Raygan Clark
Mrs. Schaefer
American Literature
12 March 2010
The Impact of Lady Gaga
“… It’s not just about the music. It’s about the performance, personality, the attitude, the look; it’s everything, and that is where I live as an artist and that is what I want to accomplish”(Bio). March of 1986, she was born. Four years later, she already knew how to play the piano. At age 13, she had her first piano ballad writer, and the year after that she was performing for open mike nights at New York City clubs. By age 17, she became one of the twenty young adults to get into Tisch School of Arts with an early acceptance (Bio). With these accomplishments at such a young age, Stefani Germanotta was destined to be a star. Furthermore, at the age of 23, she became the singer-songwriter known as Lady Gaga.
Lady Gaga has said that she was made fun of in high school for being too “provocative” or too “eccentric”, and that while in school, she toned her look down. But while in college, she showed the world who she really was. “I’m an outspoken and extreme dresser” (Lady Gaga was surprisingly normal!). With her unique and wild look, music, and personality, Lady Gaga has become the most influential celebrity of today and she continues to impact the world just by being herself.
Translucent, video glasses made of iPods, crystal-covered, and chain link are all sunglasses that she has been seen wearing all over the world. Since then, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Stevie Boi, Prada, Dior and Balenciaga have all sold many sunglasses in the styles that Lady Gaga wears. There has also been people duplicating the many sunglasses she wears by making them their selves (Lady Gaga Sunglasses Special). Lady Gaga is often seen with geometric shapes, rubber jumpsuits, and studded underwear as parts of her outfits. Along with metal dresses, see-through shirts, and sequined ensembles, Gaga’s wardrobe seems to be diverse, with mainly revealing clothes (Lady Gaga's Wild Looks: The New Princess of Pop's Craziest Wardrobe Moments). Lady Gaga’s outfits are so outrageous that many people choose to dress like her for Halloween (Murrow). In October of 2009, Lady Gaga released the music video for “Bad Romance”, the first single of her second album The Fame Monster. In the video, Gaga was seen wearing 10-inch stilettos designed by the late Alexander McQueen. After Gaga showed off the shoes in her video, stars like Daphne Guinness have also been seen wearing the “Armadillo” shoes (Donnelly).
“…I love that lavender blonde…”, a line from Gaga’s song from her second album “So Happy I Could Die”, explains one of many different ways that she wears her hair. Lady Gaga’s signature is long, platinum blonde, straight hair and bangs, even though she changes the style and colour often. Starting off with dark brown hair, she dyed her hair platinum blonde because an interviewer confused her with British-singer Amy Winehouse (Lady Gaga). She has worn her hair in a shoulder-length curly, pink bob in the music video for “Bad Romance” and on the January 2010 issue of 944’s magazine cover (ADMIN). In 2008, Lady Gaga released the video for her song “Pokerface” off her first album, Thee Fame. In the video, Gaga is seen with a large bow in her hair, which is made of her hair (Youtube). She wears the same hair accessory in her video for “Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)”, which was released in 2009 (Youtube). As a result of the two videos, many women have uploaded videos to Youtube, a website used to share and watch videos. Also, cottoncandysugarrush.com sells “Le Gaga Bow” in many different sizes, and colours. An article on FemaleFirst, explains how to make the bow:
The secret behind the style is hair extensions. Instead of attempting the impossible of fashioning your own hair into a bow you can use extensions. This makes the style much easier as you have a better view while making the bow. Fold the extension in half, leaving a thinner section loose, and secure with a hair bobble. Next wrap the loose section over the middle, hiding the bobble. Use as many grips as needed to secure the bottom of the bow to the top of your head. Secure it with hairspray, be liberal, you don't want the bow falling off in the middle of an energetic dance move! Now all you need is a wardrobe made of rubber and you'll have Lady's look down to a tee! (Get Lady GaGa's Hair Bow).
The music of Lady Gaga has been sampled by many artists and touched peoples’ lives, in addition to being played a lot. Lady Gaga’s first album, The Fame was released on August 19, 2008 by Interscope Records. Gaga says of the album, “I’m defying all of the preconceptions we have of pop artists” (Collins 1). This album was an electronic-pop album and she has said that “The Fame is about how anyone can feel famous” (The Fame). This album consisted of 13 songs, 5 of which are singles; “Just Dance”, “Pokerface”, “Lovegame”, “Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)”, and “Paparazzi”. A sample from an acoustic version of “Pokerface” was used by rapper Kid Cudi’s single “Make Her Say”. “Pokerface” was featured in an episode of South Park, a cartoon, and was covered by singers Chris Daughtry and Mika. The single went platinum four times in the United States (Poker Face). It was number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Charts for the year 2009 and “Just Dance” was number 3 on this chart (Best of 2009 Hot 100 Songs).
The Fame Monster is Lady Gaga’s second album and it was released on November 18, 2009. The album consists of only eight tracks and deals with the darker side of fame (The Fame Monster). Gaga has said of the album, "I’m kind of obsessing over the decay of the celebrity and the way that fame is a monster in society! That’s what my new record is about, so it was kind of a perfect fit" (Carpenter). The songs on this album seem to have a deeper meaning than of the songs on The Fame. “Dance In The Dark” is a song about famous women that had tragic endings such as Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Sylvia Plath, Princess Diana and JonBenet Ramsey (Cinquemani). Gaga has said that “Speechless” was written as a plea to her father, who had a heart condition, and refused to get the treatment. The song was about the phone calls she would get from her father while he was drunk, which left her speechless; her father eventually got the treatment that he needed (Vena). Lady Gaga won two Grammy’s at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards and two People’s Choice awards in 2010, and three MTV Video Music Awards in 2009 (List of awards and nominations received by Lady Gaga).
“This is really who I am, and it took a long time to be okay with that”, (Lady Gaga was surprisingly normal!). This is a quote from Gaga in 2009. Many people label her has “crazy” or “weird”, but she calls it being herself. Lady Gaga comes off as a compassionate person, especially to her fans and people in need. She especially thanks the gay community for being her first fans, and says of them “They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them” (Vena). In October of 2009, Gaga made a speech at the National Equality March (Lady Gaga). On a TV interview, she has said that she calls her fans “little monsters” because she sees herself in her fans, and as a teenager, she felt like a “freak” (On the Record with Fuse). During this interview, she also said “It’s always wrong to hate, but it’s never wrong to love”. Along with those caring that she has done, she donated all proceeds from her January 24, 2010 show to the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. The proceeds included ticket sales, merchandise, and online sales which added up to be $500,000 (Lady Gaga Raises Money for Haiti Earthquake Victims). In 2010, Lady Gaga teamed up with Cyndi Lauper and MAC Cosmetics to raise awareness to woman about HIV and AIDS. The VIVA Glam Campaign raised over $160 million to fight AIDS and HIV(Lady Gaga).
With her wild wardrobe, fast-paced pop music and piano ballads, and kind heart, Lady Gaga continues to influence the world to be their selves, dare to be different, and love everybody. She has truly become a positive role model for people all over the world and has changed the world of fashion and music.
Works Cited
ADMIN. Lady GaGa Graces 944 Magazine January 2010. fashionmag.us. 06 January 2010.
Cinquemani, Sal. Lady Gaga The Fame Monster. slantmagazine.com. 18 November 2009.
Collins, Hattie. Lady GaGa: the future of pop?. The Sunday Times. 14 December 2008:1.
Donnelly, Erin. Models Quit Over McQueen Armadillo Heels. stylelist.com. 23 December 2009.
Murrow, Lauren. Go Gaga. New York Magazine Online. 09 October 2009.
Vena, Jocelyn. Lady Gaga Says She Wrote 'Speechless' As 'Plea' To Father. mtv.com. 23 November 2009. Lady Gaga On Success: 'The Turning Point For Me Was The Gay Community'. mtv.com 07 May 2009.
Best of 2009. Hot 100 Songs. < http://www.billboard.com/#/charts-year-end/hot-100-songs?year=2009>
Bio. ladygaga.com
Get Lady GaGa’s Hair Bow. 23 January 2009.
“Lady Gaga.” Wikipedia Encyclopedia. 12 March 2010.
Lady Gaga Raises Money for Haiti Earthquake Victims. Transworld News. Atlanta, Georgia. 05 February 2010.
Lady Gaga Sunglasses Special. gagadaily.com/fashion. 05 October 2009.
Lady Gaga was surprisingly normal!. InTouch Weekly Online. 22 December 2009.
Lady Gaga Unleashes “Monster” With Dr. Dre: Headphones First, Song Next? Singer on New Tracks. rollingstone.com.
Lady Gaga's Wild Looks: The New Princess of Pop's Craziest Wardrobe Moments. rollingstone.com.
“List of awards and nominations received by Lady Gaga.” Wikipedia Encyclopedia. 12 March 2010.
Le Gaga Bow. Cotton Candy Sugar Rush. < http://www.cottoncandysugarrush.com/Le-Gaga-Bow_c_1.html>
“On the Record with Lady Gaga.” On the Record with Fuse. Fuse. 2009. Television.
“Poker Face (Lady Gaga song).” Wikipedia Encyclopedia. 11 March 2010.
“The Fame.” Wikipedia Encyclopedia. 12 March 2010.
“The Fame Monster.” Wikipedia Encyclopdia. 12 March 2010.
Youtube.com. < http://www.youtube.com/user/LadyGagaVEVO>
