pop acts changed the style to appear more gaga once her brand took off, their music switched to electronic dance tunes and redone was hired left right and centre

kim k wasn't an it girl for being relatable, she was also polarizing for getting famous with a sex tape yet everybody suddenly wanted the kardashian look

[Bronco 12,730]

1 hour ago, faysalaaa said:

She was never the it girl, she only became the it girl during Bad Romance, and that was very short lived.

I remember by 2011 in the UK that I was able to talk about Gaga to all the subgroups I hung around with in highschool. 

The chavs loved her dance music.

The emos loved TFM and BTW.

The normal girls loved her because she was a pop girl. 

Like, no one else in that period cut across high school social groups like Gaga did. 

She was the IT girl. 

[Sepsami 19,234]

4 hours ago, faysalaaa said:

The same controversies (if not worse) were happening during Fame, Fame Monster, and Born This Way eras. The Fame was the worst because everybody saw her as a one hit wonder trash pop star thats looking for attention. They openly called her ugly and a man and everyone agreed. Yes she had hits, but it quickly turned into a joke and a meme. Gaga was so uncomfortable it was hard to watch her on TV. In my opinion, ARTPOP backlash was nothing compared to the beginning of her career.

The difference was that she was on top of the world then, surrounded by smiles and success. All of that faded with ARTPOP and the negativity got even louder.. 

[dopega 3,749]

6 hours ago, Creyk said:

She majorly toned down her image afterwards and never returned.

Thank god. She was deeply disturbed and killing herself slowly.