4 minute read
A Star is Reborn
It’s unbelievable to think that it was over a decade ago we first heard the name "Lady Gaga" when her debut single "Just Dance" burst onto the scenes. Thinking back, you will probably remember Gaga for her daring outfits, theatrical music videos and remarkable voice. Glamour, extravagance and a provocative style have been Lady G’s essentials to impress the world and stand out from the crowd.
But Lady Gaga is a lot more than just a pretty face. Born in New York as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, the American artist with Italian roots, has undoubtedly shown one of the most astonishing style transformations in history. And it’s not only her fashion that has continuously evolved. From starting out as a singer and fashion icon, Gaga has made her way up to the top by becoming a symbol of contemporary feminism - an activist, record producer, businesswoman, designer, philanthropist and, probably her current and most interesting title, actress.
Throughout her acting career she has starred in highly acclaimed movies and shows such as Sin City, Machete Kills and American Horror Story, where she showed stunning performances in various seasons. But her true breakthrough as an actress has actually just begun. This month she is celebrating a major acting gig, playing one of the main characters in the Bradley Cooper-directed retake of the 1937 published drama musical "A Star Is Born." During its premiere at the 75th Venice International Film Festival at the end of August, Cooper and Gaga unveiled in an interview that, for both, this project was a jump right into the unknown. While this is the 43-year old Actor’s first Director’s job, Lady Gaga can be seen in her first leading role for a major motion film, which is - and we cannot wait - opening in cinemas on October 5th.
In “A Star is Born” we witness a completely different woman to the Lady Gaga we have come to know, which demonstrates how changeable, passionate and, especially, what an amazing actress Lady Gaga is. Unlike the strong, diverse and self-assured Lady Gaga we know, in the movie we get a picture of what lies beneath. In her role she stars as a starlet who dreams of becoming a singing sensation in Hollywood. With brown hair and little-to-no makeup, Gaga performs on stage wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans! Being plagued by loneliness, the feeling of being ugly and insecure, the superstar has dived into a role that has uncovered the depth of her own insecurities.
To the media she explained; "It put me right in the place I needed to be, because when my character talks about how ugly she feels — that was real...I’m so insecure. I like to preach, but I don’t always practice what I preach.” She continues, “It's very lonely being a performer. There's a certain loneliness that I feel, anyway— that I'm the only one that does what I do. So, it feels like no one understands."
Gaga first unveiled those insecurities in her Netflix documentary "Five Foot Two," where we finally got to see what lay behind her pop persona. What many people didn’t know when watching Gaga walking the red carpet on a white horse or arriving in an eggshaped sculpture held by 6 people to the Grammy Awards, is that the show she put on has always had a deeper meaning than just the "art"-factor behind it. She has been expressing her disregard towards sexism within the music industry, as well as simply showing the world that you can be anything you want to be. In the documentary she stated: “When producers — unlike Mark — start to act like, ‘you’d be nothing without me,’ for women especially, since those men have so much power, they can have women in a way that no other men can. And then I walk in the room, and it’s like eight times out of 10, I’m put in that category, and they expect from me what those girls have to offer, when that’s just not at all what I have to offer. That’s not what I’m here for.”
“The methodology that I used to get out of that category was when they wanted me to be sexy or they wanted me to be pop I always put some absurd spin on it that made me feel like I was still in control,” she continues. “If I’m gonna be sexy at the VMAs singing about the paparazzi I’m gonna do it while cleaning the bathroom and reminding you of what fame did to Marilyn Monroe.” And so there is no wonder that the acclaimed entertainer is also seen as a major spokeswoman when it comes to feminism. At last, Gaga gives us, and probably every woman in their 30s, exactly what we want to hear, “I never felt comfortable enough to sing or wear my hair back,” she says. “I never felt pretty enough or smart enough or a good enough musician. That’s the good part: I didn’t feel good enough, and I do now. Of all the things I deserve, that’s where I know I’m worth something.”
Summing it all up, one thing we know for sure is Lady Gaga has proven that she can be anything; that showing ones insecurities is a natural part of being a confident woman in the 21st century and that if someone tries to take advantage of her, they don’t know a thing about the real queen Gaga!
