Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think Lady Gaga is actually seriously talented??!!

135 replies

Terraviva · 15/05/2011 22:18

She's always annoyed me. I found her an attention-seeking, madonna-wannabe, irritating one-trick pony, BUT.... I turned to BBC3 this eve just as her concert started, found myself watching it and, er, I'm really impressed! She's don't all this jazz and piano stuff and is brilliant.

I feel slightly Blush about this. Was I always wrong? Has she developed as an 'artist'?! Have I had one too many Wine?! What's going on??!!!

OP posts:
springydaffs · 15/05/2011 23:17

marketing/'music' bods' main objective is £££. ok, she's certainly making lots of that but imo there is no way they'd come up with what she does. That would be like manufacturing a gauguin or a picasso, and only one person was able to do either of those. She may have had some 'help' but the main material is all her. She is too outlandish to have been created imo, to out there: marketing etc play safe, in order to make maximum dosh.

Just goes to show that people respond better to the real thing. About time too, sick of manufactured 'music', personally.

springydaffs · 15/05/2011 23:21

Can't get it on the net!! Sad Sad Sad

iridium · 15/05/2011 23:38

I've seen Gaga live, and it was enjoyable enough but it left me a bit cold. There are other singers and bands I've seen who I would go to see again a hundred times, but with Gaga I felt like once was enough.

She is a good singer and musician, but she is entirely constructed. I believe, she came up with most of it between her first and second record deals and while she was taking massive amounts of cocaine. Creating who she is now (using little bits of a lot of other people as her source material) takes a fair amount of intelligence, but it must be exhausting.

hairfullofsnakes · 16/05/2011 05:43

I have thought this for a long time. She is a rare talent. I think the same when I see Bruno Mars, he too, is amazing and reminds me slightly of Michael Jackson where his talent is concerned. As for GaGa, I think it's insulting when people compare her to Madonna - GaGa has more talent in her little finger than Madonna has in her whole body! I like Madonna's stuff but GaGa is in a different - and higher - league.

iscream · 16/05/2011 06:10

She is talented, and a genius at marketing herself, like Madonna was. I do not like her Lady Gaga style, or Madonna, but I appreciate the hard work that goes into it.

redderthanred · 16/05/2011 07:36

She really is. I actually love her :)
To start with i really dismissed her, her first released stuff was very dancy and didnt seem to have anything soul. But then i heard her piano work and she is amazing.
I went to see her live and was actually astounded as she was even better ( quite often it can be a bit ot a let down when youi do actually see somone and hey arent as good as you think)

She writes all her own stuff, not just the lyrics. She produces, directs her videos and has worked her way up, by working hard. Think she been touring non stop for about 2 years 3/4 nights a week. Thats hard work.

She does good pop and thats to be appreciated but her piano and ballads are really amazing. Kind of reminds me of elton john.

weebleswobblebutidontfalldown · 16/05/2011 10:06

Apparently she went to art school so can quite believe she has come up with a lot of her look herself. She also seems to name check new designers rather than follow the pack and stick with the big names.

I do think it detracts from her music though, I don't think singer but outrageous style when I hear her name.

Hammy02 · 16/05/2011 10:11

I think she is amazingly talented. People seem to think that classical pianists are somehow more talented than the GaGa's of this world just because she is in the pop genre. To be able to write such popular music is incredibly impressive.

MooMooFarm · 16/05/2011 10:17

I do think she's talented and can clearly sing/play very well. But I do think it's sad that she needs to thrust her bits in everybody's face constantly - shouldn't her talent be enough? Having a DD I worry about women like GaGa being seen as role models by young girls. And yes I know that makes me sound about 90.

And I also think a lot of her music sounds like Madonna rip offs. Yes she's obviously be influenced by her, but I think it's to the point that she's a bit of Madonna clone.

slug · 16/05/2011 10:20

She leaves me cold. Perhaps I'm old enough to be able to name who she's ripped off every song from. Madonna is an obvious one, but there's also bits of Bowie, Marc Bolan, Tori Amos, she attempts Kate Bush occasionally and fails miserable. I'm also offended by her tendency to swan around in revealing clothes. It's obvious the woman has no pubic hair and the video in the prison where they all danced around in bikinis was, quite frankly, offensive.

EmmaBemma · 16/05/2011 10:21

"I'm not saying she's not a talented singer, but I don't think that the alter-ego image is all her idea "

It is. I read an interview once where she said that in her late teens/early twenties, living on her own in NY, instead of going out most nights she'd stay in, do lines of coke and experiment with her hair and make-up. Her image is totally self-created, she spends an immense amount of time and energy working on it. She considers herself an artist, and not just in the musical sense.

I don't really 'get' all that stuff but I can see she's a brilliant musician. I loved that jazz-club version of Poker Face she did on Live Lounge - just her and a piano, it was really something.

deuxpoints · 16/05/2011 10:33

Slug - it's difficult to be original in an industry that's been going for years -
( even The beatles were inspired by other musicians) - most bands/artists are a mix of people they admire. I can't see anything wrong with that.

Lady gaga is pretty good imo

Ps: Kate Bush wasn't exactly a nun on stage!

TobyLerone · 16/05/2011 10:37

She's very talented. But I'm becoming increasingly bored with her gimmicks. I reckon she should disappear for a year or so and come back as herself (Stefani Germanotta), just singing and playing piano.

I love her, but having seen her live a couple of times at festivals, I can't help being annoyed that she treats her 40-minute festival sets like her own gigs, with too much time taken out for costume changes and faffing about with coffins. She only gets about 5 songs done.

BornThisWayBaby · 16/05/2011 10:40

She is amazing! Watch this if you don't believe me Smile

theinet · 16/05/2011 10:41

"born this way" is just Madonna's "express yourself" 20 years later.

gaga's doing nothing new, really.

oldieneedsreminding · 16/05/2011 10:41

i agree with the op. she is good.
Its like that film producer or director a while back. polanski. he mauuy be a pedophile, but hes talented in what he does film wise. I can like one think whilst condemning the other.

whattoodoo · 16/05/2011 10:45

shes fantastic.

I can hear that some of her songs sound Madonnaish - Like Alexandros (?spelling?) But IMO shes infinitely better than Madonna. I like that she is a bit twisted

deuxpoints · 16/05/2011 10:47

I prefer Katy Perry - she doesn't have to try so hard

whattoodoo · 16/05/2011 10:48

MooMooFarmI also think like a 90year old and worry about all the scantilly clad ladies with their bits out influencing my daughters. With Gaga though I feel ok with it I feel she is quite empowered/ empowering...not like alot of the others...cant think of any examples now...Rhinnana/ Beyonce ...although they arent as bad as some either....

ReindeerBollocks · 16/05/2011 10:50

Lady GaGa cut her cloth in the music industry by writing songs for many other artists over the years, and composing/producing songs for others. I thought too that she was becoming too madonna like but seeing the versatility of her performance yesterday was quite good. She is a real musician.

As for here thrusting her fanny in our faces all the time.. Well I'm definitely not a fan of that, but unfortunately pop stars have done this for quite a while, so I don't think she is being too outrageous.

lucykate · 16/05/2011 11:02
is funny, lady gaga & madonna on saturday night live.

"what kind of name is lady gaga, it sounds like baby food!"

TobyLerone · 16/05/2011 11:02

I prefer Katy Perry - she doesn't have to try so hard

Hahahahaha! There is nobody who tries harder than Katy Perry to be perceived as both sexy and girlish in equal measures.

redderthanred · 16/05/2011 11:12

but i think the thing is with gaga that i dont think she tries to 'sex up her image' to appeal to men.
yes its a bit rude and it is sexual. But it doesnt seem to be ( or i dont see it as) being sexual for mens pleasure, where are perry, rhianna are very much guilty of that.

gaga doesnt mind looking 'ugly' she wears weird( if sometimes revealing) clothes. But it just doesnt seem to come from the same place as other manufactured pop acts.

people have been taking inspiration from other acts for years, its nothing new. Same as courting the press, which to be fair, she is rather good at. You cant slate her for it, its worked for her and she does it well.

the woman just writes damn good pop. And shes nuts. Did you see her on graham norton... that wedding dress thing was not trying to be sexy at all. Just odd. lol. I love her.

CoteDAzur · 16/05/2011 11:20

Sarsaparilla - Actually, if you read a bit about her "Haus of Gaga" thing, she has surrounded herself with creative people and they do all this together. There is no high authority like a studio executive or some money man financing her concerts and telling her what to do.

Her music is not to my taste for the most part, but she is extremely talented. She writes here music and performs it brilliantly.

pugsandseals · 16/05/2011 11:46

Ok -
I admit, I had thought she was just more manufactured pop until last night and I'm a classically trained musician! Blush

However, she proved to me last night that she can perform & is probably the next Madonna/Queen/Robbie!