The Fame Monster

[imogen2133 451]

So this is something that has been bugging me for a while so I thought I would share my thoughts on this here. Many people look at The Fame Monster as being the "darker side of fame" and exploring that but I don't see how it does, the fears presented on the songs are all fears that Gaga faced that are not necessarily exclusive to fame or famous people (fear of insecurity, death, love, sex, men, suffocation, attachment, alcohol and truth) and some are ones Gaga experienced before she was known worldwide as well like fear of love, alcohol, self or attachment. Gaga even said during her 2009 Fuse interview, "On this album I didn't write about money or fame or Paparazzi, I wrote about everything else", so yes they are fears Gaga experienced while being famous and on her tour bus but I would not say they are fears exclusively faced by famous people. The closest it gets to this is parts of DITD or SHICD but the lyrics in DITD's bridge where she named the famous dead icons is more so to reinforce the theme of insecurity and the SHICD verses are more so about fear of narcissism and using her image to cope with her troubles. This all being said I love TFM vocally, thematically, sonically and I love the conceptual storytelling element that is used to explore each of the themes I just don't really see how it is exploring the "darker side of fame" (except for being called The Fame Monster).

[JohnPokerface 375]

ngl after I found out that Telephone was originally meant for Britney and her album I stopped looking at TFM as this very thought out and conceptual album about Gaga’s fears that surfaced after she became famous. There are songs on it that are about that but ultimately, I think TFM was recorded and put out too fast for the concept of the dark side of fame it to be fully realized.

[Controversiaga 15,479]

Yeah I don’t think the songs on TFM have ANYTHING to do with fame.  Perfect celebrity is her most dark side of fame song. Or princess die.

but TFM is just love songs. Relationship songs. Relationships with men or relationship with yourself. But none of the songs have anything to do with the consequences of fame.

The fame and BTW are her only genuine theme/concept albums.  The rest are just compilation albums 

[TheARTPOPball 1,488]

I think it’s more like the fears were amplified by  the fame

All of these fears you listed are common but can definitely be become much more common and problematic in their nature when you become famous 

Insecurity - your now being looked at by everyone and subjected to everyone’s opinions 

Death - grasping mortality when your living a life kind of alienated in a way from a regular life and missing out on pivotal life experiences 

love, sex, men - there’s now a power dynamic wether you want it or not that comes along with ur social status and money as a woman, for any most men you are interested in romantically 

Suffocation - people in ur face all the time and labels controlling you and never actually being alone with security by ur side nearly 24/7 bc ur living out of hotels 

Alcohol - all substances become more available to you and also easier to overindulge in when it provides you a temporary escape from stress and ur new life you aren’t used to 

[TheARTPOPball 1,488]

59 minutes ago, JohnPokerface said:

ngl after I found out that Telephone was originally meant for Britney and her album I stopped looking at TFM as this very thought out and conceptual album about Gaga’s fears that surfaced after she became famous. There are songs on it that are about that but ultimately, I think TFM was recorded and put out too fast for the concept of the dark side of fame it to be fully realized.

Well I mean - I don’t think an album necessarily has to be planned to be conceptual. You can read through a bunch of songs you wrote and decide what they mean together as a piece, at a later time. I write songs often and don’t really figure out what they mean until the song is finished, or pair certain songs together to convey a greater message the songs create as a unit, even if they weren’t made in the same general time periods

Edited 21 minutes ago by TheARTPOPball