The Mistress was always there

[PornoDanceFight 1,904]

7 hours ago, bxr said:

Clean (obviously, in the key of “even if that‘s not how it was written, thus is how it could potentially read“) … and, obviously, neither here nor there, just salt grain musings into the airwaves, but the MariAlice hybrid (“You are not,” “and neither is my name,” etc.) surfaced with a fervor on the blink …

  Reveal hidden contents

but I think it does tie into something Gaga has discussed and explored frequently: self-objectification. In what way does the exploitative system of commercial capitalism encourage us to objectify ourselves in pursuit of success and self-actualization (a narrative which I think also maps pretty cleanly on the dynamic between EtherealGa and the Mistress as innocent Maria and ***** of Babylon Maria)

 

Also, there is something that feels necessarily subtle but significant all the same in Gaga‘s middle class nativity … the definitive american bourgeoisie … and to straddle that through capitalist stardom … not rags to riches, not born with an intergenerational silver spoon, but upper middle with precarious privilege … whatever class identity means within context … that hybrid identity within the class hierarchy feels proximal to the working class association, maybe

And the Paper Magazine scene … to bridge cerebral cybernetics and mistresses of the mind … by way of those gotham niche iconographic breakers of the internet 

I am so happy to see that y'all have also found the connection between Maschienenmensch/Maria/Gaga and that union between these avatars (again, I hate to repeat the term, but it's apropos) is ripe for analysis, discussion, and synthesis.

[bxr 1,819]

1 hour ago, ****oDanceFight said:

And I think this genesis point exists beyond the genesis of Lady Gaga herself, but rather, begins with Stefani Germanotta in her college essay Reckoning of Evidence.

Are all of these 1:1 and equitable to each other? Not necessarily; however, I do find it fascinating that she has always had this dichotomy within her, whether as an undergrad or in various other avatars throughout her career, and that's where I think the real interesting discussion begins: the use of avatars and fragmentation of the self to create a holistic representation of the true self, or, better visually represented:

 

Reckoning, of, Evidence … syllables, on, deck … even then, the pen game was a problem … but, somewhere between RoE and Electric Kiss … the contemporary condition of personal identity as fundamental battleground between the agency of self and ideological authority (social institutions / cultural arbiters / political hegemony, etc.), maybe … as establishing shot … with a certain emphasis on fame as preeminent locus … to your point, reads like it took root … 

Spoiler

[Verse 1]
We are a generation twisted by a myth
Confused and ludicrous
Holding on to love
Consumed by all the pleasures in our midst
A life without the lips we've kissed, and losing all control

[Pre-Chorus]
We're gonna start a resistance
So we want independence
We're gonna give the world some of this

[Chorus]
Electric kiss
I'm gonna change the world with my lips
One voice forever
We'll live together in peace, love, solitude, and happiness
Electric kiss

[Verse 2]
Fame is our felony
We're so in love with it
Some superstars and masochists who don't know where to go
But the poets and the fighters of our time

Put down their weapons in their arms [rhymes?], and know what they must do

[Pre-Chorus]
We're gonna start a resistance
So we want independence
We're gonna give the world some of this

[Chorus]
Electric kiss
I'm gonna change the world with my lips
One voice forever
We'll live together in peace, love, solitude, and happiness

[Instrumental Bridge]

[Chorus]
Electric kiss
I'm gonna change the world with my lips
One voice forever
We'll live together in peace, love, solitude, and happiness

Electric kiss

 

 

[PornoDanceFight 1,904]

49 minutes ago, bxr said:

Reckoning, of, Evidence … syllables, on, deck … even then, the pen game was a problem … but, somewhere between RoE and Electric Kiss … the contemporary condition of personal identity as fundamental battleground between the agency of self and ideological authority (social institutions / cultural arbiters / political hegemony, etc.), maybe … as establishing shot … with a certain emphasis on fame as preeminent locus … to your point, reads like it took root … 

  Reveal hidden contents

[Verse 1]
We are a generation twisted by a myth
Confused and ludicrous
Holding on to love
Consumed by all the pleasures in our midst
A life without the lips we've kissed, and losing all control

[Pre-Chorus]
We're gonna start a resistance
So we want independence
We're gonna give the world some of this

[Chorus]
Electric kiss
I'm gonna change the world with my lips
One voice forever
We'll live together in peace, love, solitude, and happiness
Electric kiss

[Verse 2]
Fame is our felony
We're so in love with it
Some superstars and masochists who don't know where to go
But the poets and the fighters of our time

Put down their weapons in their arms [rhymes?], and know what they must do

[Pre-Chorus]
We're gonna start a resistance
So we want independence
We're gonna give the world some of this

[Chorus]
Electric kiss
I'm gonna change the world with my lips
One voice forever
We'll live together in peace, love, solitude, and happiness

[Instrumental Bridge]

[Chorus]
Electric kiss
I'm gonna change the world with my lips
One voice forever
We'll live together in peace, love, solitude, and happiness

Electric kiss

 

 

The way how both of these early works are so, to me, formative and indicative of how her artistry has played out, I think is not a coincidence; nevertheless, taking them as coincidence, I think speaks to how much the subconscious simultaneously constructs and deconstructs the egotistical (Freudian) self, and I think is too much of a cornerstone of her work as a whole to be entirely divorced from any and all these fragmented (yet whole) selves.

[PornoDanceFight 1,904]

I also want to add to the record of this discussion of the artistic fragmentation and tension of “Lady” “Gaga” vs “Stefani”:

 

[Julien Lockhart 832]

9 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

…the Mistress of MAYHEM is literally in the Disease video lmao

But she wasn't called mistress of mayhem, the idea came after 

She was born in the disease music video but hasn't even a name at that time 

That's why she wasn't in red etc etc 

In the disease music video it's just all of her inner demons battling for their life, and that's why this version of the lady in red is in black and is more horrific, at that time the character in the disease music wasn't meant to be this huge persona for the era 

[dopega 3,786]

What if I told yall PETGA and ENIGMA are The Mistress too 

[zevthepaparazzo 2,210]

oh mama what have I done

[gagzus 20,799]

On 5/26/2026 at 2:46 AM, Ladle Ghoulash said:

I mean, ofc we have no idea what she’s referring to, but the fact that the color motif of the Gaga in white and the Gaga carries through from BR into Abra as the dueling twins, I think it’s definitely possible she had that concept as part of the BR vid 

Both videos also have a through-line. In Bad Romance she plays someone who evolves to fight back against her captors, and she plays someone who rebels against the Mistress and presumably defies and escapes at the end because she stops dancing and faces her. 

Abra also feels like the prelude to The Art of Personal Chaos because she faces off against the mistress before she gets thrown into the gothic dream

[Ladle Ghoulash 46,772]

4 hours ago, Julien Lockhart said:

But she wasn't called mistress of mayhem, the idea came after 

She was born in the disease music video but hasn't even a name at that time 

That's why she wasn't in red etc etc 

In the disease music video it's just all of her inner demons battling for their life, and that's why this version of the lady in red is in black and is more horrific, at that time the character in the disease music wasn't meant to be this huge persona for the era 

I pretty vividly remember conversations surrounding the Mistress when the video came out, but even so the concept was clearly there even if she wasn’t explicitly called that at the time.

Edited 22 hours ago by Ladle Ghoulash

[River 125,296]

I think the colors through her career are interesting as well, there are some major colors that shows up over and over:

Red and black representing evil and darkness.

Yellow representing justice, but the way to the justice is either good or evil.

White and blue representing good and light.

 

Of course in some cases this theory is not really working though.

[TheFrenchGuy 5,013]

3 hours ago, River said:

I think the colors through her career are interesting as well, there are some major colors that shows up over and over:

Red and black representing evil and darkness.

Yellow representing justice, but the way to the justice is either good or evil.

White and blue representing good and light.

 

Of course in some cases this theory is not really working though.

I was just thinking about that ! I remember seing a tiktok about this a while ago. There is also pink bridging the two extremes, representing vulnerability and youth (Joanne, Chromatica, parts of ARTPOP)

 

[Ladle Ghoulash 46,772]

19 hours ago, ****oDanceFight said:

The way how both of these early works are so, to me, formative and indicative of how her artistry has played out, I think is not a coincidence; nevertheless, taking them as coincidence, I think speaks to how much the subconscious simultaneously constructs and deconstructs the egotistical (Freudian) self, and I think is too much of a cornerstone of her work as a whole to be entirely divorced from any and all these fragmented (yet whole) selves.

I think Hollywood encompasses the dialectic a lot of her career is built on really well:

Fragmentation of self in pursuit of actualization through institutional credibility (ie fame):

“Each model and celebrity changes how I look at me…”

“Deep in the mirror, I am scared, don’t know who the hell is there, yeah, I’m losing my reflection…”

Assertion of self within that system:

”Don’t tell me I’ll never be a superstar ‘cause I know I could look like a girl in Hollywood!”

The foundations of pop culture as a form of religion (seeds of BR’s allusion to obsession as sacred, “my religion is you,” BTW’s reappropriation of religious and liturgical ethos):

”Obsession…it’s the thing, it’s our new religion.”

Desire to transcend the fragmentation of the system, fully actualize, while maintain the power obtained through integration (being “strong without the scheiße,” even):

“I have a vision: it’s a world without these decisions…”

Tagging @bxrbecause it’s relevant to the convos we’ve been having in Bible CAMP

Edited 10 hours ago by Ladle Ghoulash

[River 125,296]

38 minutes ago, TheFrenchGuy said:

I was just thinking about that ! I remember seing a tiktok about this a while ago. There is also pink bridging the two extremes, representing vulnerability and youth (Joanne, Chromatica, parts of ARTPOP)

 

In Judas you can see how well she's playing with the colors, I think at the bar she's wearing blue and red, so it's like the moment she chose to betray jesus, half good half evil

[BeyonkaAte 813]

i don't think i've enjoyed reading a thread as much as i did this one 

[bxr 1,819]

22 hours ago, ****oDanceFight said:

The way how both of these early works are so, to me, formative and indicative of how her artistry has played out, I think is not a coincidence; nevertheless, taking them as coincidence, I think speaks to how much the subconscious simultaneously constructs and deconstructs the egotistical (Freudian) self, and I think is too much of a cornerstone of her work as a whole to be entirely divorced from any and all these fragmented (yet whole) selves.

Absolutely 

Back in the day, circa … literal turn of the Aughts … ? I was working on a column about the best pop artists of the decade … and when I got to Gaga, I remember adding a prologue for conceptual context … I didn‘t really know why I felt compelled to write it, much less include it … but your commentary reminded me of the prelude, and that camp becomes camp over time … and ARTPOP 

Spoiler

Spoiler

Additionally:

How dark the lunar facets of egoistic self 

 

22 hours ago, ****oDanceFight said:

I also want to add to the record of this discussion of the artistic fragmentation and tension of “Lady” “Gaga” vs “Stefani”:

 

Oh, wow … Lil‘ Mistress Millie from SHOWStudio‘s Haus of Knight … MINT, in, Spring (Primavera sounds of new matriarchy … oh, how merry, said haus of knight) … DADA … fashioning celebrity artist strawmen somewhere in the glitch vignette of cardiac attest … @Ladle Ghoulash—note the Pittsburgh Pirates cap (Warholian native creative instant callback!) … the SxSwine progenitor ancestry—a prequel, whew … lest, we, for, get … LGS … “Lady” “Gaga” vs. “Stefani” … somewhere between the levity and gravity, symphony … exhume the texts! let‘s go, Stef! 

Edited 6 hours ago by bxr