I don't like Lady Gaga. | Teen Ink

I don't like Lady Gaga.

April 2, 2010
By betterhappyending BRONZE, San Ysidro, California
betterhappyending BRONZE, San Ysidro, California
2 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin." - Leonard Cohen


Blasphemy alert. I’m a sixteen year old American girl and I don’t like Lady Gaga. And no, it’s not because I don’t like her music, her costumes, or her performances. I just don’t like being manipulated.

Actually, I lied. It’s partly her music, costumes, and performances. But not so much because they’re hideous or outrageous or tiresome. But looking back at those pictures of her as a “normal” girl and seeing what and who she is now, it’s almost insulting. The fact that this girl had to change into something almost non-human to finally get noticed is unsettling, at best. She’s instead this cold, faceless force. No one noticed her when she was trying to “make it”. But then the fame machine (monster, she calls it?) seemed to eat her up and spit out an entirely new person, repackaged and revamped to “shock” us all.

And in the end, it really isn’t even that shocking. It’s almost a little pathetic (and you’ll see what I mean by insulting) when it seems that the state of the nation’s youth has degenerated so much that we need a woman in a mask and sparkling breasts to tell us that we’re all okay. Okay to be different, okay to be loved, the whole package. Because then we really aren’t, are we?

She's been quoted as saying, “I would rather die than have my fans not see me in a pair of high heels. I'd never give up my wigs and hats for anything.” I'm afraid that this mentality about possessions and image, to her millions of female fans, is dangerous. She speaks almost as if these material things are as vital to life as water is. This is the same woman who says that “I'm always saying something about art and music and fame. That's why you don't ever catch me in sweatpants.” She claims that her style and her persona is for art, and yet, it begs the question if she ever does anything for herself. She makes herself a martyr for the love of her fans. And if she is as passionate as she says she is about new frontiers in art, why are the vast majority of her lyrics about sex and money?



I'm not asking her to be anything different, not exactly. Give me a David Bowie reincarnate, an rebel in the music industry. But give me a little more complexity, a little more beauty, a little more thought than just what's on the outside. Give me another facet than just the freaky hair and makeup and clothing, because if that’s all there is, her opinion about simply being yourself is lost somewhere in the jumble of cosmetics and oversized sunglasses. But most of all, give me a break.



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This article has 471 comments.


on Jun. 13 2012 at 1:01 pm
CrystalAngelDol SILVER, Queens, New York
7 articles 0 photos 37 comments

Favorite Quote:
Never tell your problems to anyone...20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them.
- Lou Holtz

thank you so much! i could'nt have said it better myself!!!!!!!!!!!

dotn_me BRONZE said...
on Jun. 9 2012 at 4:57 pm
dotn_me BRONZE, Camarillo, California
2 articles 0 photos 23 comments
well said :) i completely agree with you

labee said...
on May. 22 2012 at 1:25 am
umm honestly i dont like the way you have this opinion about yourself your wrong .theres NOTHING to be living your life like its war .its not worth it.every human creature is special.you know human are GOD's best creation.and i so much think that you are being completly wrong .you should live life not feeling your wrongly fixed but should think that you are no matter what perfect.i know im a insecure person too i have my own issues but that doesnt mean i cant know whats true and right for me and for everyone,

Jornellia said...
on May. 7 2012 at 8:29 pm
It's all about what sells and you believe anything other than that you are a fool.

on Apr. 17 2012 at 12:43 am
i_am_so_very_large_and_towering SILVER, Mililani, Hawaii
5 articles 1 photo 114 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?"

loved this. agreed with everything.

dramajules said...
on Apr. 9 2012 at 9:15 am
While I believe that your article was well written and did bring up some good points, I don't really agree with it.  I would just like to point out that most of the pictures of Lady Gaga pre fame are of her while attending a catholic school, you can't do much with clothes there.  And this is her expressing what she likes to wear and perform in.  However I think that you article was well written and keep writing.

Sallypooper said...
on Mar. 28 2012 at 5:19 pm
Hey! I like lady Gaga she is unique! Also her music is catchy! So don't say she sucks ok?!

on Mar. 24 2012 at 6:47 pm
PoetryAngel14 PLATINUM, Ithaca, New York
26 articles 0 photos 53 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Dare to be imperfect and one day there will tug at your sleeve a soulmate." ~Robert Brault
"Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving." ~Albert Einstein

          YES.

on Mar. 23 2012 at 12:52 am
estherhoran__ GOLD, Bell Gardens, California
10 articles 0 photos 24 comments

Favorite Quote:
Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is an amazing article. I really agree with a lot of your points. High five to you!(:

on Mar. 21 2012 at 6:53 pm
outrageousalex SILVER, Newnan, Georgia
6 articles 10 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.






























-Twyla Tharp

I myself like lady gaga but I think alot of your artical was right. Your an awesome writer, so keep up the good work.

C.M.L. BRONZE said...
on Mar. 21 2012 at 10:44 am
C.M.L. BRONZE, San Jose, California
3 articles 4 photos 22 comments

Favorite Quote:
wobbledy wobbledy wa wobble wobble

An interesting perspective, and well-written.

on Mar. 21 2012 at 10:29 am
who are you to tell others what to write and not write about? this whole magazine was for teenagers to get there opinions out into the world!

on Mar. 21 2012 at 8:37 am
Yurriane BRONZE, Tokyo, Other
2 articles 0 photos 13 comments
Uhm...there are a lot of comments which say that Lady Gaga changed her whole being just to become famous..and if you compared her from what she was a few years earlier,she was totally `normal`.But hey,think about it...can you have BLUE hair and epic EYE MAKE-UP when you`re in a private catholic school???I don`t think so...unless you want to get suspended or something.And she`s not putting the idea that you`d have to be weird and eccentric and a bit crazy to be liked.She`s putting out that SHE IS CRAZY AND ECCENTRIC AND INSANE BUT HEY,IT DOESN`T MATTER!!!Because fact is,she`s being herself.That`s all that matters and all that ever will matter.

on Mar. 21 2012 at 8:33 am
Beautifully written. A master-piece. You should write more.

Regia SILVER said...
on Mar. 21 2012 at 7:17 am
Regia SILVER, Greenville, South Carolina
7 articles 1 photo 37 comments

Favorite Quote:
You laugh because I'm different, I laugh because you're all the same.
We're only young once, but with humor we can be immature forever.
If you're going to get into trouble for hitting someone, you might as well do it hard.
After a game, the king and the pawn go in the same box.

Wow, incredibly good article! So well-written. You can certainly be proud of what you've done here. I totally agree with everything you say. Some people just say "I don't like Lady Gaga" but don't get reasons and they have no basis; but your article was firm and well-based, not to mention well-said, and I appreciated it greatly. Incredibly amazing job with writing this!

on Feb. 24 2012 at 10:55 am
Zaraclaylime DIAMOND, Chicago, Illinois
75 articles 2 photos 68 comments

Favorite Quote:
So I suppose my simple advice is: Love your life. I only say that because your life is what you have to give.
-Tom Hiddleston

i agree with the author. there is a fine line between being differently yourself and being ridiculously someone else.

on Feb. 24 2012 at 8:45 am
_alannahurt SILVER, Snyder, Texas
9 articles 0 photos 24 comments

Favorite Quote:
A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it to be God.
– Sidney Sheldon

sorry, on that last sentence I ment to say ...I think lady gaga...

on Feb. 24 2012 at 8:43 am
_alannahurt SILVER, Snyder, Texas
9 articles 0 photos 24 comments

Favorite Quote:
A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it to be God.
– Sidney Sheldon

I see where you're going with this but can I ask have you ever been famous? It's got to be stupid hard. Keeping up with clothes, shoes, music, tunes, make-up, albums, lyrics, God can you imagin that!!!

I for one think that after going though all that I would like to be me Instead of the me everyone wants me to be. But l Lady Gaga is one of the few stars brave enought to show the world she's different.

thats my opion


. said...
on Feb. 12 2012 at 12:30 pm
I think this is amazing! I totally agree.

on Feb. 11 2012 at 6:52 pm
Mothra7687 BRONZE, Mattawan, Michigan
2 articles 11 photos 57 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Don't try to live your life in one day." - Howard Jones

Honestly this is a great article. I have had the same feelings as you have about her since she became popular four years ago, and I agree that teens need somone who is themself and not behind some promoters mask of what's going to be "The Next Big Thing", much like other artists that teens my age listen to today.