Line #149 YMMV/LadyGaga


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: "Donatella" is a song that sings the virtues of being a rich, blonde, upper-class model, making her life seem amazing and perfect. However...
2	** Some lyrics suggest that this might be a StealthParody, and the song is meant to be a cynical look at a shallow person.
3	** Another interpretation is that the song isn't mocking the model; it's about a girl who's seen as as perfect, carefree, and above the criticism of others, but beneath the mask feels misunderstood and that no one knows the real her. Some also believe that she's purposely setting up the misunderstanding as a mask to hide her true feelings.
4	* {{Anvilicious}}:
5	** The video for "G.U.Y." is a painfully obvious and almost barely symbolic TakeThat at people she felt betrayed her in the music industry.
6	** "Born This Way," meant to be an anthem about accepting yourself, whoever or whatever you may be. It's not even subtle about the message, and it forgoes symbolism and her usual mystique of her music; it just straight up says that you were born perfect and should accept yourself, over and over.
7	* AwardSnub:
8	** She lost the 2009 Breakthrough Artist Award at the 2009 American Music Awards... to ''Gloriana'', a OneHitWonder CountryMusic group. In an awards show where country music artists almost never even get ''nominated'' in the all-genre awards.
9	** "Till it Happens to You" lost the 2016 Oscar for Best Original Song to Sam Smith's "[[Film/{{Spectre}} Writing's on the Wall]]" despite being the favorite to win.
10	** Though she walked away with a Best Original Song award at the 91st Academy Awards, many were surprised when Best Actress, the award many felt she was a shoo-in for, went to Creator/OliviaColman for ''Film/TheFavourite''.
11	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
12	** "Poker Face" has become one of the top dance songs of the past decade, and possibly one of the biggest since the 1980s. Then "Bad Romance" came out and topped that. "Born This Way" has already no. 1 on the Billboard 100.
13	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S08KonZiew4&feature=relmfu "The Edge of Glory"]] is pretty damn awesome, too.
14	** Three fan favorites from "Born This Way": [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4IgYxHEAuk "Marry The Night"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHGKG9dyTKI&feature=related "Americano"]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFwmKL5OL-Q "Bloody Mary"]]. The last one is the current subject of a campaign by fans for it to be Gaga's next single.
15	*** The second one even made it into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1Dh5x-T8uE the end of a hit movie,]] ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots''!
16	** Also for fan favorites, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sNi9nIXxVo&feature=related "Scheiße"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyN5157_Xos&ob=av2e "Heavy Metal Lover"]] were the top two songs suggested by her favorite fan site to be her next single (after "The Edge Of Glory").
17	** Every track that showcases her piano-playing talents, like "Speechless" and "Again Again".
18	** Even though ARTPOP wasn't as commercially or critically successful as her other pieces, there are still some cracking tunes on it; "G.U.Y" and "Applause" definitely have their fans.
19	** Several of her songs from ''Film/AStarIsBorn2018'', especially "Shallow".
20	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
21	** The operatic opening to "Government Hooker" has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the song. It shows off her range, though.
22	** "Bloody Mary" also has a classical opening.
23	** She once advertised a therapeutic course she'd taken by posting a clip of herself on it wearing a blindfold while otherwise naked in a forest clearing, and loudly yelling. Literally no one has a clue what was going on.
24	* BrokenBase:
25	** Since the release of the "Born This Way" single, fans seem to have been locked in an endless debate as to whether is was really as groundbreaking as Gaga promised or just a rehash of Music/{{Madonna}}'s "Express Yourself", with a subtle bit of the Gap Band's "You Dropped a Bomb on Me."
26	** Fans of ''The Fame'' vs. fans of ''Born This Way''. Fans of the former will say that Gaga is no fun anymore, while fans of the latter will dismiss ''The Fame'' as vapid and fake when compared to ''Born This Way''. There's even a third group of fans who think the additional songs for ''The Fame'' featured in ''The Fame Monster'' are Gaga at her peak.
27	** ''ARTPOP'' quickly generated this debate from people; either she had made a fun, sexy, light-hearted comeback, or she dropped the ball and alienated fans left and right. It didn't help that it ended up being completely overshadowed by other albums upon release, despite the amount of effort she put into promoting it, and that two of the tracks ("Aura" and "Gypsy") could be seen as culturally insensitive. And let's not dig into "Do What U Want"…
28	** Her halftime show performance at Super Bowl LI was widely praised for great performances of several of her biggest hits, plus some subtly subversive bits like performing a snippet of "This Land Is Your Land" (originally written as a scathing anti-Fascism screed). But there's also a sizable group of people saying they were let down by her not taking the opportunity to be more overtly political like Beyonce the previous year, and especially upset that she got the same amount of attention for doing far less.
29	* CrossesTheLineTwice: Most of what she does, except for "Music/{{Telephone}}", which crossed it twice then looped around and crossed it twice again...[[RefugeInAudacity repeatedly]]
30	--> '''Butch Prison Guard 1''': I told you [[MemeticMutation she didn't have a dick]].\
31	'''Butch Prison Guard 2''': [[MsFanservice Too bad]].
32	%% * EpicRiff: "Poker Face", "Paper Gangsta", "Teeth", and "Bad Romance".
33	* FandomRivalry:
34	** Lady Gaga fans versus Music/TaylorSwift fans. Any thread discussing the former will bring up the latter as a point of debate, and vice versa. Gaga fans scoff at Taylor Swift's cutesy love songs and "anti-feminist undertones", while Taylor Swift fans dislike Gaga's hypersexual/controversial image and prefer their pop to be sweet. For the record, Gaga has said that she loves Taylor Swift, and Swift said the same, so the whole thing is pathetic. ''It's just the fans, '''not''' the personalities.''
35	** Also, there seems to be a rivalry between the Little Monsters and the fans of every other diva. Fans of Music/ChristinaAguilera and Music/{{Madonna}} are particularly aggressive in their hatred. Gaga fans are nasty and elitist to these woman too. And yet '''again''', Lady Gaga ''likes and respects'' the women (well, just respects Madonna), making the whole rivalry pointless.
36	** Also, between Plague Rats of Music/EmilieAutumn and Gaga's Little Monsters.
37	** For actual friction between personalities, Music/KatyPerry fans seems to have a distaste for her, though both singers are good friends in real life.
38	** There is a fairly vehement rivalry with Music/BillieEilish because Eilish criticized Lady Gaga's meat dress, resulting in Lady Gaga fans viewing her as a young upstart challenging a more established pop star, as well as an annoying vegan. Billie Eilish fans think this reaction is too extreme for a teenager expressing an opinion. For the record, she has said that she's happy about Billie Eilish being successful in her music career.
39	* FanNickname:
40	** Some people have taken to calling her "Godga", sometimes extended "Praise Godga!". Likewise, Beyoncé is sometimes called "Beysus".
41	** Gaga also has the nicknames of "Lady Caca" ("[[DontExplainTheJoke Spanish for "crap"]]), while would be insanely ironic; the name Lady Gaga came from a mishearing of Queen's song "Radio Ga Ga", which in TURN came from a mishearing of Roger Taylor's son saying "radio ca-ca" while listening to a bad song on the radio while Queen was in Los Angeles. And that's when it's not "Lady Cock-a", "Man Gaga", "Lady Gag", "Lady Gag-Gag", "Lady Gay-Gay" (a nod to her being an LGBT rights activist), "Lady Dada", "Mama Monster", "The Lady of Gagalupe", and "Ga-Galore". A tongue-in-cheek remix compilation done by Digital Vomit credited the tracks to her as "Lady Gagging."
42	** On the other hand, several fictional characters have also been nicknamed "Lady Gaga", generally because of their blond hair and/or their [[FashionVictimVillain outrageous]] [[ImpossiblyCoolClothes fashion]] [[TheFashionista senses]]. Here are some examples:
43	*** [[http://www.magiccards.info/som/en/26.html A card]] in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' (specifically nicknamed ''"OMG they killed Lady Gaga!"'')
44	*** [[FromBadToWorse And in the next expansion over,]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214352 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite]] has also been given the nickname "Lady Gaga".
45	*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipgiAgekNgY A space marine turned angelic emissary]] (including her OneWingedAngel form [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKiktw8PBms by endgame]]).
46	*** [[http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/7597/1289011748262.jpg Mrs. Chizuru Kirishiki]], from ''Literature/{{Shiki}}''.
47	*** [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Black_White_Elesa.png Elesa]] from VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite.
48	*** [[http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l525/KonaKonaFan/1291250-sprite_shiina_large.gif Shih-na]] from ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth''.
49	*** Gloria from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' as seen [[http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/174/d/f/df34210151f9d00e5c0e8814171738a1.jpg here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TCdA1wJBm4 here]]
50	*** [[http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Lissandra/SkinsTrivia?file=Lissandra%20OriginalSkin.jpg Lissandra]] from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''. Considering she looks a bit like Elesh Norn stated prior... yeah.
51	* FauxSymbolism: Sometimes there are so many visuals in her day to day life, her music videos, her shows, her outfits, some of them seem meaningless or don't make sense or directly conflict with the idea she says they are for.
52	* FetishRetardant: Though some have noted that she has the oddest habit of wearing makeup that makes her look like a man in drag, Lady Gaga has confirmed that she does indeed that she does this on purpose for whatever reason this may be.
53	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: While Gaga is indeed popular in the States, (though sometimes on the internet...she can be a bit of a divisive here in the USA), the Japanese love her. What with her unique fashion, combined with her pop songs, you could say, she was born for Japan.
54	* HilariousInHindsight:
55	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM51qOpwcIM "I'm gonna change the world with my lips."]]
56	** "Just Dance" contains the lyric "control your poison, babe". It didn't seem important at the time, but then came the video for "Telephone"… wherein Gaga and Music/{{Beyonce}} poison a man.
57	* LesYay:
58	** "Sexxx Dreams" seems to be about a female friend who she had a sexual dream about. The song doesn't specify the friend's gender in itself, but certain lyrics read like a pitch to experiment while their boyfriend's out of town, including the pre-chorus ("Heard your boyfriend was away this weekend/Wanna meet at my place?/Heard that we both have nothing to do").
59	** "Hey Girl", from the album Joanne, is essentially a love song duet between herself and Florence Welch.
60	* LGBTFanbase: On a truly massive scale. Gaga, of course, is well-known for embracing them as wholeheartedly as possible, and "Born This Way" cemented that.
61	* MagnumOpusDissonance: She feels that ''ARTPOP'' is her best work yet, but many Little Monsters think she reached her apex in Born This Way. Some fans, and most not so ardent/fence sitting fans prefer her The Fame Monster work the most.
62	* MemeticMutation:
63	** [[ImageMacro YES!]] [[http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/215/605/1323576712002.jpg THIS PLEASES GAGA!]]
64	** Troll Gaga/Mother Troll.
65	** It is common for Little Monsters to use 'ü' instead of 'you' or 'u', due to Lady Gaga saying "this album [''Born This Way''] is for ü [Little Monsters]."
66	** Laurieann Gibson, Gaga's choreographer, becoming a laughing stock in the Little Monster community after she went on an unintentionally hilarious Twitter rampage. Two tweets that went memetic were "listen u disrespectful fuck they had an issue on set I don’t lie!!!!!" and "ignorance breeds all this bad tweeting about someone u don’t know.", [[BeamMeUpScotty which morphed into just "you disrespectful fuk" and "ignorant breeds" respectively]].
67	** Some people are fond of photoshopping a certain face Gaga made into everything. [[http://gagacreeps.tumblr.com/ This blog is dedicated to the meme.]]
68	** Parodies of ''Born This Way'', which include ''[[http://screamflydream.tumblr.com/post/9218271992/mylifeaseddy-lady-gaga-bathe-this-way-oh-my Bathe This Way]]'' and ''[[http://laurieann-gibson.tumblr.com/post/8487829175/hotshitinbrooklyn-laurrieanns-debut-album Disrespect This Way]]'', and, of course, Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Perform This Way."
69	** Troll gifs of Gaga [[BlatantLies bashing her contemporaries.]] Then the meme broke out of the fandom and [[HumansAreMorons people started believing them.]]
70	** Fans like to photoshop [[http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m24n9y3YiI1qi67c0.jpg this face]] into everything as well.
71	** Buy "Applause" on iTunes.
72	** "It looks like _______ is/are the thing now", whenever Katy Perry does something Gaga had done before. This stems from an actual tweet once posted by Gaga in response to Katy using "green hair and mechanical horses" on her Prism tour, which Gaga has also used on her Born This Way Ball tour.
73	** "no negativity on this site thank u" (sic), posted by Gaga on her social networking site littlemonsters.com after a fan joked about Music/KatyPerry's lack of Grammy wins.
74	** "One second __________, then suddenly __________", derived from the "Applause" lyrics mentioned just below.
75	** [[http://toriamosvevo.tumblr.com/post/60713196629 YAAAAAS GAGA.]]
76	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBk0P27QGmc Talented. Brilliant. Incredible. Amazing. Show stopping. Spectacular. Never the same. Totally unique. Completely not ever been done before.]]
77	** Her love of reminding everyone about her italian descent.
78	** Her anecdote trotted out on every single stop of the ''A Star Is Born'' press tour, and with Gaga always acting like it was her first time saying it. All together now: "If you're in a room with 100 people, 99 don't believe in you..."
79	** The release of the "Stupid Love" video had lots of people claiming Gaga looks like a ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' villain. Even the [[https://twitter.com/powerrangers/status/1233282176864489472?s=21 Power Rangers Twitter]] got in on it.
80	** The unusual merchandise that came out as part of ''Chromatica'''s promotion, topped off by a vivid hot pink [[https://gaytimes.co.uk/culture/lady-gaga-is-selling-chromatica-jockstraps-and-fans-are-living-for-it/ jockstrap]]. PanderingToTheBase at both its finest and most hilarious.
81	** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20210912122508/https://twitter.com/ladygaga/status/1433570801865871362?lang=en I BELIEVE IN GOD]] [[note]]Gaga promoting the release of ''Dawn of Chromatica'' through a mish-mash of contemporary memes including [[Memes/LooneyTunes Big Chungus]] and [[Franchise/DespicableMe Minions]], topped off with [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants Gary the Snail]] wearing the aforementioned ''Chromatica'' jockstrap in place of his shell[[/note]].
82	* NarmCharm:
83	** And we don't want it any other way.
84	--->''I want your love\
85	LAAV LAAV LAAV"
86	** In the ''Bad Romance'' video, towards the end, we get a shot of her draped in a polar bear rug, pulling an epic pose with fire in the background. It's hilarious, jarring and it's one of the best moments in the entire video.
87	** So much of "Telephone", but especially the dialogue.
88	--->'''Music/{{Beyonce}}''': You've been a very bad girl. A very, very bad, bad girl, Gaga.
89	** Another "Telephone" example:
90	--->'''LET'S MAKE A SANDWICH'''
91	** The Gagacycle on the cover of ''Born This Way'' is arguably this.
92	** Speaking of Born This Way, "Hair" qualifies. It's about comparing her desire for individuality with her hair. it works!
93	** "Work it, Black Jesus."
94	** Gaga's [[LargeHam ham-tastic]] speech at the beginning of "Bad Kids."
95	** "Dirty pony I, can't wait to ''hose you down.''"
96	** ''I could be your girl/Girl, girl, girl, girl, girl/But would you love me/If I ruled the world, world, world?''
97	** ''I'll dance, dance, dance/With my hands, hands, hands/Above my head, head, head/Like Jesus said.''
98	** We could say a lot of her lyrics fall into this.
99	* PeripheryDemographic: She's actually very popular with middle aged women and mothers, probably because of her heavy Music/{{Madonna}} influence.
100	* PresumedFlop: Ask anyone on the performance of her 2013 album ''Artpop'', and most will say that it was a flop, marking the point when she fumbled away her success overnight. However, in spite of lukewarm reviews and a genuine waning of mainstream interest, ''Artpop'' did sell very well -- it was her second number 1 debut on Billboard with 258,000 copies on the first week, and the ninth global best-selling album of 2013 with 2.3 million copies worldwide. A lot of the exaggeration can be attributed to the fact that it was underperformance ''for Gaga standards'' -- many compare it to ''Born This Way'' and its monolithic 1.1 million first-week sales, though even that figure is misleading given that album's unusual rollout, consequent sharp decline[[note]]''Born This Way'' was such a once-in-a-lifetime success that it [[https://www.spin.com/2011/11/lady-gaga-fire-sale-leads-change-billboard-chart-rules/ caused Billboard henceforth to change its entire criteria on what counts as an "album sale"]][[/note]], and resting at its own comparable 2.5 million in total lifetime sales. [[https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5862267/lady-gaga-discounts-rumors-hints-at-deception-in-website-vent Gaga was particularly offended by the rumor started by Examiner]] that ''Artpop'' led to a $25 million loss and massive layoffs, [[CommonKnowledge a claim which was spread by many news outlets at the time despite its lack of substantial proof.]]
101	* RetroactiveRecognition: She had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it background role in ''Series/TheSopranos'' as one of [=AJ's=] friends in the scene where they destroyed the swimming pool.
102	* SugarWiki/SheReallyCanAct: Gaga won a Golden Globe for her role in ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryHotel''. Her performance in ''Film/AStarIsBorn2018'' also received widespread acclaim and she was nominated for an Oscar.
103	* SignatureSong: Generally considered to be between "Poker Face" and "Bad Romance". "Just Dance" and "Born This Way" probably the runners-up.
104	* SoBadItsGood: Many of her outfits have been the subject of mockery due to how unprofessional it is for her to wear food. The infamous meat dress comes to mind.
105	%%* {{Squick}}: The meat dress.
106	* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4a8QtvOkbQ Born this Way]]" is very similar to Music/{{Madonna}}'s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsVcUzP_O_8 Express Yourself]]" both in terms of sound and theme. Madonna herself decided to take a shot at this by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4Y4xvG3gbM singing the chorus of Gaga's song during her's]]. Gaga {{Lampshaded}} it in a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch where she performed an alleged CoverVersion of "Express Yourself" that was actually "Born This Way". Also, there's a subtle bit of the Gap Band's "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" in there too.
107	* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks: Similarities have been found between songs of hers and songs from years past, and this is used by many of her haters as a justification for hating her.
108	* ViewerGenderConfusion: Her outlandish makeup and outfits are often quite comparable to those of drag queens, which left many people wondering if she was one in the earlier phases of her career.
109	* WinBackTheCrowd: "Aura", a considerably more fun and less serious track, drew back many folks who had dismissed Gaga after "Born This Way" took a turn into the preachy and serious. "Artpop" also regained many fans who ditched her due to Born This Way.
110	** Some of her recent costumes have been less flashy and more "normal", likely as a way to avoid alienating her more casual fans.
111	** Conversely, her re-embrace of the campy ''Fame''-era dance-pop and outlandish costumes in ''Chromatica'' won back a number of fans who were concerned her success with ''Joanne'' and ''A Star Is Born'' would see her continue to pursue a cleaner, more "normal" image.
112
113	----
114	[[AC:Music videos:]]
115
116	!!!Telephone
117	* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Inverted. There's ''so much'' in terms of {{Fanservice}} that [[MindScrew Everyone Remembers The Sandwich]] instead.
118	%% ** Also, the murder.
119	* LesYay: The scenes between Beyonce and Gaga seem to reflect this.
120
121	!!!Alejandro
122	* FauxSymbolism: On top of her usual incredibly dense (and somewhat confusing) symbolism, this one is packed full of red skintight nun habits, KnightTemplar robes (though the trope itself doesn't quite apply), and EATING rosary beads.
123	** She told Larry King before it premiered there was a central theme about Don't Ask, Don't Tell. While it might be hard to pick that up on its own, knowing about it in advance and applying the context could result in a TearJerker.
124	*** Or perhaps another indication may be you shouldn't be so quick to [[FlatWhat accept her metaphors too literally]]. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Out-of-context visual allegory inconsistent with the writing and that requires her yelling "SPOILERS!!" into a megaphone to understand should be a tip-off.]]
125	** Other sources, like the director, have said that it's about moving on after losing your love, and that the Rosary eating was symbolic of wanting to take holiness into one's self. The video is...layered.
126
127	!!!Born This Way
128	%%* LesYay
129	* {{Misblamed}}: She took a hit for [[http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/the-gaga-saga/ supposedly refusing to let Weird Al release a parody of "Born This Way"]], which sparked controversy given that all proceeds from the sale of the song and its video would go to the Human Rights Campaign (a LGBT group that Gaga would presumably support). As it turned out, however, this was done by her manager--[[http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/gaga-update/ who didn't even bother to show her the song]], and insisted to hear a finished song before giving it any further consideration (something Al took time off of his family vacation to do). Gaga herself gave Al full approval once she was able to actually hear the parody [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss_BmTGv43M Here it is]].
130	%%* NauseaFuel: The "birthing" sequences.
131	* NightmareFuel: Bucketloads of it. Mainly, Gaga dancing while looking like a skeleton and the Gaga-factory.
132
133	!!!Judas
134	* FauxSymbolism: The number of Biblical/Christian allegories in the music video (and the song itself) is ''astounding'', see ThemeNaming in the Music tab.
135	* MisaimedFandom: This song got a whole lot of flak from evangelical Christians... Even though Gaga clearly states in-song that "Jesus is my virtue" and "Judas" is used as a metaphor for the kind of people that good people should avoid.
136
137	!!!Marry the Night
138	* LesYay: Gaga mentions the nurses who are wheeling her bed - "You see that nurse on the right? She has a great ass." nurse bends over "Bam."
139	%%* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible

Context YMMV / LadyGaga