Pop star Lady Gaga has been called phony, subversive, deliberately attention seeking and everything in between and beyond thanks to her outlandish stage theatricals and costumes. But in all the interviews I’ve watched or read, the last impression I would draw is that she’s fake. She has said more than once that, essentially, she doesn’t see what she does as strange. For her, it’s art, and it’s beautiful, and she does it because it’s part of who she is.
She talks often about how her work and her stature as one of the most successful musical artists today are the result of a long-held dream, and she talks openly about the single-minded drive that led her to where she is.
Aside from my enjoyment of her voice and lyrical skills — it’s rare these days for popular singers to sing well live and write their own original material — I appreciate the historical parallel for the minority experience that she offers: Despite the majority opinion, despite society’s ideas about what minorities or those who stand outside the dominant power structure are capable of, make it anyway.
And don’t just make it anyway — make it any way you can.