I don't like Lady Gaga. | Teen Ink

I don't like Lady Gaga.

April 2, 2010
By betterhappyending BRONZE, San Ysidro, California
betterhappyending BRONZE, San Ysidro, California
2 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin." - Leonard Cohen


Blasphemy alert. I’m a sixteen year old American girl and I don’t like Lady Gaga. And no, it’s not because I don’t like her music, her costumes, or her performances. I just don’t like being manipulated.

Actually, I lied. It’s partly her music, costumes, and performances. But not so much because they’re hideous or outrageous or tiresome. But looking back at those pictures of her as a “normal” girl and seeing what and who she is now, it’s almost insulting. The fact that this girl had to change into something almost non-human to finally get noticed is unsettling, at best. She’s instead this cold, faceless force. No one noticed her when she was trying to “make it”. But then the fame machine (monster, she calls it?) seemed to eat her up and spit out an entirely new person, repackaged and revamped to “shock” us all.

And in the end, it really isn’t even that shocking. It’s almost a little pathetic (and you’ll see what I mean by insulting) when it seems that the state of the nation’s youth has degenerated so much that we need a woman in a mask and sparkling breasts to tell us that we’re all okay. Okay to be different, okay to be loved, the whole package. Because then we really aren’t, are we?

She's been quoted as saying, “I would rather die than have my fans not see me in a pair of high heels. I'd never give up my wigs and hats for anything.” I'm afraid that this mentality about possessions and image, to her millions of female fans, is dangerous. She speaks almost as if these material things are as vital to life as water is. This is the same woman who says that “I'm always saying something about art and music and fame. That's why you don't ever catch me in sweatpants.” She claims that her style and her persona is for art, and yet, it begs the question if she ever does anything for herself. She makes herself a martyr for the love of her fans. And if she is as passionate as she says she is about new frontiers in art, why are the vast majority of her lyrics about sex and money?



I'm not asking her to be anything different, not exactly. Give me a David Bowie reincarnate, an rebel in the music industry. But give me a little more complexity, a little more beauty, a little more thought than just what's on the outside. Give me another facet than just the freaky hair and makeup and clothing, because if that’s all there is, her opinion about simply being yourself is lost somewhere in the jumble of cosmetics and oversized sunglasses. But most of all, give me a break.



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This article has 471 comments.


on Nov. 10 2010 at 9:45 pm
Destinee BRONZE, Oakville, Other
3 articles 0 photos 303 comments

Favorite Quote:
Blegh. - Abraham Lincoln

I'm confused by that one. "People shouldn't judge you by who you are". What does that even mean? If I can't judge someone by who they are, then what can I judge them by?

daneshzg GOLD said...
on Nov. 9 2010 at 11:53 pm
daneshzg GOLD, West Vancouver, Other
11 articles 0 photos 39 comments
totally agree on that one. i mean, what the heck does she think she is? total harassment of her body. walking around in a nudist dress with a top part like a small bra. even though iam a boy who, ofcource, is going through puperty, looking at the superstar is like looking at onions on your fork.( by the way, IAM ALLERGIC TO ONIONS!)

schlage GOLD said...
on Nov. 8 2010 at 7:19 pm
schlage GOLD, Erie, Pennsylvania
10 articles 0 photos 37 comments
I don't think she's just about proving to the world how different you can possibly be. She wants to show people that if you want to do that its ok. People shouldn't judge you for who you are. You have to stand up for that. I think thats why she strives to stand out.

on Oct. 28 2010 at 10:59 pm
Destinee BRONZE, Oakville, Other
3 articles 0 photos 303 comments

Favorite Quote:
Blegh. - Abraham Lincoln

Excellent point & great piece. *favourite*

on Oct. 28 2010 at 9:27 pm
spiritualrevelationrevealspainandrevolution PLATINUM, Eugene, Oregon
23 articles 0 photos 212 comments
if by the slim chance this is her..this site is supposed to be for teens gtfo

on Oct. 28 2010 at 8:37 pm
jessica182x BRONZE, Bradford, Other
1 article 0 photos 4 comments
I really like lady gaga and her music, but i kind of agree with you. I see her as an individual, and a great pop artist, bust that's it. It freaks me out when people are obsessed with her, and call themseves 'little monsters'. There's nothing unique about that.

on Oct. 28 2010 at 2:27 pm
BrookXoxo BRONZE, Andrews AFB, Maryland
4 articles 4 photos 22 comments
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!! I SO AGREE

jlw11 SILVER said...
on Oct. 28 2010 at 12:35 pm
jlw11 SILVER, Fayette, Alabama
5 articles 2 photos 26 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The only things in life you regret, are the risks that you never take."

I agree with you in some ways. I love Lady GaGa though. No, I don't particuliarly like the way she dresses, or her wigs, or even the way she carries herself. But, to me, she is standing up for all the "freaks," "goths," and "losers" out there. She shows that being "weird" is the new "cool." She is promoting a lifestyle where people don't have to be a fraid to stand out. She is only a part of the revolution that is taking America by storm. The revolution that being different by social "standards" is not acceptable. Standing out is what gets you noticed, not being the conventional cookie-cutter standard everyone else goes by.

Hrrr said...
on Oct. 28 2010 at 11:06 am
gothic? really? dont offend the goth culture that way! shes her own hellspawned culture.

Hrrr said...
on Oct. 28 2010 at 11:04 am
yep yep so true she says she encourages girls to be themselves but its like shes scared of being her own self O.o

C@ndyBe@r said...
on Oct. 28 2010 at 10:04 am
C@ndyBe@r, Lake View, South Carolina
0 articles 0 photos 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
Just be yourself.

I don't think you all are haters or anything,but you need to look at the complexity of this situation.I mean this woman is talented an is a leader in new creation and immaginative thought. Lady ga ga is a Great Force on this Earth and some people don't have the free mind or spirit to understand it and her power.

on Oct. 28 2010 at 9:30 am
Lunis_Alucard GOLD, Acworth, Georgia
10 articles 0 photos 14 comments

Favorite Quote:
"It was night, and the rain fell; and falling, it was rain, but, having fallen, it was blood" ~ Silence - A Fable by Edgar Allan Poe

The reason she is so popular is because she is strange. All the werid outfits and quotes is so she can sell her music. Being strange is what sells Lady GaGa and she has embraced it to its fullest. But i have to admit, I'd rather listen to Three Days Grace or Fireflight

on Oct. 28 2010 at 9:18 am
AaronLawrence SILVER, St. Louis, Missouri
9 articles 5 photos 106 comments

Favorite Quote:
I may be an idiot, but i'm not stupid

Until you change me enough that i'm convinced I need to change, I won't change

Wow, never look at gaga the same way again.  Though what about every other popstar that does the same thing (if not in smae extreme)  I love Gaga music, though i have to agree she does creep me out. 

WiseChild GOLD said...
on Oct. 28 2010 at 5:22 am
WiseChild GOLD, Kampala, North Carolina
14 articles 0 photos 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

You're right! i find Lady Gaga's videos and career practically ridiculous. it's like she tried to make it as herself then failed. so she did the cowardly thing. change yourself so that people like you. throw away your dignity so they find you interesting. the only way she gets anywhere is by being extreme...the most disgusting, the most obsecene...which to me is a serious lack of talent. the most discouraging part is how many mor people she is fooling into thinking you can't be yourself, you have to be bad to win. yes it's tough to keep your identity. but it's a battle we were made to fight...and win!

on Oct. 25 2010 at 2:54 pm
PandaBear PLATINUM, Tucson, Arizona
24 articles 26 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent." --Eleanor Roosevelt

This is so true. I never have a reason why I don't like Lady Gaga, and now you helped prove my point. Thanks :) And I liked the way you wrote the article. It wasn't insulting to anyone and you proved your point.

on Oct. 22 2010 at 10:07 am
SecretSasha SILVER, Cibolo, Texas
5 articles 0 photos 68 comments

Favorite Quote:
"It doesn't matter how slow you go as long as you don't stop"

I couldn't agree more with you.

on Oct. 21 2010 at 6:57 pm
_helenhorton SILVER, Springfield, Ohio
7 articles 3 photos 34 comments
no to be creative and let them be themselves.

Hrrr said...
on Oct. 21 2010 at 4:18 pm
INPIRATION FOR GIRLS TO DO WHAT? GET ALL SEXED UP???

Lightss BRONZE said...
on Oct. 21 2010 at 4:16 pm
Lightss BRONZE, Boston, Massachusetts
2 articles 0 photos 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
Friends are like four green clovers , hard to find but lucky to have :]

LOLS - me too , some of them just say Im a hater .

Lightss BRONZE said...
on Oct. 21 2010 at 4:15 pm
Lightss BRONZE, Boston, Massachusetts
2 articles 0 photos 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
Friends are like four green clovers , hard to find but lucky to have :]

Thinking about . . . . this is actually very true . Its crazy how someone so beautiful in her childhood could urn out to be so gothic