Western culture, and much of the remaining world, is gaga over Lady Gaga. She is a phenomenon in the entertainment industry. She’s a record setter in the music business. She’s a pop icon. She’s a joy to all her fans (called “little monsters”). She’s an enigma to some who want to understand her. She’s a freak to many…let’s say…over 30.
Lady Gaga wants to be and should be noticed. Her understanding and influence on western culture alone should get our attention. There are lessons to learn here.
I, myself, am a terrible student of pop culture. I announced God’s call on my life in the latter quarter of the last century and moved into bibles, books and bubbles. I’ve lived in the seminary bubble, the church bubble, the conservative bubble, the family bubble and the missions bubble. I’ve been like a little fetus in my mother’s womb of contentment…sleeping, eating, growing, and oblivious in so many ways. The bubble has burst.
Lady Gaga arrived on my radar screen in early 2010. (I know. I know. It’s an old screen.) Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly described her as a marketing genius. Until then I probably thought she was the newest freak in the hit parade, Madonna on steroids.
I saw her on the David Letterman show recently and was impressed with her savvy and wit. I thought she was engaging and funny. Note to self: look into this Lady Gaga.
“Gaga came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album The Fame (2008), which was a critical and commercial success and achieved international popularity with the singles “Just Dance” and “Poker Face“. The album reached number one on the record charts of six countries, topped the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart while simultaneously peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and accomplished positions within the top ten worldwide. Achieving similar worldwide success, The Fame Monster (2009), its follow-up, produced a further two global chart-topping singles “Bad Romance” and “Telephone” and allowed her to embark on her second global concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just months after having finished her first, The Fame Ball Tour. Her second studio album Born This Way, released in May 2011, topped the charts in all major musical markets, after the arrival of its eponymous lead single “Born This Way“, which achieved the number-one spot in countries worldwide and was the fastest-selling single in iTunes history, selling one million copies in five days.” (Source: Wikipedia)
Recent headlines include these:
“Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance most played son of 2010”
“Lady Gaga receives U.S. fashion icon award”
“Lady Gaga remains atop U.K album chart”
“Lady Gaga learning sign language to communicate with deaf fans”
“Lady Gaga’s new album sells over 1.1 million copies in first week”
You get the idea. She’s a huge success in the music industry. She’s famous and that’s exactly what she planned to be.
One more headline, see what you make of this.
“Lady Gaga: ‘I only pray to women’”
http://www.metrolyrics.com/2011-lady-gaga-i-only-pray-to-women-news.html
So, how’s she connecting with so many fans? Here’s a sampling of her lyrics.
We don’t care what people say
We know the truth
Enough is Enough with this horse shit
I am not a freak
I was born with my free gun
Don’t tell me I’m less then my freedom
I’m a bitch… I’m a loser baby maybe I should quit
I’m a jerk… Wish I had the money but I can’t find work
I’m a brat… I’m a selfish put I really should be smacked
My parents tried… until they got divorced ’cause I ruined their lives
I’m a bad kid and I will survive
Oh I’m a bad
Don’t know wrong from right
I’m a bad kid and this is my life
One of the bad kids
Don’t know wrong from right
Don’t be insecure if your heart is pure
You’re still good to me if you’re a bad kid baby
Don’t be insecure if your heart is pure
You’re still good to me if you’re a bad kid baby (A bad kid baby)
A bad kid baby
(From the song Bad Kids)
In the most Biblical sense,
I am beyond repentance
Fame hooker, prostitute wench vomits her mind
But in the cultural sense
I just speak in future tense
Judas, kiss me if offenced,
Or wear ear condom next time
I wanna love you,
But something’s pulling me away from you
Jesus is my virtue,
And Judas is the demon I cling to
I cling to
[Chorus]
I’m just a Holy fool
Oh, baby, it’s so cruel
But I’m still in love with Judas, baby
I’m just a Holy fool
Oh, baby, it’s so cruel
But I’m still in love with Judas, baby
(From the song Judas)
Check out more of her lyrics on her website. You’ll get a much better feel for her person and her message than you will from this small sampling.
http://www.ladygaga.com/lyrics/default.aspx
Lady Gaga is an outspoken feminist, strong supporter of gay rights (She’s expected to speak at the Gay Pride march in Rome this Saturday), admits to drinking a lot of whiskey and smoking a lot of pot while writing her songs, says shes wears her makeup to bed waiting for the man of her dreams, has crazy hair, wears outlandish and expensive costumes, and…grew up in an Italian Catholic home in New York, attending an all girls Catholic school. She was…
“…born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta on March 28, 1986, in New York City.[10] The first child of Italian American Joseph Germanotta, an internet entrepreneur, and Cynthia (née Bissett),[11] Gaga has one sister, Natali, born in 1992.[12] Gaga is left-handed[13] and began learning to play piano aged four, went on to write her first piano ballad at 13 and began performing at open mike nights by age 14.[14] Gaga was raised a Roman Catholic.[15] At the age of 11, Gaga attended Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private all-girls Roman Catholic school on Manhattan’s Upper East Side,[16][17] but has stressed that she does not come from a wealthy background, saying that her parents “both came from lower-class families, so we’ve worked for everything—my mother worked eight to eight out of the house, in telecommunications, and so did my father.”…
…At age 17 Gaga gained early admission to the New York University‘s Tisch School of the Arts and lived in a NYU dorm on 11th Street. There she studied music and improved her songwriting skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion, social issues and politics.[14][23] Gaga wrote a thesis on pop artists Spencer Tunick and Damien Hirst; research that prepared her for her future career focus in “music, art, sex and celebrity.”[24] Gaga felt that she was more creative than some of her classmates. “Once you learn how to think about art, you can teach yourself,” she said. By the second semester of her sophomore year, she withdrew from the school to focus on her musical career.[25] Her father agreed to pay her rent for a year, on the condition that she re-enroll at Tisch if she was unsuccessful. “I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate shit until somebody would listen,” she said.”
Source: Wikipedia — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Gaga
Appearing on the CBS news program 60 Minutes this past Sunday, Lady Gaga confessed to being a student of fame. She told Anderson Cooper, “When I was 18, I was telling everyone I was going to be a superstar.” She describes herself today as “…a master of the art of fame.” Cooper says, “Make no mistake about it. Lady Gaga uses the photographers as much as they use her.” She however described her early years as feeling like a freak, not fitting in and feeling like she would never belong. It’s this kind of honesty and insight that so connects with her fans. Her shows are high energy and described by Cooper as “…an uplifting mantra of self-empowerment and self-acceptance.
She’s the most talked about entertainer in the world. She has 7 hit songs in the last 3 years. She’s loved and adored by fans worldwide while mystifying the rest of us. If we want to understand a large part of western culture and in some small way extend the influence of Jesus Christ, we might want to ask and answer a couple of questions about Lady Gaga.
Why are her fans so fanatical? Or as I ask myself, why do so many “sinners” (We’re all sinners.) love to hear her?
- They feel accepted by her. She tells them they were made the way they are and they should be themselves.
- They feel she understands them. Her lyrics say what her fans are thinking in their heads and saying to anyone who will listen. She listens to them.
- She is accessible to them. Through her market savvy and today’s social media tools, Gaga is more available than any pop star in history. She is often found on Twitter tweeting with her fans.
- She has a positive message of self-acceptance and self-empowerment. She tells them they’re beautiful just the way they are.
- She does not judge them.
- She joins with them in social causes.
- She constantly tells them how much she loves them and all of the above demonstrates this to them.
What does any of this have to do with following Jesus? What are the lessons we might learn from Lady Gaga?
- People want to be accepted just the way they are. Don’t judge them. Don’t ostracize them. Include them in you life and community. If and when they decide to follow Jesus, you’re the person they’ll ask for help.
- People want to be understood. Listen to them. Ask probing questions but not leading questions. Don’t try to get them to tell you what you want to hear.
- Stop trying to control or fix people’s behavior. If and when they want your help, they’ll let you know.
- Put yourself in a position to hear and receive the criticism of others. Take some of it seriously. (Gaga uses twitter, official site chats and market surveys.)
I’m not asking you to become famous. I’m not suggesting you adopt Lady Gaga’s dogma, morals, or behaviors. I’m suggesting people of influence in our culture need to be understood. They tell us much about the culture we wish to influence.
Jesus lived his life on the margins of his society. He was clearly subversive and a part of the counter-culture. He rejected the values and mores of the elite in his culture but deeply loved and understood its people. He ate and celebrated with people on the margins. We could never do better than to follow him.
Tags: 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper, Bill O'Reilly, Catholic, CBS News, Christianity, Church, culture, David Letterman, Discipleship, Gay Pride March, Jesus Christ, Lady Gaga
