June 1, 2024
The Pride Series: Googoo for Gaga
Written by: Laney Hansen Design by: Jackie Stigile
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Born This Way
Born This Way
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, better known as musical artist and actress Lady Gaga, was born March 28, 1986, and grew up in upper West Side Manhattan. She found her passion for music at a young age having been forced to take piano lessons at the striking age of 4. She’s stated in interviews that even before then she enjoyed trying her hand at creating her own tunes to the best of her abilities. After many years of pounding away at the keys, she began her career by singing at open mics and acting with credits dating back to high school. These include lead roles such as Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and Philia in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.
After many attempts breaking into the acting business, the decision was made to move back to music. In 2003, Germanotta was admitted and attended school at NYU to study music where she learned to write lyrics like the ones we adore to this day. She withdrew 2 years later to pursue studio work with her debut album “The Fame” following in 2008. With this new album- and many following works- along came a new genre for our ears to discover. Despite what Jojo Siwa might say, I believe Lady Gaga was the beginning of what we know as mainstream gay pop thanks to her injection of this new culture of music.
A Star is Born
A Star is Born
If breaking into the acting business wasn’t hard enough, trying to get into music was quite the bend. Taking several routes to get noticed, Germanotta started out small by forming a band called the SGBand (Stefani Germanotta Band) with friends from NYU. Other members of the band included Eli Silverman (Guitar), Alex Beckmann (Drums), and Calvin Hunting Pia (Bass). They released an EP in 2006, first titled the “Words” demo and later became “Red and Blue” as the final EP. The band played in various basements among the scene in East Side Manhattan and became quite popular in the club scene within the area including The Bitter End which became a frequent for the band. Following the early disbandment, Germanotta was noticed by producer Rob Fusari who is credited with giving her the name Lady Gaga. Thus, a star was born.
With the help of Fusari, Gaga began making music of the techno-pop genre. After much praise from these releases she signed with Def Jam in 2006 for a short 3 months until she was dropped from the label. Following the agreement she had with her parents, Gaga returned to her family in New York which is where she began performing at neo-burlesque shows as a form of freedom of expression. Through doing this, she learned a few things about the art she wanted to create and soon returned to LA to sign with Streamline Records- also known as Interscope Records- in 2007.
During her time with Streamline, she wrote songs with influences coming from the raging pop styles of David Bowie, Madonna and Queen. In this agreement and through various writing workshops, she was signed to write songs for major artists like Britney Spears, Fergie, and The Pussycat Dolls. While in progress with these, and being unable to help herself from creating her own renditions of these songs, she was noticed by other musicians and labels in the space and was later signed with Cherrytree Records where she produced and released her debut album “The Fame” on August 19, 2008.
Live For the Applause
Live For the Applause
“The Fame” brought Gaga a striking turn of events as the album reached top charts across the world. The first two singles alone, “Just Dance” and “LoveGame,” sold to millions within just a week of the release. Giving her high hopes for her career, Gaga followed up this album with a deluxe edition titled “The Fame Monster” which followed the same pattern as its partner. The entrance of this music into the industry, has debatably held a historic imprint on our culture.
Though many were enthralled by the muse of Gaga, her Catholic community were not too keen on this new outlook she created for herself. Growing up in this culture, Gaga always saw herself as an outcast among the others so creating this music became a breakthrough and has allowed her to express her true self.
Despite these comments and after being on the road as the opening act for The Pussycat Dolls on their Doll Domination tour and then her own The Fame Ball tour, Gaga gained luxurious amounts of praise. Crowds and listeners of all kinds wanted more Gaga; everyone was googoo for some Gaga. Seeing the immense amounts of commotion, touring gave Gaga the opportunity to release more music in the form of EPs and singles- including “Alejandro” and “Telephone”- and teased her next albums “Born This Way” and “ArtPop” to follow post tour.
It’s Not All Just Pop
It’s Not All Just Pop
As Gaga began gaining a larger following, it became time to experiment with new sounds. This brought us albums like “Cheek To Cheek” and “Joanne.” differentiating themselves from the earlier pop and techno sounds we adore, Gaga brought new beats in from all sides like rock, country, and jazz. Not only this but this new route gave Gaga a chance to focus more on her vocal and piano skills, something she didn’t have in her previous albums.
“Cheek To Cheek,” the collaborative album with crooning icon, Tony Bennett, entices listeners with this new musical side of Gaga. As her theatrical past shines through, this album keeps jazz on the spotlight as Gaga and Bennett treat us with these beautiful melodies. This was also her first collaboration of her career as an artist and though it caused commotion within her fanbase, it’s a phenomenal addition to her collection.
Following this we were taken away into Gaga’s new era of country music with the release of “Joanne.” “Joanne” is an album dedicated to her aunt, Joanne Germanotta- whom she’s named after- having passed away at a young age leaving a strong influence on the family since. Gaga has also stated, though never having met her, that she feels connected to her late aunt, almost feeling like there’s “two hearts” within her. With plans to tour with this album, she had to cancel due to her medical condition (Fibromyalgia). This tour was planned to be more intimate than her previous tours so you can imagine fans were crushed to find out this new experience of Gaga never made it to the stage.
In 2017 Gaga was invited to perform at the halftime show for the 51st annual Superbowl. Coming down from the sky like the shooting star she is, she set off a show to end all others. It's been all talk about Gaga since then as she’s reached heights as an artist competing against large names like Taylor Swift. Following this performance came the film “A Star Is Born” in 2018 which was a duo project between Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Bringing out her actress side, this film gave audiences what we’ve all been awaiting and did not fail to please us. The production of this film was a huge breakthrough for Gaga and since then we have seen features of her music and acting in films like House of Gucci, Bullet Train, music composition for Top Gun: Maverik, and soon to be starring as the role of Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie a Deux.
“‘Cause I’m A Free Bitch, Baby”
“‘Cause I’m A Free Bitch, Baby”
In recent years, following the release of A Star Is Born, Gaga released “Chromatica” in 2020 which took us back to her previous dance music era. An album in three acts, this was quite a refreshing revival of the Gaga we so adore. With songs like “Stupid Love” and “Rain On Me” she makes a vulnerable comeback as themes of failed romances and mental health struggles from her personal life rise up in these lyrics. Very powerfully vamped, this is an album for dancing and healing and needless to say the perfect timing for a release like this. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Gaga was finally able to follow up this album with her Chromatica Ball Tour in 2022 which became her first ever all-stadium tour. Following this we have had the pleasure of celebrating “Born This Way’s” 10th Anniversary and the release of “Gaga Chromatica Ball” film on HBO Max just last week (May 25, 2024).
Not only within Chromatica have we seen this side of Lady Gaga. She has always been open about her relationships and sexuality. Even in interviews she’s never shied away from being honest to who she is. A pinnacle moment of this self esteem shined through in an interview with Anderson Cooper in 2011 when he made a transphobic comment towards Gaga.
This burst of confidence in our mainstream media has opened so many opportunities for us as fans to be seen for who we are. “Don’t be a drag, just be a queen” has been the overarching motto of Gaga and the fandom has carried it through effortlessly.
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