The underlying assumption that I believe the OP has is that, according to monsters, Gaga was supposed to slay this era. However, while not entirely flopping, Gaga has underperformed this era, yet the monsters are rationalizing her underperformance by stating that she has had no promo, "Applause" is still in the top 10, etcetera, when I'm sure before she released music, monsters likely claimed she was going to hit #1. It doesn't take a formal statistical analysis to acknowledge her diminishing popularity, for she polarized her audience with the mess that was Born This Way. If that had not been the case, "Applause" would have reached #1, these
threads would not be staples on ATRL. The common rebuttal from monsters is that she still sells albums, and while that may be the case, purchasing music is not the most popular modality for Generation Y. Illegally downloading, streaming, and youtube streams are more relevant among the general public and the millennial generation. Purchasing music is more for die-hard fans.

At the end of the day, the rude awakening is that relative to her previous success, Gaga is declining. And yes, the decline of the poptart is more fun to witness to audiences in the ATRL demographics. Refer to Britney's Breakdown, Madonna's Erotica era backlash, Nippy's drug dilemma, Mariah's breakdown.

The "Alejandro" music video was the start of her alienating the public to the point of no return.

Nothing. What "went wrong" was during the BTW era, and nothing in this era itself has gone "wrong".

I feel like you guys are overstating the amount that BTW hurt her. It hurt her, but not irreparably. There were still a LOT of people who bought that album and liked her after it.

What hurt her is that she took too long of a break. Katy kept herself in the public eye, so she didn't really have to "comeback."

Applause didn't underperform generally speaking but underperformed by her standards. There really is a difference and it should be acknowledged when referring to its success.

My opinion regarding the calm in public interest is that she lost their trust in her taste level thanks to the Born This Way era and people have predispositioned themselves to scoff at her every direction. The only way people would've regained their trust in her taste is if she committed to finding out what was coming up in modern music and epitomized it for a commercial audience. If she had worked with Disclosure or Metronomy or something and gone a more Jessie Ware/electro-minimal direction people would have been down with that because its modern and its whats happening now. Instead what shes making sounds good, but it doesn't necessarily sound like whats cool in up and coming modern music. She lost her cool with the BTW era and shes yet to regain it.

Hold up though, you claim purchasing is just for die hards but that would only be true for Applause had it been like Work Bitch and only stayed in the Top 10 for like a second and then started falling off. Applause remained in the Top 10 from the moment it was released until barely this week. That means its sales were consistent, however not dominating. Thats what essentially sums up its performance on streaming, it was up there with everything else in the top 10 it just never reached the top. The supposedly "common rebuttal" you speak of about her having a lack of promo is not the consensus among her fans. The overall consensus is that while Applause performed just fine it simply wasn't dynamic enough for her to overcome the backlash from her previous era and her extended absence in the media. It was just fine. Gaga isn't declining so much as her career has plateau'd. This is her first true underdog era.

She went from TFM to BTW way too fast. She should released like 2 more albums "Fame"-like and then move on to these deeper eras.

She can still have hope for the next battles: second single, album debut week, tour gross,...

THIS. If ANY of her peers did ANYTHING like Alejandro (song/video), BTW (song/video), Judas (song/video), Y & I (video) and MTN (video), the'll be basically gone from music industry.
The fact that Gaga did that and A LOT of other non-commercial choices throughout her career and she's STILL going strong proves she's above her peers.
_

OT, I'd say BTW did damage to her brand but she's making all the right choices now in this era and hopefully she'll continue doing so.

This

You love Gaga ? You show your love for her In a really Interesting way !!!

[Born This way Era]

She took herself way too seriously during the Born This Way era. The lead single was successful but a mess at the same time. The follow up single was underwhelming and threw off the vibe the era. Her album cover was an absolute mess, and Amazon.com made her album available for 99 cents. Then she followed up with more underwhelming singles. And then there was.....Marry The Night. Her VMA performance seemed forced and try hard for "You and I" and of course she fell...... She then disappeared because of the hip surgery.

[Applause]

Her first single was underwhelming and was released the same week as Katy Perry, and then there was the whole "Perez Hilton" beef. She faced ridicule with the song's single artwork + performance on the charts, despite the success. Her music video and VMA performance for "Applause" were great, but was not enough to push the single to #1.


[Album Cover]

The album cover is a mess and time is ticking before the album drops. Her next single "Venues" may be her only hope.



I am a huge fan of Lady Gaga, but she seems lost.

I don't think anything "went wrong" its not like she's dead or her career is over Maybe she did too much too soon?

She's over-thinking and it's working against her.

You know what? I just watched her GMA performance of apause. And it was full of life. Yes BTW lost a lot of fans but you know what I think she can recover. Her voice is amazing her music is fun again and I see a color other than black.