How Gaga Returned to Cultural Dominance

Pop

Quote:

Is it 2010 again? Because it feels like 2010 again.

Every single she released during that time went top 10. Every video she put out was a bonafide event. Every teacup carried, every silver lobster headpiece, every Diet Coke can rolled into her hair became a meme, an icon. It forced her competition to try (and fail, for the most part) to out-weird the girl leading the charge. It was all-consuming. It was bright and it was meteoric and it was exciting. It was not sustainable. That kind of thing never is.

The wheels started to come off the Gaga Train sometime during the Born This Way era, but the big crash didn’t occur until ARTPOP impacted in 2013. I liked ARTPOP, and I still do, though I think it is far from her best work.

...
...

Too much (all of it the same) has been written about Gaga’s career trajectory: the rapid rise to complete cultural dominance followed by the inevitable backlash followed by the perceived implosion of her entire brand. We know the story because we’ve read it before, and not just about Gaga. It’s a story as old as fame itself, and it’s a story she’s explicitly told many times over through her own art, most obviously in the “Paparazzi” video, taken from her very first album. (“We love her again!” A prophecy being fulfilled as I type this.) There’s a part of me that wonders if the last three years have been part of an elaborate performance art project meant to demonstrate — in real life, in real time, with real people — that she’d called it from the start.

We all know the story — build someone up just to tear them down. But here’s the twist in this particular retelling: Gaga’s story didn’t end there, in failure.

Though Gaga has not released a pop album since ARTPOP, the last year has been, in many ways, the most significant of her still-young career. The change began slowly and quietly. In 2014, less than a full year after ARTPOP’s release, Gaga released Cheek to Cheek, an album of jazz standards with Tony Bennett. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Album 200 (and, it should be noted, sold more in its first week than Rihanna’s ANTI).

And then. That album spawned a critically-acclaimed tour which saw several of Gaga’s performances go viral. Apparently, after eight years, some people still didn’t know that the weird girl in the dress of meat could sing.

And then. Cheek to Cheek won a Grammy, bringing her total to six.

...
...

Her performance of “Til It Happens to You” at the Oscars, like her win, seems like a lock. Assuming the Bowie tribute goes well (and I think it will), can you imagine the position she will be in? It’s hard to do, because it hasn’t been done before, not on this scale. Should she achieve it, she will have rightfully earned a pass out of the limbo she’s endured for two years. She will have earned her place among legends.

It may be premature to assume her next album will be as good as we want (need) it to be, but if we have learned anything over the last year, it is that we should give her the benefit of the doubt. We wrote her off once in 2013, and look where we are now. She’s everywhere, doing everything. And nailing it each time. She accomplished the near-impossible: she made people care — about her, about her talent, about her work, and about her next move — again.

Occasionally I think back to the conversation I had with my friends in 2013 and feel a twinge of guilt. Not because I feel like I had given up on her — I hadn’t — but because I had underestimated her ability to surprise me. And more than that: I underestimated her ability to surprise others.

Despite the motto Gaga fans have been using of late as a way of reveling in triumph, talent doesn’t always win. That’s not the way it works. Plenty of talented people fade from the spotlight or never feel its warmth to begin with. But sometimes, every now and then, once in a lifetime, maybe — for a once-in-a-lifetime-star — it does win. Talent does win. You’re watching it win right now. And if all goes the way I think it will, you’ll be watching it for decades to come.

http://www.celebuzz.com/2016-02-09/l...paign=ladygaga

Both fans and haters should go to the source and read this incredible article.

Samuel.

Queen of Pop

BILLIONAIRE✘BOY

Pope of Pop

Thanatos

Watch out because you are not allowed to copy more than 50% of the article.

Slay queen

Dante™

Slay!

MAKSIM

Quote:

Despite the motto Gaga fans have been using of late as a way of reveling in triumph, talent doesn’t always win. That’s not the way it works. Plenty of talented people fade from the spotlight or never feel its warmth to begin with. But sometimes, every now and then, once in a lifetime, maybe — for a once-in-a-lifetime-star — it does win. Talent does win. You’re watching it win right now. And if all goes the way I think it will, you’ll be watching it for decades to come.

Woo lord the tea

Pop

Quote:

Originally posted by Thanatos

Watch out because you are not allowed to copy more than 50% of the article.

Slay queen

Thanks, I edited it.

I recommend everyone go read the full thing, it's a great article.

POKER

I love all of this good press she's been getting, well deserved

Cyanide

GOOSEBUMPS

Quote:

Too much (all of it the same) has been written about Gaga’s career trajectory: the rapid rise to complete cultural dominance followed by the inevitable backlash followed by the perceived implosion of her entire brand. We know the story because we’ve read it before, and not just about Gaga. It’s a story as old as fame itself, and it’s a story she’s explicitly told many times over through her own art, most obviously in the “Paparazzi” video, taken from her very first album. (“We love her again!” A prophecy being fulfilled as I type this.) There’s a part of me that wonders if the last three years have been part of an elaborate performance art project meant to demonstrate — in real life, in real time, with real people — that she’d called it from the start.

Delilah.

I agree that she has done an incredible job turning her image around

All she has to do now is deliver a GOOD album and she will probably have fully recovered from the mess from a few years ago

Almighty Gaga

Quote:

Despite the motto Gaga fans have been using of late as a way of reveling in triumph, talent doesn’t always win. That’s not the way it works. Plenty of talented people fade from the spotlight or never feel its warmth to begin with. But sometimes, every now and then, once in a lifetime, maybe — for a once-in-a-lifetime-star — it does win. Talent does win. You’re watching it win right now. And if all goes the way I think it will, you’ll be watching it for decades to come.

Gaga's talent always wins.

ezra

She's completely dominated the conversation for years but it's even more apparent now

monsterLd

Truth. So perched for the next album - I don't usually care for stats, especially Gaga's, but it will be interesting to say the least after this turnaround

Bribe

I'm screaming @ them referring to "talent always wins"

I didn't think it was a thing outside ATRL

KingB®

She is doing an amazing job lately. I'm happy for her

Delilah.

Quote:

Originally posted by ezra

She's completely dominated the conversation for years but it's even more apparent now

This gif

Nikolai.

Wow very good read

I can't wait for her huge comeback where the GP will once again embrace her

TheLastChord

Mess.

I mean, why is Rihanna mentioned in EVERY POP ARTICLE AT THE MOMENT?

Just to drag her? I find it funny that this author is claiming to have "seen the light" of his mistake regarding Gaga, yet does the same by bringing Rihanna down for no reason.

I have no problem with him breaking down Gaga's resurgence, her haters are clearly blinded by dismissing it and her fans are making it way bigger that it actually is, but there's no need to bring an artist down just to glorify the other.

TeemoR

Queen of Pop

romonster

Gaga has truly won.