The first thing I have learned during studying English Literature for 4 years is that paying attention criticizing and judging the art work not the artist. I believe that the artist should hide behind her/his art work and do not explain it to the audience for many reason. One because explaining it you are depriving the work from its mysteriously and you are preventing this viewer from working out her/his mind in order to at least think about the hidden meaning (if there was one) behind your art work. Unfortunately, I didn’t do that when it came to music. I always tended to judge the person behind the work. One of my victims is Lady Gaga.
When it comes to this performer I stop to think for a little while because simply she doesn’t clarifies herself at least to me in other words I’m not sure if I like her or not. Before discussing my feelings towards her I want to mention how silly we are (the audience) in so many ways. Monthly or maybe daily a new performer appears on the scene in many genres rock, pop, R&B, rap, country music…etc and we directly assume that we are supposed to love them all, but the truth is totally the opposite first because we are human and we can’t love or at least like everyone, we most of the times hate ourselves so imagine when it comes to love a stranger! And also because we were born or lets say raised to a specific or a particular kind of music, personally because of my admiration to gothic novels and well written thriller and horror movies I tend to bend over the side of rock or soft rock music especially the ones that deal with the dark side of the world and humanity, but it also doesn’t hold me back from listening and enjoying by singing along to hundreds of pop and country songs. Going back to hating and liking the new performers who pop out regularly on our T.V screens, our You Tube channel, and radio stations without our permission of course, these people for sure are one of us, they might be our neighbor, daughter, son, brother, second cousin, an old friend from high school, a person who we once dated, or met at a party, or even a teenager who we liked and subscribed his or her videos over lonely nights. These people who because of several reason such as luck, hard work, money, relations, fate, or simply talents succeeded to live this dream that many of us desire which is to be famous in particularly in art, because you can be famous in any field you wish.
These people who started by presenting themselves through a song or an album are testing us in the same way we are testing them. They feel afraid from the rejection, they feel pressured from their producers and production companies because if they didn’t sell well, or the people didn’t accept them as expected their contract will be cancelled. Once we start to feel a connection between ourselves and their music and personalities their stock in fame house starts to rise and the more we buy their albums, watch their videos, buy tickets for their concerts their star shines more and more till like the others who preceded them thy melt in that sky away from us to appear later as a god figure who writes songs and sings them for us, dresses and speaks and supports specific cases in our name, not because they should believe in that, but it’s an industry an open market where you have to meet the demander’s needs and our need is to listen to a good music that makes us cry, reminds us of an old lover, a dead beloved one, a betrayer, a mean friend, and a lost land, or motivates us to pursue our dreams and to make us believe that there is nothing called impossible and we have to believe in ourselves because we worth it, and each one of us is beautiful in his or her own way and we are all equal regardless to our different colors, origins, languages, sexual orientation, religion, political views, and music tastes. Isn’t this what they provide us with! To be who you are! Which it is great! Really great! And we should learn from them from their songs, despite knowing that most of them (not all of them) are saying that because this is what we want them to say in front of the cameras, because non of us want to see his or her favorite artist glorifies what is suppose to be forbidden in any culture such as sex before marriage in (conservative cultures) or unprotected sex, drugs, alcohols, blasphemy, suicide, self punishments, or any other kind of “wrong” behavior you may believe in.
The truth is that all of them do at least one of these things, whether you like it or not! Not because they want to challenge you! No! But because they are human like us! Like the people who do these things and watch them!
All of this leads me to start talking about Gaga! Gaga no one can deny that she’s a clever woman who knows what she’s doing, she targeted her audience from the beginning, and sharp her claws against her enemies by producing a special kind of music that she believes that it’s missing and her fans need it much. I totally agree with her when it comes to this point, because the subjects she’s arguing about in her songs were used to be some how “forbidden subjects” and all the performers who came before her such as Madonna have talked about the same subjects (sex. religion, expressing yourself, duality in feelings and sexuality, pushing the boundaries, challenging the self) and much more but in a lower doze, or that what some people are comfortable to say.
In 2008, Gaga has appeared with her hit album “Fame” and in a blink of an eye she was transferred from a new comer into a diva! An icon of fashion, music and an idol for many people, who maybe have lost their faith in their traditional idols, for several reasons.
One song after the other, one video and after the other, one concert after the other Gaga has found herself climbing the leader of fame in the lightning speed; of course I can’t say that fate has only played a role in all of this! No, and then another No. Gaga isn’t a stupid or a brat performer who leaves everything to her manager or production company to do instead of her, she’s a control freak who knows about every single thing when it comes to her clothes, shows and songs, she doesn’t do anything without a deep pre thinking about it, even the most controversial songs, I believe that she has deliberately meant to put controversial words or images to provoke and to make people talk about her! Isn’t this what all famous people would kill for! Talking about them by the press and people! Yah sure, fame is all about being under the spot light, and what is the other to break through this human mountain of extremely talented people if you don’t want to shine by screaming “I’m different”!
Hell yah she’s different, whether I like it or not! She’s different and she’s working on herself to be more different because unlike the real world where being different means being an outsider, being a freak, being bullied on, being an alien! In fame being different means being more talented and creative.
I love creative people in any field, I love the artists who know what they want to present to the people, and they work hard on attracting people’s eyes to their art works and then leave it to them to decide if they like it or not! And you may not find one person in the world that all the people agree on, even Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself for the sake of humanity you will find millions of people who if they hate him, don’t believe in him, or even don’t know about him, and we are talking about Jesus! Not a simple human being like Gaga!
Why some people hate Gaga that much!
I asked myself this question before asking it to you, and the answer isn’t simple because you can’t frame or define a person with labels. I know that we have invented millions of labels to differentiate ourselves from others and this is very wrong because we are more than a word, more than a color or a desire! We are humans and humans learn by experience and I believe that judging a person just because he or she believes in a different thing than we do is a huge wrong.
Many people hate Lady Gaga’s music as if we are all supposed to love her and it’s a shock to hate her. Okay, I hate Marilyn Manson and no protests on that, because it’s my own opinion and I don’t have to force it on others. I may say that I don’t like Lady Gaga and that’s it, the best thing to do in this case is to not listen to her music, to not watch her videos if they offend me in a certain way, and by that I’m ending this fight between myself and the other over a singer who is one of hundreds or thousands of other singers who do the same but because she got this extra attention from media and people, the judgments are harder on her.
The other reason for hating her by some people is the use of many symbolic biblical symbols in her songs and videos! But who doesn’t do that? I’m not saying that it’s right or wrong? But who doesn’t! Madonna did and still does, and people attacked her when she started mixing those sexual themes with the religious ones and look now what doe we have, Gaga who is whether you like it or not, the new Madonna, she looks a lot like her, she dresses a lot like her, some of her hit songs sound like Madonna’s her logo of being who you are and expressing yourself was presented before she was even born, by Madonna, and now we are attacking her forgetting that if we surfed the net for half an hour we would find many other artists who do worst than this. Especially after examining some of her controversial songs, where she uses the name of Christ a lot, cross, holy, God, Judas, and many other references to Christianity I found out that she’s using them to express a deeper thought, or using them as a metaphor or an allusion to another thing which is totally healthy and acceptable in Art, so why do they attack her this much!
The answer is because according to some people, she’s using these symbols in an inappropriate way, but who gave us the right to say that? God? Jesus? The Church? Yes, maybe…. And maybe not, if you want to study it from the point of view that thinks that religion is for everyone, you are free to understand it in your own way, no one will come to force you to believe in something you don’t believe in, or now one will change your thought about a certain aspect if you really aren’t ready to be changed. I believe in Jesus, but I don’t go to church, it has been a long time since I went there, I don’t pray a lot, maybe when I need something, or when I feel in a need of a higher power to look upon me, which is wrong and this again my belief, so why do I have to judge her while I’m not a good Christian, and who said that I should judge her! I can criticize her work, say what I like in it and what I didn’t and why, I can stop listing to her and to move to another artist who meets my expectations and shares with me my beliefs, and this just ends this struggle inside of me and inside of many others.
At, last, I have reached a conclusion, that I don’t hate Lady Gaga, but I don’t like some of her songs and some of her late videos because they in my point of you misrepresent some of the things I believe in, and I’m ready to listen to her as a performer, to dance on her songs, but not necessarily to call myself a fan and after all she’s not my idol, or even an inspirational person, because I have other people who inspire me to be a better person and to love myself without singing “Born this way!”
No comments:
Post a Comment