I don't like Lady Gaga. | Teen Ink

I don't like Lady Gaga.

April 2, 2010
By betterhappyending BRONZE, San Ysidro, California
betterhappyending BRONZE, San Ysidro, California
2 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin." - Leonard Cohen


Blasphemy alert. I’m a sixteen year old American girl and I don’t like Lady Gaga. And no, it’s not because I don’t like her music, her costumes, or her performances. I just don’t like being manipulated.

Actually, I lied. It’s partly her music, costumes, and performances. But not so much because they’re hideous or outrageous or tiresome. But looking back at those pictures of her as a “normal” girl and seeing what and who she is now, it’s almost insulting. The fact that this girl had to change into something almost non-human to finally get noticed is unsettling, at best. She’s instead this cold, faceless force. No one noticed her when she was trying to “make it”. But then the fame machine (monster, she calls it?) seemed to eat her up and spit out an entirely new person, repackaged and revamped to “shock” us all.

And in the end, it really isn’t even that shocking. It’s almost a little pathetic (and you’ll see what I mean by insulting) when it seems that the state of the nation’s youth has degenerated so much that we need a woman in a mask and sparkling breasts to tell us that we’re all okay. Okay to be different, okay to be loved, the whole package. Because then we really aren’t, are we?

She's been quoted as saying, “I would rather die than have my fans not see me in a pair of high heels. I'd never give up my wigs and hats for anything.” I'm afraid that this mentality about possessions and image, to her millions of female fans, is dangerous. She speaks almost as if these material things are as vital to life as water is. This is the same woman who says that “I'm always saying something about art and music and fame. That's why you don't ever catch me in sweatpants.” She claims that her style and her persona is for art, and yet, it begs the question if she ever does anything for herself. She makes herself a martyr for the love of her fans. And if she is as passionate as she says she is about new frontiers in art, why are the vast majority of her lyrics about sex and money?



I'm not asking her to be anything different, not exactly. Give me a David Bowie reincarnate, an rebel in the music industry. But give me a little more complexity, a little more beauty, a little more thought than just what's on the outside. Give me another facet than just the freaky hair and makeup and clothing, because if that’s all there is, her opinion about simply being yourself is lost somewhere in the jumble of cosmetics and oversized sunglasses. But most of all, give me a break.



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 471 comments.


Hrrr said...
on Oct. 21 2010 at 4:10 pm
youre one of the few cool on this discussion :P

Hrrr said...
on Oct. 21 2010 at 4:08 pm

she is disagreeing with the majority, unlike you, spike. isnt that just about as different as it gets?

you're just a follower of Gaga.

You have no will of your own.


Hrrrr said...
on Oct. 21 2010 at 4:02 pm
her originality? is she even real????

Hrrrr said...
on Oct. 21 2010 at 3:59 pm
monsters, eh? that just proves a point. see what ur breeding into society? MONSTERS

Duggygrrl said...
on Oct. 21 2010 at 3:57 pm
Lovveeee your opinion! My friends always bag on me because I dislike Lady Gaga for so many reasons they dont get, they should really read this!!!

Schubster said...
on Oct. 21 2010 at 12:54 pm

Very accurate. Even if Lady Gaga isn't trying to convey all of this, I think she has to realize that this is what people think of her. Maybe she should think of writing a thesis statement about herself or something like that to state who is she is.

 

Otherwise, we are forced to see her as just another fashion/drama artist.

Nothing special.


on Oct. 20 2010 at 3:06 pm
pageturner PLATINUM, Brooklyn, New York
34 articles 0 photos 94 comments

Favorite Quote:
It's okay to daydream.. just as long as you get to do some of those daydreams.

nice article, i agree with you. as for your questions might I suggest India Arie?

 


MaroonWombat said...
on Oct. 19 2010 at 11:10 pm
MaroonWombat, Encinitas, California
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Beuatifully put. You make an excellent point- I've never really liked Gaga, but your statement that her addiction to image goes against her supposed message of being yourself is so true. Thank you for this.

 

And I think it's pretty funny that the die-hard Gaga fans are upset by your piece...people who decide to love something (like an artist) generally don't like to read hard truths about it, and refuse to listen to pure, brilliant insight. Eh, ignore them. You hit it straight on!


on Oct. 19 2010 at 8:44 pm
beautifuldreamer GOLD, Hanover, Maryland
14 articles 10 photos 59 comments
You say the author is too chicken to speak her mind but isn't this piece speaking her mind?

on Oct. 19 2010 at 8:33 pm
oceanblue176 BRONZE, Hatfield, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."
— Les Brown

I normally don't comment on people's work, but I felt compelled to comment on this. Although I think you're a great writer, I respectfully disagree with almost everything you've said. I don't think you understand anything about who GaGa is and what she stands for. If you've seen the interviews and read the biographies I have then you know there's a lot more to her than the "meat dress" and the "fire bra." They're just for show, but her true fans understand why she does it. I hope one day you will too.

LastChapter said...
on Oct. 19 2010 at 6:44 pm
LastChapter, Hempstead, New York
0 articles 0 photos 215 comments

Favorite Quote:
(couldn't think of anything better at the time) "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."-Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.

despite what others are saying, i totally agree. i don't think it could have been said any better than when you said "there's a difference between LOOKING different and BEING different". that's too true, and though some loyal fans out there might be shy against admitting it, you have a valid point: GaGa's just playing the role we want to see, not the person she IS. fifty years from now, when she's a washed up has-been, she'll look back at her popular days and realize she didn't earn her fame in a way she should truly be proud of.

oh, and she'll probably be wearing sweatpants:)


on Oct. 17 2010 at 2:10 pm
beatifuly writen im glad u expressed ur self even if ppl may nto agree with wat ur opinion is but thts wat opinions are for.. oh and btw want to point out somthing i noticed tht ther was a person who said Lady Gaga and left a reply now 1st of all why would ladygaga b wasting her time wen shes soooo busy in her new life striving for attetion just saying

on Oct. 16 2010 at 9:29 pm
TheNovaClytie PLATINUM, Woodhaven, Michigan
30 articles 0 photos 63 comments

Favorite Quote:
If I could run away from my problems, I'd probably get lost, and then new problems would find me.
~Shelby Seeley

gorgeous- it's amazing, the research, the twist, i look up to Gaga, and yet your writing has done only what good authors can do- got me to rethink- to re-realize. good job

Jennypig GOLD said...
on Oct. 16 2010 at 8:49 pm
Jennypig GOLD, Winslow, Maine
13 articles 0 photos 63 comments

Favorite Quote:
Get living or get dying -Stepen King
We are a little weird and life is a little weird, so when we find someone who's weirdness is compatible with our own, we fall in a mutual weirdness and call it love. -Dr. Seuss

I mean cuz she has originality unlike other ppl

Jennypig GOLD said...
on Oct. 16 2010 at 8:48 pm
Jennypig GOLD, Winslow, Maine
13 articles 0 photos 63 comments

Favorite Quote:
Get living or get dying -Stepen King
We are a little weird and life is a little weird, so when we find someone who's weirdness is compatible with our own, we fall in a mutual weirdness and call it love. -Dr. Seuss

a silent protest against fashion? originality?

on Oct. 16 2010 at 7:45 pm
betterhappyending BRONZE, San Ysidro, California
2 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin." - Leonard Cohen

You make a good point. She does make a statement, but I still believe that you need to make a statement for the right reasons, not just for the sake of saying something. 

Jennypig GOLD said...
on Oct. 16 2010 at 2:46 pm
Jennypig GOLD, Winslow, Maine
13 articles 0 photos 63 comments

Favorite Quote:
Get living or get dying -Stepen King
We are a little weird and life is a little weird, so when we find someone who's weirdness is compatible with our own, we fall in a mutual weirdness and call it love. -Dr. Seuss

haha noo i dont think it did, because this is TEEN ink and she has bigger and better things to worry about then what we have to say,I also dont think she would say "bless you" yah see the problem is you CAN put anyones name in instead of miley cyrus :Pyah it is useless unless u r rebelious and want to make a statement, like she does

 


on Oct. 16 2010 at 1:56 pm
boston418 SILVER, Weymouth, Massachusetts
5 articles 0 photos 48 comments

Favorite Quote:
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -Jim Eliot

PS:  Do you think that comment actually came from Lady Gaga?

on Oct. 16 2010 at 10:16 am
boston418 SILVER, Weymouth, Massachusetts
5 articles 0 photos 48 comments

Favorite Quote:
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -Jim Eliot

I just used MIley Cyrus because you did... you could put any artist's name in there.  I guess my point was that being unique is useless if you're not being yourself.

Jennypig GOLD said...
on Oct. 16 2010 at 9:44 am
Jennypig GOLD, Winslow, Maine
13 articles 0 photos 63 comments

Favorite Quote:
Get living or get dying -Stepen King
We are a little weird and life is a little weird, so when we find someone who's weirdness is compatible with our own, we fall in a mutual weirdness and call it love. -Dr. Seuss

I just used Miley Cyrus because she isnt that original like there are a billion disney channel singers who look pretty but how many lady gaga's are there? I just think Lady Gaga wore all that stuff and acts and sings the way she does as an example to other girl that it is ok to be different because you will be adored either way, like lady gaga would be adored either way (crazy clothes aka. unique or pop star clothes aka like all the other pop stars)