ohmygodshutupalready.
i can not count the number of arguments i've had with incredibly intelligent people, who i consider to be my friends and peers, about how lady gaga is killing pop music and robbing madonna. i'm
so tired of having this argument with angry elitists - consider this my open letter to everyone who has attacked me for my unabashed love for
born this way.
listen. i understand your argument - i really do. pop music is a disaster. that's why it's pop music. but lets not place the blame squarely on gaga, mkay? if you're going to blame anyone, blame
katy perry. blame
justin bieber. blame that trainwreck
ke$ha, who is determined to sully everything that's good about being a hipster. (and don't get me started on hipster haters). im just saying - if you're looking to place blame and get mad, there are better people to start with.
im never surprised by the people who hate gaga because she "looks weird" or "supports them gays", but i'm confused and a little bewildered by the artistic, intelligent people who hate on her. i have a little insight into them, because i used to be one.
when gaga hit the scene a few years ago, i was instantly annoyed by her. i rolled my eyes whenever anyone quoted just dance in a facebook status update. i changed the station when poker face came on the radio. i was a hater. i thought she was a flash-in-the-pan-in-the-making, too.
then i stopped and thought about it - why was i annoyed by her? the best answer that i could come up with was that i was preparing myself to be insulted as a creative person. THAT'S NOT ART, i would scoff. the hairs on the back of my neck were already rising in defense of not being a mindless follower.
when people who i considered to be "cool" started supporting her, i became defensive. what's so great about her? why are we all supposed to flock to her? don't you try to think for me, lady gaga! what the hell kind of name is that, anyhow?! i was so worked up.
put off by the group-mindedness that was sweeping my peer group, i defaulted to anger. my feathers were ruffled. i was so used to crappy pop music with lyrics that made me want to lock my young nieces up in a room and fill their little impressionable ears with cotton, that i cast gaga off instantly - prepared for my intelligence to be insulted by mainstream culture. again.
then i got over myself.
as soon as i realized that hating on gaga was as obnoxious and was taking up just as much energy as loving her would, i decided to give her a shot. i dipped my toe in the water, so to speak. and, secretly, i liked it.
part of being a critical thinker, a creative, an artist, and, most importantly, a "cool" person is to never really admit when you think something that is popular and mainstream is cool. to admit to liking lady gaga, or any mainstream music/movie/television/book/artist, etc etc etc, is to be uncool. and i, like many others, care about being cool. just admitting that made me 4% less cool. it's just how things work. i dare you to tell me i'm wrong.
what i'm saying is, everyone just relax. stop and think about why you're hating on gaga. is it because you're annoyed that so many other people treat her as a deity? because you can still hate that and like gaga, simultaneously. are you hating on her because of how mainstream and popular she is? are you hating on her for emulating madonna? because that's a whole other blog post. all i will say about that is, when madonna is mad, i'll be mad.
maybe you just don't like the music. that's okay. nobody is judging your ability to think critically about what makes good music good. don't be so defensive. you don't have to like her. but kindly get off of my case.
your hating her just makes me want to buy 16 of her albums and paste them to the front of your apartment building. i'm rebelling now, because now i feel as though all of the gaga haters are just as group-minded as the gaga lovers. now i'm going to love her extra, just to make you mad.
im going to love lady gaga, and i'm going to love her hard, partially because i think your anger is comical. also, i like to listen to catchy, auto-tuned, synthesized dance music when i am cleaning my house, driving a car, or running on a treadmill. and i'm not ashamed to admit it.
do i think lady gaga is insane? probably. do i think a lot of her fan base is annoying? absolutely. do i think that she is the product of a brilliant marketing team? yup. but i also know, from first-hand experience, that she is an incredibly committed performance artist. she's also a decent songwriter and can actually sing, play the piano and dance. this is where i kindly remind everyone that madonna, who i also have love for, can't really sing and was also, by the way, the product of a brilliant marketing team - in 1984.
if you want to be angry, be angry about the right stuff. be angry about war. oppression. inequality. enjoy pop music for what it is - entertainment. if it's entertainment that teaches some kid in kansas that it's okay to be gay, even better.
life is funny. it's meant to be enjoyed. quit wasting your anger on some white lady in a meat-suit. i mean, really. i will not argue this anymore. i will not defend my intelligence. it's silly and a monumental waste of time, so don't bother. let me have fun, and i'll let you brood about important art. they're your frown-lines, after all.
