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Lady Gaga Had to Dumb Herself Down to Become a Success
SonofaBeast
Posts: 334 Forum Member
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Look at past videos of Gaga before she became famous and she was dressed in normal clothes, playing the piano and singing. She was just another singer/songwriter playing clubs in NYC. Singer/songwriters are a dime a dozen in cities all over the world and Gaga obviously had to do something to set herself apart. So in came the attention seeking clothes and the hip producers etc. If she hadn't have done that she probably wouldn't be known today and would still be another struggling singer on the club circuit.
At least Adele remained true to herself and got to where she is by being a fantastic singer with strong material behind her. She's old-school, she doesn't need the tricks and the attention seeking antics to sell records or become successful. She's a breath of fresh air in the current music climate and that's part of the reason why she's doing so well.
The one thing that bugs me about a lot of Gaga's followers is their insistence on treating her and her music like it's the second coming. She's a pop singer. Nothing less, nothing more. She sings average pop music that is no more profound or deep than Britney, Katy Perry or Ke$ha. She relies on shock value, attention seeking outfits and rehashing what artists did 20 years ago to sell records. The meat dress was done way back in 1987, Madonna did the whole religious undertone years ago (and better, may I add) and Annie Lennox dressed as a man way at the Grammys in in 1984. Most of what she does is not art, it's thievery from far superior artists and ones who actually broke ground insteady of rehashing it.
At least Adele remained true to herself and got to where she is by being a fantastic singer with strong material behind her. She's old-school, she doesn't need the tricks and the attention seeking antics to sell records or become successful. She's a breath of fresh air in the current music climate and that's part of the reason why she's doing so well.
The one thing that bugs me about a lot of Gaga's followers is their insistence on treating her and her music like it's the second coming. She's a pop singer. Nothing less, nothing more. She sings average pop music that is no more profound or deep than Britney, Katy Perry or Ke$ha. She relies on shock value, attention seeking outfits and rehashing what artists did 20 years ago to sell records. The meat dress was done way back in 1987, Madonna did the whole religious undertone years ago (and better, may I add) and Annie Lennox dressed as a man way at the Grammys in in 1984. Most of what she does is not art, it's thievery from far superior artists and ones who actually broke ground insteady of rehashing it.
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Adele is a completely different artist and comes from a different tradition. They're both talented and successful in their respective genres so surely there's room for them both.
It's patronising to say it's "dumbing down". She clearly has a lot of intelligence to her act. Standing at a microphone doesn't automatically make you a more intelligent person, nor does it make your act more intelligent.
The images and videos we have of her as the brunette singer/songwriter Stefani at a piano wearing normal clothes are from when she was just starting out, ranging from 15-18 years old. Who the hell knows who or what they are at that age, furthermore who can honestly say they are the same person as they were then? People grow, artists evolve.
She soon evolved into The Stefani Germanotta Band, playing glam/rock/pop music, and was Lady Gaga (albeit brunette, but in a disco bra all the same) playing Lollapalooza by age 19/20. She was 23 when she went global with Just Dance, and during those years she honed her craft, worked out who she was and what she had to do to make it.
How is that different to anyone else? She may have taken it to extremes, but when all is said and done, I bet if she hadn't dyed her hair blonde people wouldn't get so caught up over it. It wasn't an over-night transformation where she was the brunette piano playing Stefani then BAM disco-stick twirling blonde Gaga.
Regarding the last paragraph; if you're going to dismiss her for not inventing the things that she does and rehashing ideas past into new ways, then you better be prepared for holding the likes of Madonna accountable for doing the exact same. Not here for double standards.
I really am starting to believe that the ones who are obsessed with Gaga are not her fans, but her haters. :rolleyes:
But to reply to your title, isn't it blatantly obvious that she did the exact opposite of "dumbing herself down" when she became Lady Gaga? She differentiated herself from hundreds of her singer-songwriter peers and in doing so, became the the biggest female pop artist on the planet.
That's pretty genius from where I'm standing.
kthanksbye.
That's right. Anybody who buys Gaga's music is just a blind consumer being led by the big music machine and is incapable of forming opinions of his/her own.
Could you be any more condescending?
for that reason i think she should cut the antics down and just sing cos she can do that well enough to stand on it's own merit. Unless she really pushes the music too then that'd be worth the antics.
I must be naive in thinking this should be the priority for any singer/musician.
It's all well and good using whatever means possible to get peoples attention, but what you do with it then, is what sorts the men out from the boys.
If she did 'dumb down' she clearly hasn't gone far enough for certain people
Adele can be considered a real artist because she does just sing over the instrumental, an instrumental which has been made by real musicians, real guitars, real drums, real bass. It feels and literally is a real band playing on the record but it's not Adele and her band it's just Adele. Just like it's not Lady Gaga and her band it's just Lady Gaga and therefore she will get judged for the music aswell even though she doesn't produce the music on her records. People hear the beat and realise it's the same as everything else in the charts and they write it off, they hear Adele's and they hear real instruments with real melodys and someone singing with no post production effects on her voice. That's why there is an argument about Lady Gaga vs Adele.
But at the end of the day I wish them both well. They weren't Artist of the Decade from 2000-2010. Eminem was and he sold over 80 million albums to do it, that didn't include his Recovery album's sales since it came out in 2010 after the figures were released but including that album he has over 90 million albums sold and God knows how many singles sold. I see Lady Gaga has sold over 25 million albums so far and that's within 3 years so we'll see what the next 7 bring and the same with Adele. If they can sell 90 million albums in 10 years then i will consider them as being important musical figures but so far they got a lot of work to do and when you start talking about sales figures like that, really puts into perspective who the real music stars are.
Someone who flaunts themselves in public everyday and attends all the awards ceremonies and goes to the big parties in Hollywood and is doing all the TV chat shows or a recluse who lives in Detroit Michigan, the furthest thing away from glamour and Hollywood, is kind enough to record video messages for award shows where he wins awards, doesn't even go to the Oscars to accept an award even though he was told in advance he had won an Oscar (don't see Lady Gaga or Adele winning Oscars) so he could stay home with his daughter and watch TV. It really does show who the stars are. A recluse who sells 90 million in 10 years and barely shows his face > someone who acts and tries their hardest and has their face on everything but still cant quite get people to go and physically pay money for their albums instore.
Madonna was never ruthless
The best thing to do is let Lady Gaga's fans or munsters or whatever they're called get on with it. It's like films and TV shows. I love Jack Nicholson, there will never be another Jack Nicholson but the kids love this Robert person from Twilight. All the great comedy shows from the 80's that get repeated on cable TV now, that's the real funny stuff but ask anyone under 30 now and they will point to Jimmy Carr or Michael McIntyre. It's not that they're not very good or anything, it's just that we have seen it all before and in most cases we have seen it done by far better actors. Let this generation have their Lady Gaga, it's their first time experiencing someone like this. Robert Pattinson is our generations Jack Nicholson. Everything gets recycled.
I will agree that she should in no way be treated as some second coming of pop, because, the OP actually has a point: Gaga dumbed herself down in order to make it into the music Industry. Not intellectually, but physically and musically.
Gaga was signed by AKON! AKON FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Her debut was great! She made fun pop music and had an air of eccentricity around her and she carried herself like a perfectly formed popstar.
But...
When you examine her pre-The Fame and post-The Fame Monster, that is not the Gaga who captured everyones hearts really. To me, personally they are two completely different people.
Pre-The Fame she was 21/22 and if she did not want to make Jazzy, Piano music she would not have been in that music sector. Don't quote me on this because i cannot remember where from, but I distinctly remember wither Akon or Gaga in an early interview saying that when he signed her he suggested she went for a pop-dance-R'n'B sound, and for her to find a unique fashion style... birthing the "The Fame" Gaga.
That all worked great and she exploded onto the scene... The Fame and TF Monster were HUGE! But then...
Cue Born This Way. Yes some of the music is still dance-pop... but instead of having an air of fun and eccentricity she just developed this aire of superiority and became too serious. Her music and her message do not connect well for me. She wants to be taken seriously as an artist (The artist that she intended to be pre-The Fame) but the music which brought her success and adoration isn't her preferred music type. It is clear that shes trying to bring her past self into the spotlight now that she has the platform. "Marry the Night", "You and I", and "The Edge of Glory" are based on her past or influenced by Jazz. Even the MTN video shows us who she was (and ultimately is). She never strikes me as happy either, almost as though she feels like she needs to put on an act.
So... that is my opinion. Merely an opinion. I've given evidence for my opinion, and my own thoughts arn't going to change so any Stans that try and discredit that won't really work. That isn't to say that I won't take on board other opinions, but right now I can sense a little bit of Gaga-fan backlash.
I stated at the top of the post that I don't like anti-anyone threads, and I do actually like Gaga... but more "The Fame" Gaga than "Born This Way" Gaga.
robert will never win a oscar