Lady Gaga: The Most Polarizing Pop Singer

Raima Kreifels

Department of English, York High School

ENGL 1010: College Senior English

Erica Kohout

September 28, 2023

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Abstract

Lady Gaga is by far, the most polarizing pop culture figure of the 2010’s. Gaga’s political

views, radical concepts, and eccentric costumes all garner controversy. Her “wild” choices have

created her popularity and pushed her rise to fame. Lady Gaga has used her platform to push

political activism and awareness, which thereby pushes the public’s buttons. Some consider Lady

Gaga too radical, to the point where people believe that her hold on the media is dangerous. Pop

culture today is a result of Gaga destroying barriers. Has her impact been positive or negative?

Discover through these findings if she’s shaped pop culture for better, or worse.
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Pop culture is the most significant influence on the younger generations; it’s necessary

for us to understand the narrative when it comes to controversial pop culture figures because of

their influence. Currently one of the most polarizing pop culture figures is Lady Gaga.

Automatically pre-conceived decisions are made about her because of the show-name she

desired to go by. This woman knows how to captivate an audience through her self-expression,

and how to push boundaries to fight for what she believes in. Some view Gaga as an extremist

or, “too out there.” Others admire her for standing up for the “little people”. Who is this Lady

Gaga? Does she really stand for the “little people”? Or is she so radical that her influence needs

to be ripped from her?

Originally born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta to an Italian family in New York

City, Gaga grew up privileged (Levy, 2023). Gaga has clarified that her parents had worked up,

but were raised in low-income households. Because of her parents’ upbringing, they were set on

giving their kids a childhood that they never had. The younger Germanottas (Stefani/Gaga and

younger sister Natali) attended private schools with tuition being valued at $40,000 a year each.

$80,000 a year seems like a waste to throw at school when the average annual income of the ’90s

(when they grew up) was barely over $50,000 (National Center For Education Statistics, n.d.).

Her father was an internet entrepreneur and her mother had been a telecommunications manager.

Because of her father’s rocky job (entrepreneurship can be unreliable) and both of her parents’

upbringing, Gaga had to drop out of school at 16 and juggle several jobs. While in school she

participated in all of the arts, loving that world. Looking back, she talks about how she was

bullied for being eccentric and provocative, so she held back most of her personality, she even

stated, “I felt like a freak.” This declaration may surprise people because today she owns that
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part of herself. She came back to school several months later, and upon graduating got a

scholarship to NYU’s Tisch and the very prestigious, Juilliard. She had found that once you’ve

learned how to study art, you can teach yourself, so she dropped out and lost parental financial

support (Anderson et al., 2010). She always loved rock, pop, and theatre, David Bowie and

Queen taught her that she could do all three. Because of Gaga’s time at Tisch, she knew she had

to do something fresh, so she decided to “let her freak flag fly” (as the term goes), and stop

repressing that side of herself.

To do well in the world of pop culture you must have two things: luck, and know the

right people. The “right” person for Lady Gaga was Rob Fusari. Fusari was a well-known writer

and producer who had worked with famous pop culture legends such as Destiny’s Child, Jessica

Simpson, and even Britney Spears. Gaga met Fusari in early 2006, and by May, the two decided

to start a venture together: Love Child LLC. Together, the two listened to the Queen song “Radio

Gaga”; from this song came the name she uses today (Anderson et al., 2010). Because of her

eccentrics, she was hired and then dropped fast by labels: none wanted to defy the standards of

the time with her oddities. In 2007, Rob Fusari sent her music that he produced to Vincent

Herbert, and he signed her to Universal Music’s Interscope Records as fast as he could, seeing

dollar signs in his dreams. There Fusari and Gaga parted ways; today Herbert is credited with

discovering the sensation that is Lady Gaga. In her debut album, she had a record-breaking, four

chart-toppers: “Just Dance”, “Poker Face”, “Paparazzi” and “LoveGame”. The debut album

named The Fame, earned the artist two Grammys (Levy, 2023). The album also yielded three

Brit awards. She later worked with Tony Bennett, thus bringing an entirely different audience to

her works to judge. The pair earned a Grammy and topped the charts. Several years after in 2017,

Lady Gaga was diagnosed with fibromyalgia; Mayo Clinic (2023) defines the disorder as
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musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory, and mood issues. Researchers

believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations. Her “medical break” was short as actor,

Bradley Cooper was soon inspired by her and wrote the award-winning movie A Star is Born.

Gaga collaborated with Cooper to write the music for the movie and won an Oscar. That was her

most popular and most notable acting experience. Today, Gaga considers herself a singer,

instrumental musician, actress, and most of all, a performer. With multiple chart-topping songs,

and ten awards including six Grammys, two Golden Globes, one Academy Award, and an

American Music Award; Gaga’s career has been a success!

Throughout the celebrity’s career, she’s been involved in several “hot scandals”. In 2011,

Gaga’s third album, Born This Way struck as highly controversial. Many could see similarities

between this album and Madonna’s song “Express Yourself.” She continued to push religious

boundaries in her music video “Alejandro”, upsetting the Catholic church. The video was also

criticized for its likeness to Madonna. Christina Aguilera and her fans also accused Gaga of

copying her (Aguilera). The title song of the album hit Conservatives in the gut. The claim “No

matter black, white, or beige, Chola or Orient-based, I’m on the right track baby I was born to be

brave”, was aimed at racists in the country. Throughout the song, Gaga empowers the LGBTQ+

community. The harassment of these communities was prevalent and still is today. This only

began her social suicide. The album also included a song titled, “Judas”; using religious

metaphors to describe someone as unfaithful as a partner, this song struck all sorts of people as

wrong. Some didn’t like her making a biblical reference. Some found the lyrics praised sinners.

Overall the lyrics, music video, and complete production of a song was a choice that backfired;

however, this “backfire” still became a hit, most likely because of the hate. Likely the most

polarizing decision she’s made -other than being politically active- was her 2010 MTV VMA
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dress. The dress was one of three dresses she wore that night, but unlike anything ever done

before, this dress was made entirely of meat. Today the meat dress is still talked about; it

originally pulled people away from the artist. Vegans, vegetarians, and the government

organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) were outraged(Thorp, 2023).

They saw it as unethical, immoral, and downright disgusting. She just loved to push the barriers

of society. Truly, though, the meat would’ve been used one way or another, so she wasn’t

technically killing any more animals; however, she just decided to put it on her body. Perhaps she

didn’t consider the impoverished; wearing food was insensitive and a waste. That would be the

morally biggest issue: the ignorance and waste of the gown. This wasn’t Gaga’s first

controversial choice of costume; she had dressed for herself in ways that were considered

provocative and made odd and sometimes even political choices in her wardrobe. On the Ellen

DeGeneres show, Gaga explained that the dress had been protesting America’s “Don’t ask, don’t

tell” policy that prevented queer service workers from declaring their identity. She went on to

say, “If we don’t stand up for what we believe in, if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon

we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones”. She went on to a rally and gave

an address against the policy; three months later it was repealed. She used fashion as a way to

protest. The year before the meat dress, Gaga had made a statement with fake blood at her

first-ever VMA. Singing a dramatic rendition of her song “Paparazzi”, Lady Gaga’s backup

dancers alluded to the media, paparazzi, and fame. The backup dancers hung a screaming Gaga.

This was a huge statement at just 23 years old. Likely referencing celebrities that had left the

world because of “paparazzi”, this would disturb people by reminding them about Princess Diana

and Anna Nicole Smith (Anderson et al., 2010). The performance was risky and bold; in the

moment it was so disturbing that many spoke out against her (people weren’t ready to face the
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truth that Gaga was throwing at them), but today many find it to be an iconic part of her career.

Gaga was highly interactive with her fanbase on socials; this got her into some trouble. In one

tweet she asked African-Americans if there was anything she and the other non-racist white

people could do to fight racism. Being a self-declared “non-racist white person” upset people.

The tweet was inspired by the Charlottesville white supremacist and neo-Nazi violence in 2017

(Elliot & Elliott, 2022). Ben Allred stated, “Though she meant well, meaning well isn’t enough

for us white people. It never has been. We must do better.” The main issue people found with the

tweet was that she was “turning the problem around, back to the black community” when the

issue is with white people (Allred, 2017). Some were upset that she asked rather than researching

for herself. People were enraged by her talk of the “non-racist white community”, claiming that

non-racist white people don’t exist. In a world where if you’re anything but a heterosexual you’ll

be harassed, Gaga dropped hints and has openly stated that her sexuality is fluid. Many people

are religious and many religions find -specifically homosexuality- this to be punishable by death.

The National Library of Medicine (2022) has found that LGBTQ people experience four times

the amount of violent crimes than non-LGBTQ people. This issue of LGBTQ rights is likely one

of the most polarizing issues today.

Throughout Lady Gaga’s career, one can see why she’s considered polarizing, the

question is: has her impact been a positive influence on the world or a negative? This woman

pushes and even at times, completely breaks down barriers. Unlike many celebrities Gaga stands

for something; she uses her platform for change and political reform. In 2011, she founded the

Born This Way Foundation to combat bullying and create a kinder world. Nebraska Public Media

(2013) reported on the foundation due to UNL psychology professor Susan Swearer’s

involvement in the organization (Tobias, 2022). As co-director of the Bullying Research

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Network, Swearer was excited to jump onto another project relating to what she cares about. As

previously mentioned, she stands with the LGBTQ community and is considered “their icon.”

She is a Human Rights Campaign National Dinner member, sponsor and speaker. In 2010, Gaga

donated over $500,000 to the Haiti Earthquake Restoration Fund, and mere hours after an

earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011, she started her own fundraising campaign

and raised $1.5 million dollars for the natural disaster (Anderson et al., 2010). Lady Gaga was an

official spokesperson for the Viva Glam AIDS awareness campaign (Anderson et al., 2010). In a

world where being indifferent is the “norm”, she takes a stance and is more politically active than

almost any other celebrity. She gives hope to those of us who are “different” and are criticized

for it. Gaga uses her “fame and fortune” for good. She’s a justifiably polarizing figure for her

activism, outrageous costumes, and eccentric -even controversial- concepts, but she is quite the

legend despite it. To answer previously stated questions: yes she stands for the “little people”,

and yes she is tremendously radical, but her influence is more than deserved. Perhaps she is the

most polarizing pop culture figure, but perhaps that makes Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta,

even more of an icon.

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