Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, commonly known as Lady Gaga, was born in New York City in 1986. Lady Gaga is an American singer, songwriter, actress, record producer, philanthropist, dancer, and fashion designer. Lady Gaga is best known for her music in genres such as pop, dance, and electronic. Although she creates great and memorable music, her outfits are normally what people remember most about her. Lady Gaga is known for her visual experimentation in her outfits, stage performances, and music videos.
At a very young age, Lady Gaga began singing and playing piano. As a child, she attended an all-girls school and was bullied by her classmates for her appearance and eccentric habits. As a teenager, she began singing at open mic nights at local bars and clubs, and she also acted in several school plays. At the young age of 17, she was admitted into New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. However, she dropped out in order to pursue a career in music.
In 2006, Lady Gaga signed to Def Jam Records, but she was dropped from the label. Although she was devastated, Lady Gaga used this as motivation to explore her music career even further and became very experimental with her music. She worked as a songwriter for Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and Akon soon noticed her. He helped her sign a joint deal with Interscope Records and KonLive Distribution. Just the following year her new record, The Fame, exploded. “Just Dance” was the song that first came into mainstream attention, and “Poker Face” was another song that also blew up. The Fame Monster, the reissue of The Fame, included “Bad Romance,” “Telephone,” and “Alejandro.” Gaga’s second full-length album, Born This Way, included electronic rock and techno-pop music and also touched on politics, sexuality, and religion. Despite its controversy, it sold 1.108 million copies during its first week in the United States, and it also received three Grammy Award nominations.
In 2010, Gaga headlined Chicago’s Lollapalooza music festival, and at the 2011 Grammy Awards, she received best pop vocal album and best female pop vocal performance. In 2012, Gaga was ranked fourth on Billboard’s list of top “moneymakers” of 2011 because of her sales from Born This Way and her Monster Ball Tour.
Gaga was judged by the public for her flamboyant outfits, provocative lyrics, and very strong vocals. Because Gaga combines glam rock with over-the-top fashion design, she was able to craft amazing sounds with eccentric visuals. Lady Gaga created a devoted following of particularly gay men, and she is very outspoken on gay rights, especially same-sex marriage. Lady Gaga is also judged by the public for her bisexuality. Gaga was bullied as a child for her appearance, and she is also bullied as an adult for her eccentric habits and outfits. However, she uses this judgment and rejection as motivation to better herself and her music, and I believe that this is central to Lady Gaga’s creative process.
Hello Karolina,
ReplyDeleteLady Gaga was one of my favorite singers as a kid. Poker face is something that I actually still find myself listening. I think that the idea of experiencing that failure by getting dropped by her label and then picking herself back up and continuing to explore herself is something very interesting. It shows her perseverance, which is a creativity-relevant process exhibited by many creatives. I think that the comparison with Freud was also really interesting, with that idea of isolation due to their creativity.
Hi Karolina, I agree that Lady Gaga is intrinsically motivated. Because she was turned away so many times, she continued because of her love of music and the arts, but I believe everyone is extrinsically motivated at times. I found your point interesting in comparing her to Freud. I wonder what she'd say about that.
ReplyDeleteHi Karolina, I liked your analysis of Lady Gaga's motivation. I agree with you that she is intrinsically motivated as her initial songs did not fit in with what was popular at the time. Her outfits and ways of expressing herself did not appeal with a lot of people, but she continued to do it.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this piece on Lady Gaga. I learned a lot about her that I did not know from before, and gained more respect for her as an artist. I wonder about what her extrinsic motivations are; the outfits she comes up with, as well as her controversial lyrics in her music, make me think that she is extrinsically motivated in the sense that she wants to spark media attention and conversations about certain topics.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis on Lady Gaga and the reason she is intrinsically motivated. I have seen and read other articles which talked about her isolation in her adulthood, especially in college where other students made a Facebook page to put her down. She has come far in her career and expresses herself in a way that not many people had seen or understood before.
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