Long ass rant as an old Gaga fan
I don't think her fans realize how off-putting they are. Yes all pop girls have overzealous fans, but Gaga has THE fans you don't want representing you as an artist.
How often do you see people talk negatively about the Hive? Navy? Katy Cat?...They don't. Because although all of those fanbases have annoying fans that do too much, none of those artists have an army of those annoying fans like Gaga does.
In fact if you even asked the public what the fanbase names of other pop girls are they probably wouldn't even know. But because Gaga has talked about her "little monsters" so freaking much, the public does know who they are and the image of them is incredibly negative. They have the 2nd worst reputation for any fandom only behind beliebers.
I don't think her fans realize they REPRESENT her. Whether or not you think that is right is not the problem. Little Monsters, to the public, are known as delusional psychotic "freaks" who do anything and everything Lady Gaga tells them. So naturally no one wants to be associated with her and get those labels. It's why for the life of me I don't get why they praise obnoxious behavior from other fans because all it does is reflect on that artist.
When you see a video of a guy going "YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS GAGA YASSSSSSSSSSSSS FLAWLESS QUEEN YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS"
That is NOT cute
Maybe to little monsters, but anyone else would be like "wtf?".
Even then the problem with Gaga herself is that she acknowledges these fans. She praises the fans that do nothing but worship the ground she walks on and that is her biggest flaw. She needs to embrace the fans that are willing to love her, but not unconditionally. Fans who are willing to criticize her, point out her flaws, and NOT spend all their time bragging about her sales are her REAL fans. But for some reason she doesn't like it when her fanbase criticizes her. She makes tumblr rants on how she doesn't like negativity...
This is NOT how you act as a high profile pop star. You don't show the public that you're mentally unstable (not really saying she is, but she gives people that opinion of her through her twitter rants/feuds) and don't like anything negative said about you. You don't attack every single publication that says something slightly negative about you, you especially don't attack publications THAT HAVE BEEN ON YOUR SIDE, and just do not under any circumstances FEED the haters by acknowledging them.
She has done ALL of these. That "Gaga is over" video she uploaded onto youtube was a freaking mess. It showed she is insecure, she can't take criticism, and she knows she is falling. It brought joy to haters because they know their words are making their way to Gaga herself.
She doesn't think things through and that is her downfall. Her albums themselves aren't bad. Overproduced, but when has that honestly ever been bad in pop music? Songs like G.U.Y., DWUW, hell even Applause etc. would easily SMASH if given to another pop star, but because it's Gaga they will be/were moderate hits at best.
The last thing that ruined her was her ego. She got so obsessed with herself in the BTW era that it was repulsive. I watched a MTV documentary on her and I was literally disgusted at how highly she praised herself. I literally sat there and wondering, "Does she really believe what she is saying?"
But the sad thing is she did. She believed she was this future legend and icon and did WAY too much and WAY too fast. She shot to fame and wanted to constantly keep the attention on her so she started doing a bunch of weird ass crap and turned the public off.
She needs to realize that being obsessed with yourself is not cute. Catering to your niche fanbase all the time is not smart. Making music for your fans specifically is NOT ideal. Either make it for yourself, or make it for the public.
I don't get any personal feelings when I listen to Gaga. I don't feel like she's telling me a story or I'm going through her life. I just feel like I'm listening to music. That is her problem. She needs to start making music more than just about sex, money, fame, boys, etc. Make music about your life, your hardships, your stuggles, ANYTHING but what she has been writing about recently.
But sad thing is she most likely won't, because the only thing she is willing to listen to is Gaga fans who do nothing but praise her.
Pretentious pop star + Average meaningless music + rabid fanbase = Public abandonment.
I used to love her before Born This Way and I'm willing to like her again if she stops this act. Where is The Fame girl? The one who was fun? I want that girl back. Not whatever she is now.