Is Gaga a Mediocre Songwriter?

[LGAte 841]

It’s weird because sometimes she is a really really great clever songwriter and then other times I feel like she is trying to make something sound relatable when she should just go for the actually weird lyric. 
 

but this is the girl that said she left her lipstick in the ashtray and that line alone saves her from ever being called a bad songwriter. 
 

mayhem definitely has platinum tier moments mixed with a lot of try-hard ****. 

[chathonnete 1,016]

20 hours ago, nkta said:

TDD video seemed rush and unnecessary… I also think her trying to navigate music and filmmaking is damaging her image. Cause frankly that Wednesday appearance was bleak and not needed… Same with DWP2! And for both she recorded music and made music videos - which most didn’t seem to enjoy at all… Like I can enjoy Runway, but other songs from DWP2 makes me wonder - why? why? why release them at all?

I agree with you and unfortunately I think she is convinced by money, because her salary for Wednesday and TDWP are hugeee

[TEANUS 16,146]

She has a few misses (who doesn’t?) but she’s overall an amazing songwriter:

- The Hitchcock film list in the Bad Romance verses

- The conversation that takes place in the Sexxx Dream verses

- Metaphors: Using the story of Judas to compare to the betrayal of a lover, a burqa or covering compared to the veil of human secrecy and performance, etc.

- Earworm stuttered phrases, words, and phonetics

- Her ability to write songs with MULTIPLE hooks that don’t feel repetitive, redundant, or drawn out (Venus, Abracadabra, etc.)

just to name a few examples….not even debatable to me if she’s a good songwriter or not tbh

[Stevo 710]

A mediocre songwriter wouldn't be able to make hits

[Super 1,220]

no???? why is the even a question. after ARTPOP her songwriting declined a lot ofc, but we still had some gems since then ( not counting chromatics. lets just pretend it was a bloodpop album )

[RepentingSinner 2,649]

On 7/31/2026 at 5:09 AM, ALonelyNight said:

Til it Happens to You gives me the ick from a lyrical point of view honestly. Just the title alone is so incredibly ominous. It seems to be saying that in order to understand what a sexual assault victim is going through, you have to wait until it happens to you, hence the title, as if it's some required future occurence. A less ominous way of phrasing would be "unless it happens to you" but even that seems to be excluding of people who have suffered other forms of abuse and trauma who might be able to empathize with a rape survivior nonetheless

I know fully that this is not what Gaga intended when she sang it, I just wish the song would have been entirely different. Diane Warren made a very peculiar choice

I had to do my yearly login to this site to reply to you. This is honestly the worst take I've heard showing a fundemental lack of understanding the song.

"Till it happens to you, you won't know how it feels" = "If it hasn't happened to you, you won't know how it feels", which is true. Someone who hasn't experienced sexual assault can empathize all they want, but they won't be able to say they understand.

[nkta 668]

19 hours ago, Stevo said:

A mediocre songwriter wouldn't be able to make hits

Well… then Drake is a great songwriter too or Chainsmokers lol

 

[ALonelyNight 455]

9 minutes ago, RepentingSinner said:

"Till it happens to you, you won't know how it feels" = "If it hasn't happened to you, you won't know how it feels",

"Until" and "if it hasn't" are not the same, though, and I still can't quite grasp how different forms of abuse can't be used to empathize or understand what a sexual assault survivor has been through.

As someone who has been sexually assaulted and harassed/bullied but not raped, I gladly welcome any story from another survivor, even if their abuse was not sexual in nature. My mom suffered verbal and psycological abuse in the home as a child and teenager - I'd feel ridiculous if I excluded her in any way by saying she doesn't know how it feels.

And I'm sure Diane Warren meant well, it just did not go through at all from a lyrical point of view

[RepentingSinner 2,649]

2 minutes ago, ALonelyNight said:

"Until" and "if it hasn't" are not the same, though, and I still can't quite grasp how different forms of abuse can't be used to empathize or understand what a sexual assault survivor has been through.

As someone who has been sexually assaulted and harassed/bullied but not raped, I gladly welcome any story from another survivor, even if their abuse was not sexual in nature. My mom suffered verbal and psycological abuse in the home as a child and teenager - I'd feel ridiculous if I excluded her in any way by saying she doesn't know how it feels.

And I'm sure Diane Warren meant well, it just did not go through at all from a lyrical point of view

You are totally missing the point of the song.

You tell me it gets better, it gets better in time
You say I'll pull myself together, pull it together, you'll be fine
Tell me, what the hell do you know? What do you know?
Tell me how the hell could you know? How could you know?

It tells the people who don't know ****, to shut the **** up. Be strong move on. "Don't tell me to move on when you don't know **** about what you're talking about." 

[ALonelyNight 455]

5 minutes ago, RepentingSinner said:

It tells the people who don't know ****, to shut the **** up. Be strong move on. "Don't tell me to move on when you don't know **** about what you're talking about." 

Which is actually another issue I have with the song. If the main point of the song lyrically is to tell people dismissive of sexual assault to shut up, then it's confusing as to why the music video and public framing of the song were directed at pulling survivors together and empathizing, to me it just seems like there's a lot of disconnect.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it and I certainly don't want to upset anyone with this convo, I just never found the song's message to land well, even if the intentions behind it were fine and well meaning

[TimotheeChalamet 6,958]

9 minutes ago, ALonelyNight said:

Maybe I'm reading too much into it

No shade, but absolutely 

[ALonelyNight 455]

3 minutes ago, TimotheeChalamet said:

No shade, but absolutely 

Ok, I'll give the topic a rest then. 

[Lextyr97 20,796]

I think Gaga cares the least about lyrics in her song making for some reason. I would love to see what she can create when she flexes that muscle. She can write really ****in well when she wants to but dials it back for her releases, i don’t get why. For her next project, i don’t care what the sound is, but I’d love to see better lyricism and an exploration of song structure. Those are by far her two biggest shortcomings

[gagacabana 7,516]

On 7/31/2026 at 5:18 AM, Bronco said:

Gaga would get bored.

She's never beating the ADHD allegations 

[gagacabana 7,516]

And y'all clearly haven't listened to Just Another Day enough times because of your "joanna is her worst almbu ever and i hate it and i hate her and i havent listened it in eight years", because that song should be highlighted as one of her best.