Sarcarrogance: The Movement

Sup people it's your boy Molo Yueng AKA Sarc Obama AKA your #1 favorite blogger.

I know you see who today's post is about. I know you heard the rumors and I know you might think she is strange, but before you form an opinion let me try to enlighten you on a thing or two.

Let me learn you on some things:

1. She is a she! Her government name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta.
2. She didn't come from nowhere she has been playing the piano since she was 4 and singing since 11. and
3. She is your favorite pop/R&B artist favorite artist since being signed to Def Jam at 19 and then signed to Konvict/Interscope
4. She has written for countless artists.

If that wasn't enough take a ride with me. No one in the last year has had a greater ride to the top than Lady Gaga. I do mean nobody, since her debut album The Fame was released in August of 2008 she has opened on two tours and has headlined her own. As of today The Fame has sold 3 million copies worldwide.

Gaga is The People's artist in the tradition of Janis Joplin, Pink, and Madonna she pushes the the envelope on what mainstream believes a woman to be. Some people think outside the box she thinks on the other side of the world of the box. Whether it be fashion with the now infamous "Bird's Nest" hat or videos like Paparazzi when she kills her boyfriend and gets away with it, or lyrics like in Poker Face which she later confessed was about her thinking about another woman while sleeping with her boyfriend. Her mind is constantly thinking of another way to get seen and when it comes to that she rivals even the likes of 50 cents.

Gaga is a proud Bi-Sexual she is quoted saying women inspire half the songs she wrote. She knows she is weird but guess what was her genius? She knows she isn't the only one out there. So she found her niche, the outcast and unwanted. She is the pop version on what Nirvana was in the early 90's. From August to August it's been a Gaga whirlwind sweeping the world. Not bad for a regular girl from Yonkers, NY.

Born Stefani Germanotta she made her bones on the Lower East Side on Manhattan, NY at the famous The Bitter End club. A place where all the greats have performed Richard Pryor, Janis Joplin, Woody Allen, Freddie Prinze, Miles Davis, The Isley Brothers, etc... She moved out of her parents' house and started performing downtown in the Lower East Side club scene, with bands Mackin Pulsifer and SG Band. Around the same time, she started taking drugs and performing at burlesque shows. Gaga said her father, "just didn't understand it," and that he could not look at her for several months. Music producer Rob Fusari, who helped Gaga write some of her earlier songs, compared her vocal style to that of Freddie Mercury. He nicknamed her Gaga, after the Queen song "Radio Ga Ga." She began to use it as her stage name and was known thereafter as Lady Gaga.

The moment that changed her life was in August 2007, Gaga and Starlight were invited to play at the American music festival Lollapalooza. The show was critically acclaimed, and their performance received highly positive reviews. Having initially focused on avant-garde, and electronic dance music, Gaga found her musical niche when she began to incorporate pop melodies and the vintage glam rock of David Bowie and Queen into the mix.


During this time, she began writing for artists signed to Akon's Konvict label, as well as Fergie, the Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears, and New Kids on the Block. After hearing her sing a reference vocal for one of his tracks(yes she can really sing, no lip syncing here), Akon formed the opinion that she was also a good singer. He ultimately convinced Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine to sign her to a joint deal with his own label, Kon Live Distribution, and would later call Gaga his "franchise player." Through her affiliation with Akon, Gaga started to work on her own new material for her debut album with producer RedOne. Already having a solid selection of electro-glam, David Bowie-esque, and Queen-inspired songs, Gaga wanted to mix her retro dance beats with urban melodies, a pop chorus and still retain a rock and roll edge. The first song they produced together was "Boys Boys Boys", a mash-up of Mötley Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls" and AC/DC's "T.N.T."

Lady Gaga has been primarily influenced by pop singers Michael Jackson
and Madonna, as well as glam rock stars such as David Bowie and the band Queen. Artist Andy Warhol, poet Rainer Maria Rilke, fashion icon/actress/singer Grace Jones, and fashion as a whole, have all been cited as inspirations as well. Gaga's vocals have drawn frequent comparison to Madonna and Gwen Stefani, while the structure of her music is said to be reminiscent of classic 1980s pop and 1990s Europop.
In reviewing her debut album The Fame, The Sunday Times asserted:

"in combining music, fashion, art and technology, Lady Gaga evokes Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa Hollaback Girl, Kylie Minogue 2001 or Grace Jones right now."

Similarly, The Boston Globe critic Sarah Rodman commented that Gaga draws "obvious inspirations from Madonna to Gwen Stefani... in her girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats." Madonna herself had once commented to Rolling Stone that she sees "herself in Lady Gaga."
The entertainer explained,

"...when I saw her, she didn’t have a lot of money for her production. She’s got holes in her fishnets, and there’s mistakes everywhere... it was kind of a mess, but I can see that she has that it Factor. It’s nice to see that at a raw stage." -Madonna

Baby A. Gil of The Philippine Star asserted that Gaga's voice is "just right for the mix of dance and rock that she does."
As an artist, Alexis Petridis of The Boston Globe commented that although Gaga lacks originality,

"pop music doesn't have to be blindingly original or clever to work: it needs tunes, and Lady Gaga is fantastically good at tunes." -The Boston Globe

Though Gaga's lyrics are said to lack intellectual stimulation, "she does manage to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace."

Gaga attributes much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered to be a rising gay icon. She claimed difficulty in the early stages of her career in getting her songs to receive radio airplay and stated,

"The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not an easy thing to create a fan base." -Lady Gaga

Gaga thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBT marketing company with whom her label Interscope works, in the liner notes of her debut studio album, The Fame, saying,

"I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible team."-Lady Gaga

When she appeared as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Gaga praised DeGeneres for being "an inspiration for women and for the gay community," and while accepting the Best New Artist trophy at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, she dedicated the award to "God and the gays." She proclaimed that the October 11, 2009 National Equality March rally on the national mall was "the single most important event of her career." As she exited, she left with an exultant "Bless God and bless the gays" similar to her MTV Video Music Awards speech a month earlier.

Gaga has been in every genre of music from rock to pop to techno/electronic to even Hip Hop and R&B. Recently she has done songs with Wale and Beyonce. Also Kid Cudi has used her vocals for "Poker Face" for his song "Poke her Face".

All this happened in one year! I can't wait for what she has in store for us next year. She is the hardest working person in music right now. Before you pass judgment on Lady Gaga think about Stefani Germanotta and the hard work she put into being a superstar and question how hard is your favorite artist is working?

The Fame in stores now!

Fame Monster in stores 12/15/09

I'm just saying!

Resources

Lady Gaga on Twitter

Official Myspace of Lady Gaga

Official Website of Lady Gaga

Videos