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Lady Gaga: The Last True Born Pop Star

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Erin Deidre Olermo
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December 4, 2022
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It is no secret that 2008 was certainly a great year for pop music. From Beyoncé’s very iconic "Single Ladies", to Katy Perry’s celebrated debut single "I Kissed A Girl" to Britney Spears’ sexy and sultry hit "Circus," to so many tracks battling to take the top spot in the charts. However, one track that we all know and love to this day flopped in the beginning. But this lady didn’t give up because she knew she was going to be a star. 

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Despite peaking at #76 at the Billboard Hot 100 in August 2008, "Just Dance" hit #1 in January 2009 after spending over 22 weeks in the chart; since then, the world was introduced to Lady Gaga—and this was just the beginning of her career.

Before she was Lady Gaga, she was Stefani. She had been trying to get into the music scene as early as 19 years old. She was writing songs for other famous pop stars, such as Britney Spears and The Pussycat Dolls, before her career finally took off. She was only 22 years old when she released The Fame, a fifteen-track album that depicted what it's like to be famous. Every song represents money, love, drugs, fans, glitz and glamour, and everything else that comes with fame. Critics believe that this album was a self-fulfilling prophecy, as if Gaga wrote the tracks to manifest the life she wanted to live. With five hits from a debut album that all dominated the charts in 2009, she proved that she was definitely not just a "one-hit-wonder," but a rising pop icon. 

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Gaga may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but in the late 2000s, she always made headlines because of her over-the-top productions and costumes. At the age of 23, Gaga marked her territory in the industry as a superstar after her performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. One minute she was wearing a white leotard and dancing on stage; the next she was covered in blood and hanging from the ceiling while everybody was taking photos of her "dead" body. People were seen on screen in shock, scared, but at the same time amazed by this entire art piece. That was the moment the world knew who Lady Gaga was. 

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After the release of her 2009 EP, "The Fame Monster,"  she became one of the most controversial artists of the 21st century. While the conversation of celebrities being in a secret organization wasn’t new in the late 2000s, Gaga was the number one target of religious groups and conspiracy theorists. Because Gaga’s style was fairly new to the popular music scene, they  accused her of being a satanist, an Illuminati puppet, and even the Antichrist that will bring the end times.

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SOURCE:  Christopher Nast / Glamour

SOURCE: Diogo, R.A / YouTube

SOURCE:  illuminatisymbols.info

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DarLentina Fever is On!
 
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December 3, 2022

Lady Gaga proved every single time that she is not just a one-trick pony. She made headlines for her performances and even her clothing, including "The Meat Dress," which she wore to the 2010 VMAs. The thing about Gaga is that she treats her outfits, performances, music, and everything she does as art pieces with deeper meanings behind them. Since the beginning of her career, Gaga has had one motivation. to inject gay culture into the mainstream. Because of her impact on pop culture, she is considered one of the most notable LGBTQ+ icons to date. She uses her platform to advocate for things that she truly believes in, one of which is equality. The Meat Dress in particular was a political statement for the US Senate to repeal the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy, where military applicants are asked to disclose their sexual orientations. She quotes, "We decided to do the meat dress because I thought to myself that if we were willing to die for your country, what does it matter how you identify?"

SOURCE: Disha Kandpal / HITC

People like to believe that she’s just a crazy lady wearing crazy clothes and singing crazy songs that only crazy people like, but she’s doing the right thing to make herself known. Gaga didn’t want to be like any other pop star. Despite her success, people still discredit her work by comparing her to other pop stars, especially Madonna. Regardless, she still proved to the world that she is not trying to be like anybody else. She didn’t want to be the next Madonna or the next Britney Spears, she wanted to be the first Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga wouldn’t be Lady Gaga without Lady Gaga.

SOURCE: Lady Gaga - Judas / YouTube

What makes Lady Gaga different from other pop stars is that she knew what she wanted to put out into the world. She set a standard for what it meant to be a superstar. She knew from the beginning that she was going to be a star, no matter what. Since the release of "Just Dance," Lady Gaga has now become a household name. Her music from over a decade ago is still being played everywhere. She is an integral part of the pop culture that we know today. No one has had as much of an impact on pop culture as she has 14 years later.

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SOURCE: Vogue / Getty Images

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