Saturday, January 23, 2010
For Lady Gaga, Every Concert Is a Drama
NYTimes.com: "In her stunningly gruesome extravaganza at Radio City Music Hall, Lady Gaga scowls more than she smiles, muses about dying and appears on vast video screens vomiting, being slapped and generally being abused. “Fame is killing me,” she says. Death becomes her."
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13 comments:
I haven't made up my mind about Lady GaGa. I think it's a bit of an understatement to label her as just a "pop-star." I think her music is more performance art than anything else. She's only known as a pop-star because she took a route through the music industry and into the hearts of scantily clad teenagers who wear too much eyeliner. The horror aspect isn't anything new. If you ask me, Cindy Sherman has got that covered. However, her clear position and views on life are expressed through her work. So whether you like it or not, she's an artist. That's not to say that musical artists aren't real "artists," they are, but I think there's a clear distinction. I think a true musical artist doesn't need the flash and the spectacle. Their songs speak for themselves, and people will respond if they are genuinely good (most of the time...) Being a musical entertainer is what I would call Britney Spears...really talented, but by no means an artist. Lady GaGa shouldn't really fall into the music industry in my opinion. Her focus isn't on the music, it's on the show and what it's saying. That's perfectly fine, but I'm a little tired of people calling her a pop-star. She's anything but.
I would have loved to see Lady Gaga in concert. Seeing videos of her performances, the set, the costumes and the overall attitude of the show- it creates a dynamic of mockery in a stylish sense of acceptance. But thats my problem. Lady Gaga is mockery of our culture, but comedians have been doing it. Just because she wears eccentric clothing and has a wilder personality, she is suddenly great. She is the very thing she mocks.
Yes, she is a performance artist, not an artist. Yes, she is always pushing the line. But where does the line stop? As she continues into fame I am delighted to see where that is. My thoughts are that she will push it and it wont be acceptable and thus she will turn back into what she mocks. A nothing artist.
I agree that Lady Gaga is a performance artist, not just an artist. I think her manipulation of both the music industry and her mockery of youth culture today. She makes outrageous statements about sex and appearances "shocks" society, but she knows exactly what to say in order to cause her popularity to rise and rise. Every piece of her career is brilliantly calculated and well executed. I can't wait to see how her mockery of society will continue, and what she will have to say with her well earned power.
I am myself am still not gaga for gaga, but I do appreciate the brilliance of her own self image and marketing skills to make herself a central image in today's pop culture. It's very interesting that the fans or "monsters" that have created her into the fame she has are the very same thing that could eventually destroy her, a point to quite obviously points out.
To some extent, I feel Lady Gaga is just throwing glitz and glam and shock tactics to excited the fans and press to keep paying attention to her. On the other hand, it has worked brilliantly and has millions entranced from her own hyped up image. Perhaps I don't like her "style", but I respect like Ariel said as a performing artist.
A vocal major friend of mine accurately summed it up for me. She said Lady Gaga could have a really good voice, but that's not her main concern. Lady Gaga's main concern is not her music but her persona and the performance she gives. She achieves this remarkably well, however i do wonder what exists under the craziness and makeup and elaborate costumes.
First off, I think the fact that this article is under the Theater, and not the Music section of the New York Times really emphasizes what the comments so far have been saying about Lady Gaga being a performance artist, and not just a musician. I think the main difference between what she does with her work, and what most others who comment on society is that she has allowed her statement to become her life. By forcing us to look at what pop and celebrity mean, and their downfalls through someone who is embracing it, it has more of an impact than just singing about it or writing about it. I think the point of the "little monsters" is that she has become so popular that people who like her work, and also understand the meaning behind it are on some level hypocritical. That being said, I personally would like to see one of her shows, for the spectacle of it.
While I'm not the biggest fan of Lady Gaga and her music, I believe that this article, and the various other comments already made make a very clear point. Looking at videos of her live performances, as well as her more recent music videos, her focus is more on the performance of various music videos, and stories through the videos and live performance, and that seems to be more of her focus rather than the music sometimes. As everyone else has noted, this puts her outside of the realm of a pop star, or musician. Have no doubt that that does not make her an artist. She is an artist, and she is able to effectively use her music as well as marketing and other methods to promote her own performance art. Her approach is very unique, and I think it's interesting to follow how she has progressed. I think as the various other comments have shown, she is a thought-provoking subject, and I think a lot of people are interested to see where she goes from her, and while I don't really like all her work, she's still managed to get my attention despite that, and I'll be interested to see what she does next
While I'm not a real fan of Lady Gaga's music, I am generally incredibly impressed and interested with what she has chose to do with her touring sets as well as her music videos. While there are numeral differences, her videos and even her set are in many ways similar to heavy metal bands like Rammstein and GWAR who treat their concerts like over the top stage productions. While I am an avid concert goer, the concerts that stand out most in my mind as the good or great ones are the ones that have been more then just concerts. I am both pleased and now intrigued by what bringing this more narrative and spectacle based concert approach to the more popular veins of music will do to the concert experience as a whole and can only hope that more bands follow Lady Gaga's example.
Even if you don't like her music, this woman knows how to put on a show. Nothing about Lady Gaga is average, and there is no reason why her concerts shouldn't feel as though the audience has had a bad trip down the rabbit hole. Including videos and what seem like astoundingly complicated scenic elements (nevermind the five inch heels and haute couture wardrobe) in her performance isn't what necessarily makes her different from other artists. Madonna has fancy outfits, everyone likes their face on the jumbo tron for those poor suckers in the nosebleeds.
Its that she herself is a performer, and she knows how to work an audience. Gaga talks to them, entraptures the audience into her world with all of the elements I've mentioned, and they believe it. And that is what I think makes good theatre.
Lady GaGa ( or at least her creative team) is pretty damn smart. When you first hear her music she just seems so superficial, and I guess that's what she actually is, but she at least makes herself seem like more. Now more than ever, people want someone they can relate to. With the way the world is right now, it's much easier to relate to a dark pop star than it is to relate to a happy, bouncy Britney Spears type. People want reality, while at the same time they want to get away, and Lady GaGa gas found the way to do that.
I agree with everyone that Lady GaGa is just throwing glitz into everything to make more money, but doesn't almost every musical artist of her caliber do that? Responding to Sharisse, I think that almost all pop stars do exactly what Lady GaGa is doing right now. Have you ever seen Madonna in concert? It's not so different than this, yet the majority of people are not ashamed to call her the queen of pop.
I'm with Shar. I haven't completely been able to decide when it comes to Lady Gaga I respect her talent, and the carefully calculated spectacles she makes. She has clearly analyzed the role of what it means to be a "pop-princess" and is playing to the exact opposite. As the article said, she seems to have a love-hate relationship with her fans. Or rather, with the effect of having fans. Her songs are perpetually talking about how terrible fame is, but, at the same time, how addictive it is. Honestly, I can't decide if I (and everyone I know) are more attracted to her persona, her music, or just the way she markets herself.
I really like the point this article made though, about this show v. musical theater. It would be interesting if more shows tried to incorporate this kind of "pop" theme, instead of throwing in a jumble of songs. Lady Gaga concerts sound like theater--mostly spectacle--more than they sound like a concert. Admittedly the kinds of concerts I enjoy involve bands like the Grateful Dead.
I love Lady GaGa. I love her music, its catchy, its clever, and its fun to sing and dance to. I feel like not one person who commented said that they liked her music so I'm saying so. Sure she puts on a show and wears insane costumes, but she's not the first to do that. Madonna did that, as has been mentioned, but what about Cher. I saw her in concert for her first farewell tour and she had so many costume changes, I lost count. Some of her entrances were just her walking out on stage, others involved grand staircases that lit up, and others still had her flying in from some sort of shiny contraption. So, Lady Gaga is not the first, she's just the newest. I think what makes GaGa is that the show or Drama doesn't start and stop with the opening and closing of the curtain. I think someone mentioned this, but she has made her life the show. That’s a kind of dedication that draws people in. It seems like no one knows if she actually insane and over the top or just really clever and calculating, using the image of insanity to create a GaGa empire. I am excited to see where GaGa is going and what she is going to do next.
I am a big fan of Lady Gaga, and it is mainly because of the fact that her performances are so entirely unique. Lady Gaga knows how to appeal to her audience theatrically, and also has the talent to support her massive productions. Anytime I see one of her performances, I wonder how many hours of planning go into what is sometimes a few minutes of a song. In one song, Gaga has fire, a suspended piano, and glass shattering. This requires so much planning, and is pulled off beautifully.
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