As the decades quickly fly by, music, fashion, toys, and fads die out along with the year. But, often, there are reappearances sometime in the future. Pop music was the genre of music being played and being sung along to during the late 90’s. But eventually, the genre came to a halting stop. For a while, rap, r ‘n b, rock, alternative, indie, and many other new genres took over the radios. But little did society know, there was an artist waiting for her break. She was waiting for the right time to resurrect pop music. In 2008, her time arrived. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta brought back pop music. Society’s first impression of Germanotta, whom is popularly known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is nowhere near the impression she makes today. She has created a bizarre reputation for herself, which often lands her on the front page of the tabloids and makes her one of the most talked about celebrity. While her music and her fashion style may inspire someone, it might be offensive to another. But nonetheless, Lady Gaga is a worldwide sensation and her fame does not seem to cease with all the new and random surprises she has in store for her fans and for the rest of the world.

Lady Gaga’s debut album produced over four number one hits. After the songs and videos premiered, she has been the new artist to keep an eye on. “Just Dance”, “Poker Face”, “LoveGame”, and “Bad Romance” have gotten the “Paparazzi” following her every move. Her debut album became an instant hit with over 15 million copies sold worldwide (Bio). Lady Gaga became the topic of celebrity gossip. During the early years of her professional outbreak into the mainstream society, she has been said to be the new “it” girl. The spotlight would be on her everywhere she goes. Lady Gaga has accumulated numerous accusations of copying other artists and celebrities. However, people could still sense her own creativity and uniqueness. And even though comparisons of Lady Gaga to Madonna are still being made, people were just waiting for her assets to make their grand entrance, which will set her apart from all other talents.

The 25-year-old artist grew up in the world of music. Born on March 28, 1986 in Manhattan, New York, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was, and still is, a determined and hard-working individual. By the young age of four, she started piano lessons and by her early teenage years, she had already started writing lyrics. She took pleasure in performing in front of crowds. “She… [Even] performed at open mike nights at age 14” (Q&A: A Little Lady Gaga History). Born and raised a Catholic, she attended Sacred Heart School, a private Catholic school in New York. Germanotta described herself as “… the arty girl, the theater chick. I dressed differently and I came from a different social class from the other girls. I was more of an average schoolgirl with a cork" (Q&A: A Little Lady Gaga History). After dropping out of New York University, Lady Gaga started performing on the Lower East Side of New York. Streamline Records had signed her onto the label as a songwriter. However, her voice was discovered by another famous artist and owner of a record label, Akon, who later signed her onto Kon Live Distribution (Lady Gaga). From there on, her reign of fame exploded to all different parts of the world.

What makes Lady Gaga one of the most talked about celebrity in today’s society is the physical interpretations of her music through all of her outrageous outfits and controversial music videos. Shortly after her break into the mainstream society, Lady Gaga started dressing differently, to say the least. Her outfits kept evolving from creative and functional to “What is that thing?” or “How is she moving in that outfit?” The majority of fans say that fashion is her creative outlet, but others say that those outfits are a safety hazard. Lady Gaga always seems to have a surprise up her sleeve when it comes to fashion. One day, she might let loose all of her creativity, but the next, she is in a normal, everyday outfit. The controversy rises since one can never know what to expect each day from her. Lady Gaga shocked, disgusted, and confused many people at the 2010 MTV’s Video Music Awards. Showing up and receiving an award in a Franc-Fernandez one-of-a-kind outfit - “one-of-a-kind,” meaning, “the kind of outfit that is better off being worn once” – Lady Gaga had many sitting on the edge of their seats in bewilderment. This outfit, which probably came straight out of a freezer, was composed of the flesh of dead animals, literally from head to toe (Lady Gaga – Top 10 Controversies). Her attire, which is made from the flesh of dead animals, is still probably one of her biggest controversies to date.

Along with her bizarre outfits, Lady Gaga has been known to push people’s buttons with her music videos, especially the people of the Church. In one of her music videos, “Alejandro,” she was dressed in a nun’s robe while swallowing Rosary Beads (Lady Gaga Alejandro Video Courts Religious Controversy). This video left many Catholics appalled. Many made remarks of her actions being blasphemous. She has already greatly disappointed Catholics and Christians with this video, even after she claims to be religious and raised Catholic. Recently, Lady Gaga released one of her newest songs “Judas” along with the music video. This song outraged more religious people and was taken as another swipe at the church. The song is about Lady Gaga worshipping and proclaiming her love for Judas, an apostle who betrayed Jesus (Lady Gaga’s ‘Judas’ Upsets Religious Groups). Watching the video, one will notice a man wearing what seems to be a gold plated crown of thorns. Paying close attention to the video, one will also notice Lady Gaga wearing plenty of crosses, along with a jacket with the “Sacred Heart” attached to the front. There is also a quick scene where Lady Gaga’s action can be interpreted as “washing someone’s feet”, an action Jesus did in the Bible. The people of the Church were greatly frustrated by the use of significant objects and actions in her music videos, especially “Alejandro” and “Judas”.

After listening to Lady Gaga’s music, people began to question her ability to sing, as well as her musical knowledge. Narrow-mindedness is the theme of today’s society, especially when it comes to celebrities. It must always be black and white, if they can act or not, if they can play instruments or not, or if they can sing or not. However, society tends to overlook and ignore certain facts, such as all the time and hard work an artist puts into a song, and only focuses on the negative appearances or the result of the final product. Pop music does not take much to pull off nowadays especially with all of the advanced technology and editing that can be done to a recording. But, Lady Gaga is very traditional when it comes to her modern music. “She is a classically trained pianist… she writes or co-writes her own music… [and] unlike most of the female pop artists on the scene, she does not lip-sync” (10 Overlooked Facts About Lady Gaga). Lady Gaga takes her talents to heart and tries her hardest to show her abilities. It may be difficult to hear Lady Gaga’s classical singing abilities in all of her pop and dance music since the catchy beats can be a distraction. But, not many people know that Lady Gaga does collaborations with classical musicians. “The Lady is a Tramp” is one of her most recent collaborations is with Tony Bennett, a show tunes and jazz singer. After hearing this musical masterpiece, many will be able to witness her range of vocal abilities and may even say that her best investment is to transition away from pop music and move onto, perhaps, jazz or show tunes.

Lady Gaga is extremely popular in the LGBT community. For those who do not know what LGBT stands for, it means “Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual and Transgender”. She is a member of this community, not only be being a supporter, but by being a bisexual, herself. Although some legal and religious aspects come into play, she has never once backed down from showing her support. Lady Gaga admits she was once bullied and even thrown in to a trash can as a child, but, once again, she never backed down. Like all celebrities, she has been criticized and said to use her support in this community for publicity and marketing. “My love for my gay fans is just pure, authentic love for them as supporters of me from the beginning, and me feeling connected to their struggles as someone who is a part of their fight…” (Lady Gaga: I am Part of LGBT Community). She defends herself in an interview addressing the rumors and also adds that the rumors of her fake support are one of the most ridiculous things she has heard about herself. Lady Gaga shows a tremendous amount of support towards this community. She also shows her strength of not taking rumors to heart, but being very lighthearted about it. Lady Gaga is not afraid to be very clear about her support in the LGBT community.

Lady Gaga sets the record for all performers out there. While she takes her performances seriously, she goes above and beyond in the fun and creativeness of the entire performance. Lady Gaga opened the 2011 MTV’s Video Music Awards dress as Jo Calderone. Not only was she in character for her musical performance, she stayed in costume for the rest of the night as she hung out with other artists, such as Kanye West, and paid tribute to Britney Spears (Why Did Lady Gaga go to the VMAs as Jo Calderone?). Of course, being the great performer she is, she plans her moves and gives purpose to her actions. She took the entire length of the event as one of her performances, hence the reason she stayed in character. Lady Gaga stated after the VMAs, "I hope that the Monsters and the music industry [connect to] the idea that as long as you execute to the highest level of your ability, that you make a statement, that you push your creative ability to the max, and it doesn't mean one thing or another” (Why Did Lady Gaga go to the VMAs as Jo Calderone?). Lady Gaga strikes for the success of her fans and tries to inspire them to push themselves in being creative, successful, and most important, to be themselves.

Just like every other human being on this earth, Lady Gaga has her mistakes, her flaws, and personal traits in which some people do not like. She may not seem “normal” or what you expect out of a mainstream artist today, but that is the beauty of it. Lady Gaga sets herself apart, which is a factor in why she is so famous. She is herself, her own creative, imaginative self, and she will not let anyone change who she is. Of course, no one may know everything going on in her mind in the morning when she is picking out her outfit for the day, or the hour, or the minute. This might leave people wondering about her fashion sense, her personality, or just her in an overall matter. However, the best thing to remember and to always keep in mind is that there is more to a person than what meets the eyes. Lady Gaga is on the tabloids, the gossip journals, and the celebrity reports for a reason. She never gave up chasing her lifelong dream, and it came true. She never holds herself back from giving her best in everything she does, which might explain the crazy outfits. Even though she is clearly not the person expected from today’s society, she is truly herself; and even though her reputation has its downsides, she stays strong and does what is best in a situation like that: she does not take any negative comments to heart, she moves on from it, and still runs her world the way she desires it to be. That should be an admirable mindset for absolutely anyone and everyone.