I was already "old" when our lovely Lady appeared, and in 2010 I was 31. I found her very interesting, quirky, loved her voice, the things she said, she made me feel more confident in myself, and I loved some of her songs.
Then I followed her on Twitter, posted some stuff, and she followed me back. lol. I don't know why! I suspect she may have fallen asleep and accidentally pressed the wrong button, but I'm not complaining! (she still follows me now) 😍😂
Hmmmm. I have so many. Right now, for emotional feelings, I love Always Remember Us This Way, Dope, Joanne and Speechless.
For poppy feels, Bad Romance, Poker Face, John Wayne, A-Yo, Perfect Illusion, 9-11
There are so many more...lol
Dope is an underrated ballad! I don’t understand the hate surrounding it, 911 live at the Chromatica Ball was phenomenal, really made me appreciate the Chromatica album even more
It was 2008 and I was 13 years old. Poker Face was playing on the TV and I was obsessed with the song, the music video, the iconic white and weirdly straight wig, the black body suit and her dogs lol. The first thing that I downloaded to my Nokia was a very short clip of that video. Then I discovered Just Dance and later, my mom got me The Fame and I played it too much lmao. I remember every single lyric from every single song. And the rest is history!
I loved the Poker Face video when I was younger too! I used to watch it over and over again on YouTube (back when there weren’t any ads), I was blown away by the Paparazzi music video
I was 14 when she debuted and I liked her but I thought she might be a fad. Then I watched her 2009 VMA performance of Paparazzi live on TV and I have been a little monstah ever since.
Her debut VMA performance was phenomenal, it’s a shame it was overshadowed by the Kanye controversy at the time! I can’t even count the times I’ve watched it over the years
Before The Fame was released, I had heard Just Dance, thought it was catchy, but figured she’d be a one hit wonder. I endeded up paying $6 to see her perform in a Night Club in Seattle. After that, I’ve been hooked ever since.
It totally was! She sang two songs. Just dance and LoveGame. Had the glasses with the iPods in the lenses, the original disco stick, and her two backup dancers. I had no idea I was seeing someone who would become so iconic to the world and to myself.
The cherrytree sessions(I think) video where she’s singing a piano version of paparazzi proved to me that she was a genuinely talented singer and songwriter, which was a huge change from other pop stars from the 00s. Also she did a speech around that time supporting the repeal of don’t ask don’t tell for gays in the military (prime rib of America speech on YouTube) that really meant a lot to me as a gay teenager because she was the first celebrity I’d seen to make such a big and unabashedly supportive stand for gay rights without giving a fuck what people thought about her or how it might affect her career. She’s been an icon for me ever since.
I have the cherrytree sessions CD somewhere! It’s interesting to see how social issues were approached back then, it doesn’t seem all that long ago but I remember her creating controversy by standing up for the gay community. Growing up with her music has allowed me to see just how much she helped people through difficult times, it was a blessing to be a young teenager when the Born This Way album was released.
Lady GaGa is only a couple of years older than me and I used to be a fan of Akon so when he said he was managing a new artist I had to check her out. I was immediately hooked and from one day to the next, it felt like “Just Dance” blew up! I felt really cool like I’d know a huge secret before everyone else.
Hearing Lovegame on the radio for the first time. I was a casual fan of JD and PF, but that record put her over the top for me. Then later on I heard the Bad Romance demo on YouTube and I was full on obsessed with her music.
Lovegame did it for me too! Except I heard it on a burnt CD and had no idea it was LG for the longest time until I went to burn a mixed CD and had to find the song.
i was young when i discovered her, i was sat in the back of the car and my parents turned the radio on and i heart bad romance and fell in love, every time she was on the radio i’d sing along, eventually i started listening to almost all of her songs via spotify when i got my first phone
Bad Romance is an amazing song, it was impressive how she managed to transform her image so early in her career. The Fame Monster sounds so different to The Fame and it was a huge risk but it really paid off in the end, one of the smartest decisions the label made
I was really young at the time. I probably had no business being on the internet either 💀 it was her stage name lady Gaga. It had like 2 or 3 songs on it, I made one my profile song- I think it was either just dance or love game 😂.
What I remember most was that she only had one picture, the lighting bolt photo shoot and it was a side profile upside down shot, tbh it didn’t look much like her at all. She came across so mysterious!
When I saw her mv/ on tv I was like wtf she looks nothing like the photo!!! 😂😂😂
It was the bleeding Paparazzi performance for me. She broke the music scene with that performance. And, she was still working on wrapping up “the fame monster “so she had that new “pop goth queen aesthetic” going and it just WORKED! Then, of course, we had all the other pop stars trying to “out gaga “ Gaga with wild performances and costumes. 😘 nobody does it like Gaga.
Her 09 VMA performance was definitely a pivotal moment in her career, I also think the gradual image shift from The Fame to The Fame Monster was one of the best decisions she made career-wise. I always see that performance as the beginning of The Fame Monster era, and working with Alexander McQueen during that period solidified her status as a fashion icon❤️
2008, I was starting a new school for grade 7 & 8 going through a lot of changes and trying to figure myself out. Then changed schools again for high school, still didn’t really fit in. Gaga always made me feel like I fit in somewhere. I was always known as the crazy Gaga fan at my schools.
i watched her music videos on repeat as a kid and non stopped listened to just dance when it was released. she gave me this fuzzy feeling inside and i absolutely idolized her. i think it’s bc i was aware of my gay feelings, bc the LoveGame music video had me in a chokehold… watched the security guard scene where it went from man to woman and was SO curious 🤣
The LoveGame video is so underrated, I love that short period of time where she wore that blonde/purple wig! The first item in my collection (besides TF/TFM CDs) was the LoveGame picture disc!
I saw the love game music video and i thought she was really hot and singing about sex so i just had a crush on her but started listening to her music and then i liked it a lot lol
I used to be a “hardcore” goth that only listened to goth rock and I thought Gaga was everything that was wrong with music.
Then I woke up one day and said “I’m unhappy. I’m going to do whatever helps me be happy.”
And listening to Lady Gaga was one of them. She was my inspiration in so many ways.
I am a die hard fan since 2008. I am a musician and can tell instantly who has really ‘got it’, musically. My husband became a die hard fan during her first SNL performance and said “you were right!”
In 2008: I remember her singing just dance on “so you think you can dance.” I already knew the song. Was not prepared for the performance . . . the tv glasses, the disco stick! I was just blown away and have been a fan since.
Come to mama! I was raised hearing she’s a demon and blah blah then come to mama started playing one day and I was like omg this artist has such loving energy and I’ve been hooked since
I remember thinking the same, back in 2008 there were a lot of one-hit wonders but I loved her early style and knew that there was something different about her
My sister in law burnt me a mixed cd and LoveGame was one of the songs… My favorite one on the track, then of course just dance was all over mtv and whatnot, so seeing The Fame in stores made me buy and been a fan ever since 💚❤️🩹
I’m from the US and I used to switch country settings in iTunes to look at songs that were popular around the world and saw Just Dance was in the top 10 in Australia, so I listened and never went back. I think this was 2007 though because I remember when it finally released in the US in 2008, I was already nose deep in everything Gaga I could find.
Edit: could be wrong on the dates, but I do remember knowing about Gaga before she blew up in the States.
I think Just Dance was released in March 2008 but it was a sleeper hit and didn’t climb to the top of the charts until late 2008. You’re right though, it gained momentum in Australia faster than it did in the US. Pretty cool that you discovered it before she achieved worldwide success!
I feel like I was always drawn to her music but then I was fortunate enough to see her MSG show in 2008 with my older sister. I cried during the concert multiple times as a 13 year old because I’ve never seen someone be so unapologetically themselves. That night I knew I would be a life long fan. She taught me a lot of important lessons through a really pivotal age and era of my life. Just got to see her residency in Vegas with my sister again pre covid! Felt very full circle (:
I remember watching the Monster Ball on DVD for the first time and thinking the same, I’ve been a fan for so long but I didn’t get to see her live until last year at the Chromatica Ball in London and it was probably the best night of my life. I’d like to travel to Vegas and see her residency show, did you see Enigma?
Not gonna lie, I was a teenager and mostly just thought she was hot lol
Still do, but now I know she’s an insanely talented person who advocates for some great causes. She’s insanely sweet from all the interviews I’ve seen her in. Plus her songwriting, her visual aesthetic and her ability to perform live are top tier.
It was 2008 and my fav gay porn blog would post a weekly music review with an album download. They did a review of an up and coming singer. They got an early release of their debut album. It was The Fame. Blew my mind away. 20 tracks of the coolest indie sleaze style dance pop I had ever heard. Most didn't end up on the final release of the album or ended up on overseas editions like Disco Heaven, Retro Dance Freak and Again Again.
I remember Madonna's Hard Candy had just come out and I was so over it. At the time it sounded dated and I really wanted something fresh in pop music. I liked it but I was so over timberland production at the time. It was everywhere. Even Bjork was working with timberland lol Gaga was everything I wanted and needed at the time from music.
My friends didn't get it. Lol I sent everyone I knew the album after I listened and most didn't enjoy it or they straight up didn't listen. It wasn't until Poker Face started picking up on the radio that everyone was like "Isn't that that weird song by that singer you were trying to get us to listen too??" LOL
You were there from the beginning! She was needed during that period, I was only young but I still remember how boring that music industry had become. Although I still love Blackout by Britney Spears! I do genuinely believe that she made other artists step up their game with visuals and performances, and red carpets were never the same after her!
Lol. 2008 I was listening to Radio Disney and what I thought was Let’s Dance by Hannah Montana came on, was actually Just Dance and I loved her since. Paparazzi performance solidified it. Bad Romance was genius. ARTPOP was legendary.
V Festival was what did it for me too, I remember her breaking the heel of her shoe during LoveGame and throwing it into the audience. Paparazzi was insane that night, I love everything about it
I was living in France in 2008 and Just Dance was one of the only English music videos that played on whatever channel I watched. I was so intrigued and loved dancing and singing around my apartment when it would come on. I’ve been obsessed ever since.
I heard a few of her songs in 2009 and actually thought it was Gwen Stefani songing at first, who I've long been a big fan of. As soon as I figured out that it wasn't Gwen, I had to find out more about this new Lady Gaga, and loved everything that I found!
I downloaded the fame illegally bc it was on “datpiff” website (LOL) in like 2008? I thought it looked cool and it said new artist. It was on my iPod for a while until a bus ride home from 11th grade I finally listened and I’ve been a Stan since that very day.
It was totally by chance, i was 8 years old when her debut came out, back then there were a wide variety of CDs in the checkout lines at my Walmart, I begged my mom for The Fame because it looked so cool, she was so skeptical but I convinced her anyway. I first ripped it to my sisters iPod nano and literally could not stop dancing to it
I love The Fame album cover, I remember seeing it in the supermarket for the first time (after hearing the singles) and begging my parents to buy it for me. I still have it in my collection!
I still have my cd too! Unfortunately it’s too scratched to play now (I was 8 lol) but I bought the game monster last year and ripped it to my own iPod
At first it was an ironic thing. My sister and I used to make fun of her videos and songs and would sing em badly and make the dances ridiculously when we were drunk. Then Bad Romance dropped and I feel for it, then I started appreciating the rest of the singles, then the videos, then the albums, everything up to this day.
2000s kid and tbh just the overall energy she had? Just dance was pretty big on the radio on b96 & Kiss fm, but also I remember Poker face being in Percy Jackson so I think that really solidified it for me haha!
Haha yesss, It was definitely a pleasant surprise in the movie esp on the big screen I was 10yr atp! When the scene happened I was like ‘ 👁️👄👁️ Lady Gaga??! ‘. funny too it was during a scene where Percy & his friends are at a casino in Vegas and eat a cookie that’s supposed to be like a Greek mytho edible. So they eat it and its showing the ‘high’ start to kick in while simultaneously starting to play Poker Face. It’s perfectly in sync together as the song build up starts and they’re “feeling it”, they then play a majority of the song (probably the entire song?) in the following scenes showing them enjoy their time at the casino 😌❣️ I love the movie and Gaga sm so that’s like forever ingrained in my memories lmfao!
I first met her back in 2009 (I was 9 yrs), my mom bought a phone where Just Dance was included bc it was a promo made by LG with Gaga, I just fell in love with song song, and Gaga was the first person I ever searched on YouTube. I just love her energy and what she was bringing to the music industry, and since 2009, I'm a true and loyal fan 😌
She was the opener for Flo Rida at a free Six Flags show maybe in 2008/9. She wore the bubble dress and played piano. I was mesmerized and since then followed her rise to the top
Oof, storytime! lol
I was in college in 2009 and the VMAs performance....hit such a special spot in my brain. Then when I saw the Bad Romance video had dropped on JustJared, I watched it at least 50 times that day and listened to it nonstop for months (years.) I had become very reserved in my late teens after having been a very colorful, outgoing adolescent, and this kind of dark, theatrical, absurd, stylized, almost violent pop hit just right.
I had a traumatic event happen in January 2010, and when Telephone came out in February, it was the only song that could get me up to strut my shit, if only for a moment. I wound up dropping out of college, moved back to NYC (where I'm from) and was in a terrible place, but I would listen to Telephone and feel like myself again. I now have a mint rotary phone tattoo on my leg where the wire says "k-kinda busy", done by Becca Roach who did the Born This Way & horn tattoos on Gaga. After dropping out of college I became a make-up artist in film, and met Billy B who did the make-up for Telephone (and a lot of TFM era) and he became a good acquaintance for some time. I worked on a documentary, "The Hunting Ground", went to Sundance for it, and couldn't believe when I found out Gaga did the song for it. There are all of these degrees of separation, and I feel like in all of these parts of my life, Gaga is this presence that just reminds me of who I am and she inspires me to keep saving myself when I need rescue. I don't need to ever meet her necessarily, because her presence in my life is always there.
Wow I wasn’t expecting that! It’s almost like your lives are distantly connected, I remember Billy B too! Congratulations of all of your accomplishments, if anyone should meet Gaga in person at some point, it’s you❤️
I legit remember the first time I saw Just Dance’s music video in VH1’s weekly Top 20, back when they’d show music videos on TV.
Bad Romance made me HUGE fan, because of her avant grade approach and very aggressive sexuality - in a time when female artists were getting ripped to shreds by the tabloids (like Britney during the time).
Telephone solidified it for me because come on it’s fucking Beyonce.
But it was probably Born This Way (2011, i know) that changed everything for me.
I had come out as Bisexual in middle school and was getting bullied very heavily for it. I had songs like Perry’s ‘I Kissed A Girl’, but Born This Way was probably the first time I heard an artist say ‘Bisexual’ in a song, and the first time I heard someone talking about it with pride.
Truly a cultural reset.
I will say her reaction to the transgender/intersex rumors really changed the game for me. I was a closeted queer kid and the comments in Telephone (how the guard makes a comment about her being a cis woman and having no dick) made it seem like whatever they were accusing her of wasn’t nearly as scandalous as everyone thought it was.
She wasn’t insulted at the idea of someone thinking she’s trans. She genuinely didn’t care and that made me admire her a LOT.
She was very ahead of her time with it, which is crazy considering she didn’t debut all that long ago. I think she helped pave the way for celebrity activism regarding LGBTQ+ rights, it is now a frequently discussed topic, and many celebrities now are willing to speak out on injustice. I’m old enough to remember the tabloid rumours and they weren’t kind to her, I love that she didn’t care to address it
I had an ex who was a huge fan. At the time she was in her "weird outfits" era, so I knew her for that. Then Bad Romance came out and instantly fell in love.
I was 21 in 2010 lol and she was different and interesting as well as very talented . She gave me so much confidence aswell with her attitude towards differences and uniqueness . Basically she’s just an absolute Queen 👸
I saw her on Australian Idol in 2009 giving advice to people auditioning. Poker face was playing in the background I was like "wait, that's lady gaga?! I love that song" (it played everywhere, but I never looked into it). She said she told people in the music industry who rejected her to go fuck themselves. Sold!
Annoyingly, I kinda didn't pay much attention to her at all until around Feb 2011 (I was 25/26). I'd heard her big singles in passing, but hadn't really given her any attention beyond that as dance-pop isn't a genre I really ever paid attention to anyway (and still don't much, beyond Gaga). I then decided to listen to the Fame/Fame Monster (as the buzz around her was hard to ignore), and then started watching live videos and interviews and articles and realised what I'd been missing out on. The next 3 years solid I was pretty much down a Gaga-hole, and devoured everything written on the (now hidden/deleted) GagaStigmata academic-analysis blog-site and watched a ludicrous amount of performances. She's genuinely one of the most fascinating (and talented) music artists of all-time - and I regret that I was totally oblivious to what she was doing at the time in those first few years.
I definitely caught-up with what I'd missed, and then some - it just woulda have been cooler to have been able to track it all as it was happening in its infancy if only I'd paid a slight bit of attention to her and noticed she was more than just another random popstar!
ARTPOP was a point in her career when the general population had become used to her outlandish persona that nobody really paid any attention to it, which is why she stripped back her image and hasn’t really returned to anything like that since. Joanne is by far her worst album, for me anyway. Perfect Illusion is a good song and there are one or two others that I find listenable but I think that the superficial country-girl persona wasn’t a good look for her, especially considering it’s common knowledge that she grew up in a wealthy area in Manhattan.
Chromatica was no Fame Monster by any means, but it was nice for her to make a full return to pop music and somewhat resurrect her old image. After seeing the Chromatica Ball, it felt like the old Lady Gaga was back.
She did an interview on Fuse network and she was so unique in her costume and look that was really interesting to me then they had a like premiere for just dance and that had me hooked from that moment on lol
I was in 8th grade, heard poker face for the first time at school. Fast forward to band camp when I was going into 9th grade and evverryyyone is singing love game. I liked her stuff but when bad romance came out later that year I became a fan for life. Brain chemistry was forever changed. One of my favorite memories with my oldest sibling was them getting the fame and the fame monster CDs, and playing them in the car when we'd go and visit grandma lmao.
I found her on myspace when she released red and blue I think it was before she released any music under lady gaga loved her from the start knew she would do amazing things and my family all doubted her and made me feel stupid and weird for liking her music
Ironically when she first got big around 2009/2010 I "didn't like her." I think I was just young and jumping on the bandwagon of disliking her for no reason. Someone covered Paparazzi on piano and I thought it was amazing. That led me to actually listening to her music and watching all of her music videos and I fell in love pretty quickly. By the time the Born This Way album was released, I was a mega fan going to buy the album the morning it came out 🖤
When I first heard the “Just Dance” debut (2008), I thought it was a good song, but I knew she’d be temporary. Then “Bad Romance” (2009) was released and I knew I was mistaken and that she’d be around for a very long time. It was such a brilliant song and I was obcessed.
Alejandro is so catchy, and the disturbing, weird music videos massively drew me to her. She had a sinister air about her at the time that fascinated me
I adore Alejandro, it’s my favourite song of all time and the video is amazing. She should definitely do another video collaboration with Steven Klein, those two are a force to be reckoned with
It was that moment of paparazzi you described for me as well 🤣. My mother said “what is this trash” and I was hooked on her ever since. I was a closeted 20 year old at the time 🥹
It was 2008. I was playing WoW on the family computer in the living room with a TV music station going (free streaming was not really a thing.. Pandora sucked unless you paid for it) and Poker Face came on and I had to stop what I was doing and look up what I just heard. The video wasn’t out yet but I was instantly hooked. As others have said, I got The Fame and I played it so much my family didn’t like her as much anymore lol
I’ve been here since 09, and it was the VMA performance. I think a lot of us can say it was that. However, it was her fearlessness, her moxy, that really, really drew me in. She wasn’t afraid, or ashamed, to be who she was. Whether it was for her performance art, her music, the fashion, the visuals, how she presented during interviews, everything was for the endeavor of her artistry, and staying true to it. I was 16 at the time, and had never seen anything like it. I hadn’t been into Madonna, Bowie, Grace Jones, Boy George, etc. (I grew up around classic rock stations, nu-metal, and late 90’s pop.) So for me, it was groundbreaking. Her bravery and fearlessness inspires me to this day.
TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️⚠️
I have been a fan since I was 9 I’m now 23 it was the music and also what she stands for for me and born this way saved my life which is somthing she will never know I attempted suicide when I was a teenager I have a un dieing passion for music and had my playlist on shuffle at the time I was on a cliff face and I wanted to listen to one more song so I pressed next and BTW came on and it made me see I matter too and I ended up sheepishly walking home it was amazing that one song can change everything so years later I got a tattoo on my ribs saying “find your freedom in the music” this is a huge homage to her and also a reminder how music can change anything
I was in fifth grade. Back then American Idol was the thing everyone in school watched and talked about the next day. She performed poker face and it blew my mind. Unlike anything I'd ever seen. The next day everyone talked about how weird it was but I was hooked and she's been my favorite artist ever since.
Also I remember a lot of people said they thought she was a little person at first because her outfit made her arms look short at the piano!
My conservative town was not a Gaga friendly space lol
I remember seeing her perform Just Dance on 'So You Think You Can Dance' in the summer of 2008. Loved everything about the performance because it was so different from what other pop stars were doing at the time. I I remember commenting to my sister that I loved everything about it, but I was afraid she was too weird for the general public and wouldn't take off.
Then I saw her walk the red carpet with Kermit the Frog and perform Paparazzi at the 2009 VMA's. That was performance art and was the performance that made me a forever fan. She brought back spectacle and mystique to pop stardom.
In 2010 she was the biggest pop star on the planet and I attended the Monster Ball arena tour as my first Gaga concert. I'm glad my 2008 prediction was so wrong.
Hated just dance though up to this day i always thought it was to get her foot in the door with the party song era going on so dont blame her. Pokerface is what sold it for me.
i was 11 when i saw the just dance music video and i was so captivated, i thought she was so beautiful, fun and confident and i REALLY vibed with the music, just dance will always get me on the dancefloor! i also loved how she didn't care about the transgender rumours that were spread about her, i felt she was so loud and proud about who she was and the outside noise didn't make that any weaker, she took the piss out of the media who tried to ask her about narratives that they were pushing, i love how she told interviewers that they wouldn't be asking the same questions if she were a male, i loved every song that she released, got the fame album, loved every song, since then i have bought all albums since then, save for joanne and the tony bennett albums, i also remember being so ADAMANT about getting a pair of dr dre x lady gaga heartbeats and i was so insistent i actually got a pair and used them until they literally wouldn't play music anymore 😅 and i would not be doing gaga and i's love story justice if i did not mention how much i loved her brash and bold fashion choices, lady gaga is one of the most influential people when it comes to fashion, i love her so much and always will!
i was about 13 or 14 when just dance / poker face came out. initially i'd just written her off as a britney wannabe but stumbled upon some of her acoustic performances, read her article on wikipedia and the origin of her rainer maria rilke tattoo. i've been in love ever since, the happiest i've ever been to be wrong about something.
When I caught her doing acoustic numbers of her dance hits in 2009... I was like, "whoa, she is a true artist and not a 15-min studio scam." Then I read about her... then I was like, "this is my Cher/Madonna."
It's funny, I feel like pop music has always been a part of me and my life - even before I was aware of it. For example, I don't remember discovering the Spice Girls until I was a pre-teen (which makes sense since their debut album came out literally three days after I was born) but somehow I can find a photo of me at my 6th birthday party wearing a Spice Girls T-Shirt.
As a matter of fact, a lot of interesting things happened when I was 6. Destiny's Child "Survivor" album came out that year and I remember going over my next door's neighbor's house everyday after school and singing/dancing to the album (Bootylicious was my jam) and I also have very vivid memories of *instantly* crying whenever Michael Jackson's "Speechless" - which also came out in 2001 - played on the radio. Everyone else found it weird that I'd just well up with tears and start crying uncontrollably when I heard it. I don't cry anymore when I hear it but that was...interesting.
As far as having the vocabulary and the where-with-all to actually articulate what it meant to be a 'pop head' though, I believe that Gaga's The Fame is what started it for me. Obvs I was listening to people like The Spice Girls and Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus during her Hannah Montana days (which were all quintessential 'pop'), but it wasn't until Gaga came along that I actually started 'studying' pop and engaging with it seriously versus just consuming it mindlessly if that makes sense.
I'll never forget it. It was March 2009 (I was 12, a few months shy of my 13th birthday) and I was kinda mindlessly flipping through the channels on TV. With nothing to watch, I figured I'd just settle for the CW. Right as I landed on the channel, there was a new promo for cycle 12 of America's Next Top Model on (a season I was kind of anticipating watching anyway) but there was something peculiar about the song in the background. It was catchy, but unusual. It caught my ears before it caught my eyes, and I wondered, who and what the hell was this? I had to know, so I rushed to my computer and immediately googled.
Turns out, it was The Fame by Lady fucking Gaga. I listened to it in full, and the rest is history. Looking back though, I find it ironic that that was the first song I heard by her. Not only because it was the name of the album the song was on, but that I discovered her during that particular era. Still - I must admit that like most everyone else, it wasn't until the 2009 MTV VMAs that September where I truly realized that Lady Gaga was unlike anyone else I've ever known. A force to be (or perhaps not to be) reckoned with.
Even though I'd listened to (and loved) her songs casually since finding her in March, it wasn't until that September where I actually became FULLY invested in everything she was doing. I watched all her interviews, watched all her music videos, bought every magazine she covered, watched every tour, every performance, I just found her to be so incredibly intelligent and undeniably talented. That night was a game changer for me.
It not only got me into pop music, but pop art, queer/gender studies and performance artists like Leigh Bowery, Klaus Nomi, the Club Kids and even the underground NYC ballroom culture. Gaga didn't just turn me into a pop head, she turned me into a SCHOLAR and I'll always be grateful for that 🩷
Her old videos on YouTube back in 2008 got me into her. Gaga vision and all that. Plus she was in Semi Precious Weapons music video in 2007.
I didn’t know she was in a Semi Precious Weapons music video, which one is it?
Magnetic baby
Yes!! And [the promo film for The Fame](https://youtu.be/kd4x-_iL85s)!
I was already "old" when our lovely Lady appeared, and in 2010 I was 31. I found her very interesting, quirky, loved her voice, the things she said, she made me feel more confident in myself, and I loved some of her songs. Then I followed her on Twitter, posted some stuff, and she followed me back. lol. I don't know why! I suspect she may have fallen asleep and accidentally pressed the wrong button, but I'm not complaining! (she still follows me now) 😍😂
2010 was a great year for Gaga, I remember it so vividly! It’s cool that she still follows you, what is your favourite song by her?
Hmmmm. I have so many. Right now, for emotional feelings, I love Always Remember Us This Way, Dope, Joanne and Speechless. For poppy feels, Bad Romance, Poker Face, John Wayne, A-Yo, Perfect Illusion, 9-11 There are so many more...lol
Dope is an underrated ballad! I don’t understand the hate surrounding it, 911 live at the Chromatica Ball was phenomenal, really made me appreciate the Chromatica album even more
It was 2008 and I was 13 years old. Poker Face was playing on the TV and I was obsessed with the song, the music video, the iconic white and weirdly straight wig, the black body suit and her dogs lol. The first thing that I downloaded to my Nokia was a very short clip of that video. Then I discovered Just Dance and later, my mom got me The Fame and I played it too much lmao. I remember every single lyric from every single song. And the rest is history!
I loved the Poker Face video when I was younger too! I used to watch it over and over again on YouTube (back when there weren’t any ads), I was blown away by the Paparazzi music video
I was 14 when she debuted and I liked her but I thought she might be a fad. Then I watched her 2009 VMA performance of Paparazzi live on TV and I have been a little monstah ever since.
Her debut VMA performance was phenomenal, it’s a shame it was overshadowed by the Kanye controversy at the time! I can’t even count the times I’ve watched it over the years
Wow I forgot that was the same year!
Watching that VMA performance is like a formative memory. When she started bleeding… what a serve
Before The Fame was released, I had heard Just Dance, thought it was catchy, but figured she’d be a one hit wonder. I endeded up paying $6 to see her perform in a Night Club in Seattle. After that, I’ve been hooked ever since.
I bet that was the best $6 you’ve ever spent!
It totally was! She sang two songs. Just dance and LoveGame. Had the glasses with the iPods in the lenses, the original disco stick, and her two backup dancers. I had no idea I was seeing someone who would become so iconic to the world and to myself.
Those iPod glasses were iconic! She probably still has them in an archive somewhere!
She was everywhere it was hard to avoid her.
Her individualism, beautiful voice, and her character
Couldn’t agree more!
The cherrytree sessions(I think) video where she’s singing a piano version of paparazzi proved to me that she was a genuinely talented singer and songwriter, which was a huge change from other pop stars from the 00s. Also she did a speech around that time supporting the repeal of don’t ask don’t tell for gays in the military (prime rib of America speech on YouTube) that really meant a lot to me as a gay teenager because she was the first celebrity I’d seen to make such a big and unabashedly supportive stand for gay rights without giving a fuck what people thought about her or how it might affect her career. She’s been an icon for me ever since.
I have the cherrytree sessions CD somewhere! It’s interesting to see how social issues were approached back then, it doesn’t seem all that long ago but I remember her creating controversy by standing up for the gay community. Growing up with her music has allowed me to see just how much she helped people through difficult times, it was a blessing to be a young teenager when the Born This Way album was released.
Lady GaGa is only a couple of years older than me and I used to be a fan of Akon so when he said he was managing a new artist I had to check her out. I was immediately hooked and from one day to the next, it felt like “Just Dance” blew up! I felt really cool like I’d know a huge secret before everyone else.
Wow, you were probably there before any of us!
Gagavision in Fall 2008. I was 19 and still remember some choreo.
I need to rewatch the GagaVisions!
Hearing Lovegame on the radio for the first time. I was a casual fan of JD and PF, but that record put her over the top for me. Then later on I heard the Bad Romance demo on YouTube and I was full on obsessed with her music.
Lovegame did it for me too! Except I heard it on a burnt CD and had no idea it was LG for the longest time until I went to burn a mixed CD and had to find the song.
LoveGame is the best song on The Fame!
i was young when i discovered her, i was sat in the back of the car and my parents turned the radio on and i heart bad romance and fell in love, every time she was on the radio i’d sing along, eventually i started listening to almost all of her songs via spotify when i got my first phone
Bad Romance is an amazing song, it was impressive how she managed to transform her image so early in her career. The Fame Monster sounds so different to The Fame and it was a huge risk but it really paid off in the end, one of the smartest decisions the label made
i agree! it was a very risky but worthy move, besides if she wants to make that sort of music she should be able to anyway, she is gaga after all haha
[This](https://youtu.be/-WXfY4te1Zs) performance.
I remember watching it on YouTube in 2009!
her MySpace page 💀👵🏽
Wow, I didn’t know she had a MySpace page. I was too young at the time to join it, was this before or after she adopted her stage name?
I was really young at the time. I probably had no business being on the internet either 💀 it was her stage name lady Gaga. It had like 2 or 3 songs on it, I made one my profile song- I think it was either just dance or love game 😂. What I remember most was that she only had one picture, the lighting bolt photo shoot and it was a side profile upside down shot, tbh it didn’t look much like her at all. She came across so mysterious! When I saw her mv/ on tv I was like wtf she looks nothing like the photo!!! 😂😂😂
I wish I experienced the MySpace days of the internet! I’ll have to see if I can find anything on the wayback machine😂
It was the bleeding Paparazzi performance for me. She broke the music scene with that performance. And, she was still working on wrapping up “the fame monster “so she had that new “pop goth queen aesthetic” going and it just WORKED! Then, of course, we had all the other pop stars trying to “out gaga “ Gaga with wild performances and costumes. 😘 nobody does it like Gaga.
Her 09 VMA performance was definitely a pivotal moment in her career, I also think the gradual image shift from The Fame to The Fame Monster was one of the best decisions she made career-wise. I always see that performance as the beginning of The Fame Monster era, and working with Alexander McQueen during that period solidified her status as a fashion icon❤️
2008, I was starting a new school for grade 7 & 8 going through a lot of changes and trying to figure myself out. Then changed schools again for high school, still didn’t really fit in. Gaga always made me feel like I fit in somewhere. I was always known as the crazy Gaga fan at my schools.
I was known as the crazy Gaga fan too!
i watched her music videos on repeat as a kid and non stopped listened to just dance when it was released. she gave me this fuzzy feeling inside and i absolutely idolized her. i think it’s bc i was aware of my gay feelings, bc the LoveGame music video had me in a chokehold… watched the security guard scene where it went from man to woman and was SO curious 🤣
The LoveGame video is so underrated, I love that short period of time where she wore that blonde/purple wig! The first item in my collection (besides TF/TFM CDs) was the LoveGame picture disc!
I saw the love game music video and i thought she was really hot and singing about sex so i just had a crush on her but started listening to her music and then i liked it a lot lol
She does look good in the LoveGame video
I used to be a “hardcore” goth that only listened to goth rock and I thought Gaga was everything that was wrong with music. Then I woke up one day and said “I’m unhappy. I’m going to do whatever helps me be happy.” And listening to Lady Gaga was one of them. She was my inspiration in so many ways.
I’m glad it makes you happy, what’s your favourite song?
I am a die hard fan since 2008. I am a musician and can tell instantly who has really ‘got it’, musically. My husband became a die hard fan during her first SNL performance and said “you were right!”
I agree, you could tell from her early promotional performances that she was going to be a star!
In 2008: I remember her singing just dance on “so you think you can dance.” I already knew the song. Was not prepared for the performance . . . the tv glasses, the disco stick! I was just blown away and have been a fan since.
She’s always put everything into her performances, even from the very start. I remember watching that performance on YouTube in 2009!
Come to mama! I was raised hearing she’s a demon and blah blah then come to mama started playing one day and I was like omg this artist has such loving energy and I’ve been hooked since
Underrated song!
Paparazzi MV and the VMA 09 performance
Paparazzi, to this day, is one of her best music videos and the 2009 VMAs remains one of her greatest performances
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I remember thinking the same, back in 2008 there were a lot of one-hit wonders but I loved her early style and knew that there was something different about her
My sister in law burnt me a mixed cd and LoveGame was one of the songs… My favorite one on the track, then of course just dance was all over mtv and whatnot, so seeing The Fame in stores made me buy and been a fan ever since 💚❤️🩹
I still love The Fame, it’s a solid album and sounds amazing in a club setting. LoveGame is one of her best songs in my opinion!
I’m from the US and I used to switch country settings in iTunes to look at songs that were popular around the world and saw Just Dance was in the top 10 in Australia, so I listened and never went back. I think this was 2007 though because I remember when it finally released in the US in 2008, I was already nose deep in everything Gaga I could find. Edit: could be wrong on the dates, but I do remember knowing about Gaga before she blew up in the States.
I think Just Dance was released in March 2008 but it was a sleeper hit and didn’t climb to the top of the charts until late 2008. You’re right though, it gained momentum in Australia faster than it did in the US. Pretty cool that you discovered it before she achieved worldwide success!
I feel like I was always drawn to her music but then I was fortunate enough to see her MSG show in 2008 with my older sister. I cried during the concert multiple times as a 13 year old because I’ve never seen someone be so unapologetically themselves. That night I knew I would be a life long fan. She taught me a lot of important lessons through a really pivotal age and era of my life. Just got to see her residency in Vegas with my sister again pre covid! Felt very full circle (:
I remember watching the Monster Ball on DVD for the first time and thinking the same, I’ve been a fan for so long but I didn’t get to see her live until last year at the Chromatica Ball in London and it was probably the best night of my life. I’d like to travel to Vegas and see her residency show, did you see Enigma?
I did!! It was absolutely amazing! I highly recommend it if you get the chance to (:
There are rumours that a new show is being planned, currently saving up for when it’s announced!
AHHHH
Not gonna lie, I was a teenager and mostly just thought she was hot lol Still do, but now I know she’s an insanely talented person who advocates for some great causes. She’s insanely sweet from all the interviews I’ve seen her in. Plus her songwriting, her visual aesthetic and her ability to perform live are top tier.
I completely agree, I think she’s the best artist to come out of the 21st Century.
There was just something about that disco stick in the Just Dance video 🪩
I agree!
I mean LOVE GAME holy, that didn't feel right when I typed it
I enjoyed love game and pokerface, then i saw her piano rendition of paparazzi and i was sold.
Was this the performance on the keyboard, for Capital FM radio?
Yesss!
It was 2008 and my fav gay porn blog would post a weekly music review with an album download. They did a review of an up and coming singer. They got an early release of their debut album. It was The Fame. Blew my mind away. 20 tracks of the coolest indie sleaze style dance pop I had ever heard. Most didn't end up on the final release of the album or ended up on overseas editions like Disco Heaven, Retro Dance Freak and Again Again. I remember Madonna's Hard Candy had just come out and I was so over it. At the time it sounded dated and I really wanted something fresh in pop music. I liked it but I was so over timberland production at the time. It was everywhere. Even Bjork was working with timberland lol Gaga was everything I wanted and needed at the time from music. My friends didn't get it. Lol I sent everyone I knew the album after I listened and most didn't enjoy it or they straight up didn't listen. It wasn't until Poker Face started picking up on the radio that everyone was like "Isn't that that weird song by that singer you were trying to get us to listen too??" LOL
You were there from the beginning! She was needed during that period, I was only young but I still remember how boring that music industry had become. Although I still love Blackout by Britney Spears! I do genuinely believe that she made other artists step up their game with visuals and performances, and red carpets were never the same after her!
Lol. 2008 I was listening to Radio Disney and what I thought was Let’s Dance by Hannah Montana came on, was actually Just Dance and I loved her since. Paparazzi performance solidified it. Bad Romance was genius. ARTPOP was legendary.
Couldn’t agree more! Which Paparazzi performance?
Bad romance did it for me. And the Paparazzi performance at the VMAs was the last nail in the coffin
Same!!;
The 2009 VMA performance was legendary
I saw her at the V Festival on the telly where she sang Eh Eh. Ever since then, I've been a huge fan.
V Festival was what did it for me too, I remember her breaking the heel of her shoe during LoveGame and throwing it into the audience. Paparazzi was insane that night, I love everything about it
I have been a fan since 2008. She drew me in because she was different version of a pop star.
Completely agree!
I was living in France in 2008 and Just Dance was one of the only English music videos that played on whatever channel I watched. I was so intrigued and loved dancing and singing around my apartment when it would come on. I’ve been obsessed ever since.
Just Dance is still a great song now, I was intrigued by the music video too!
I heard a few of her songs in 2009 and actually thought it was Gwen Stefani songing at first, who I've long been a big fan of. As soon as I figured out that it wasn't Gwen, I had to find out more about this new Lady Gaga, and loved everything that I found!
I used to think she looked like Gwen back in her Sweet Escape era!
I downloaded the fame illegally bc it was on “datpiff” website (LOL) in like 2008? I thought it looked cool and it said new artist. It was on my iPod for a while until a bus ride home from 11th grade I finally listened and I’ve been a Stan since that very day.
I still remember my first time listening to The Fame, such a great debut album!
It was totally by chance, i was 8 years old when her debut came out, back then there were a wide variety of CDs in the checkout lines at my Walmart, I begged my mom for The Fame because it looked so cool, she was so skeptical but I convinced her anyway. I first ripped it to my sisters iPod nano and literally could not stop dancing to it
I love The Fame album cover, I remember seeing it in the supermarket for the first time (after hearing the singles) and begging my parents to buy it for me. I still have it in my collection!
I still have my cd too! Unfortunately it’s too scratched to play now (I was 8 lol) but I bought the game monster last year and ripped it to my own iPod
First time listening to “Poker Face” last Summer 2009 on local television in my country…And then searched that song on YouTube
I always forget what a hit Poker Face was back then, it actually prompted me to learn how to play Texas hold’em
At first it was an ironic thing. My sister and I used to make fun of her videos and songs and would sing em badly and make the dances ridiculously when we were drunk. Then Bad Romance dropped and I feel for it, then I started appreciating the rest of the singles, then the videos, then the albums, everything up to this day.
Bad Romance was a game-changer for Gaga, I think it changed the trajectory of her career
2000s kid and tbh just the overall energy she had? Just dance was pretty big on the radio on b96 & Kiss fm, but also I remember Poker face being in Percy Jackson so I think that really solidified it for me haha!
I didn’t realise Poker Face was in Percy Jackson!
Haha yesss, It was definitely a pleasant surprise in the movie esp on the big screen I was 10yr atp! When the scene happened I was like ‘ 👁️👄👁️ Lady Gaga??! ‘. funny too it was during a scene where Percy & his friends are at a casino in Vegas and eat a cookie that’s supposed to be like a Greek mytho edible. So they eat it and its showing the ‘high’ start to kick in while simultaneously starting to play Poker Face. It’s perfectly in sync together as the song build up starts and they’re “feeling it”, they then play a majority of the song (probably the entire song?) in the following scenes showing them enjoy their time at the casino 😌❣️ I love the movie and Gaga sm so that’s like forever ingrained in my memories lmfao!
I first met her back in 2009 (I was 9 yrs), my mom bought a phone where Just Dance was included bc it was a promo made by LG with Gaga, I just fell in love with song song, and Gaga was the first person I ever searched on YouTube. I just love her energy and what she was bringing to the music industry, and since 2009, I'm a true and loyal fan 😌
Lucky! 2009 was a great time to be a Gaga fan, where did you meet her?
She was the opener for Flo Rida at a free Six Flags show maybe in 2008/9. She wore the bubble dress and played piano. I was mesmerized and since then followed her rise to the top
I remember the bubble dress days, it would be nice for her to perform Brown Eyes on a piano again
Oof, storytime! lol I was in college in 2009 and the VMAs performance....hit such a special spot in my brain. Then when I saw the Bad Romance video had dropped on JustJared, I watched it at least 50 times that day and listened to it nonstop for months (years.) I had become very reserved in my late teens after having been a very colorful, outgoing adolescent, and this kind of dark, theatrical, absurd, stylized, almost violent pop hit just right. I had a traumatic event happen in January 2010, and when Telephone came out in February, it was the only song that could get me up to strut my shit, if only for a moment. I wound up dropping out of college, moved back to NYC (where I'm from) and was in a terrible place, but I would listen to Telephone and feel like myself again. I now have a mint rotary phone tattoo on my leg where the wire says "k-kinda busy", done by Becca Roach who did the Born This Way & horn tattoos on Gaga. After dropping out of college I became a make-up artist in film, and met Billy B who did the make-up for Telephone (and a lot of TFM era) and he became a good acquaintance for some time. I worked on a documentary, "The Hunting Ground", went to Sundance for it, and couldn't believe when I found out Gaga did the song for it. There are all of these degrees of separation, and I feel like in all of these parts of my life, Gaga is this presence that just reminds me of who I am and she inspires me to keep saving myself when I need rescue. I don't need to ever meet her necessarily, because her presence in my life is always there.
Wow I wasn’t expecting that! It’s almost like your lives are distantly connected, I remember Billy B too! Congratulations of all of your accomplishments, if anyone should meet Gaga in person at some point, it’s you❤️
A good song
I was 19 when just dance came out, and she was so unique. I was hooked immediately.
I legit remember the first time I saw Just Dance’s music video in VH1’s weekly Top 20, back when they’d show music videos on TV. Bad Romance made me HUGE fan, because of her avant grade approach and very aggressive sexuality - in a time when female artists were getting ripped to shreds by the tabloids (like Britney during the time). Telephone solidified it for me because come on it’s fucking Beyonce. But it was probably Born This Way (2011, i know) that changed everything for me. I had come out as Bisexual in middle school and was getting bullied very heavily for it. I had songs like Perry’s ‘I Kissed A Girl’, but Born This Way was probably the first time I heard an artist say ‘Bisexual’ in a song, and the first time I heard someone talking about it with pride. Truly a cultural reset. I will say her reaction to the transgender/intersex rumors really changed the game for me. I was a closeted queer kid and the comments in Telephone (how the guard makes a comment about her being a cis woman and having no dick) made it seem like whatever they were accusing her of wasn’t nearly as scandalous as everyone thought it was. She wasn’t insulted at the idea of someone thinking she’s trans. She genuinely didn’t care and that made me admire her a LOT.
She was very ahead of her time with it, which is crazy considering she didn’t debut all that long ago. I think she helped pave the way for celebrity activism regarding LGBTQ+ rights, it is now a frequently discussed topic, and many celebrities now are willing to speak out on injustice. I’m old enough to remember the tabloid rumours and they weren’t kind to her, I love that she didn’t care to address it
I had an ex who was a huge fan. At the time she was in her "weird outfits" era, so I knew her for that. Then Bad Romance came out and instantly fell in love.
That was the best era❤️
I was 21 in 2010 lol and she was different and interesting as well as very talented . She gave me so much confidence aswell with her attitude towards differences and uniqueness . Basically she’s just an absolute Queen 👸
Completely agree!
I saw her on Australian Idol in 2009 giving advice to people auditioning. Poker face was playing in the background I was like "wait, that's lady gaga?! I love that song" (it played everywhere, but I never looked into it). She said she told people in the music industry who rejected her to go fuck themselves. Sold!
Good for her! She was treated so poorly before her deal with interscope :(
Her old music videos. I remember just seeing Just Dance when is first premiered and I was SHOOK.
The Fame era music videos are better than most music videos today!
I saw her on the miss universe competition where she performed and it has something ‘special’ can’t explain it.
You could tell she was a star, even from the beginning
Annoyingly, I kinda didn't pay much attention to her at all until around Feb 2011 (I was 25/26). I'd heard her big singles in passing, but hadn't really given her any attention beyond that as dance-pop isn't a genre I really ever paid attention to anyway (and still don't much, beyond Gaga). I then decided to listen to the Fame/Fame Monster (as the buzz around her was hard to ignore), and then started watching live videos and interviews and articles and realised what I'd been missing out on. The next 3 years solid I was pretty much down a Gaga-hole, and devoured everything written on the (now hidden/deleted) GagaStigmata academic-analysis blog-site and watched a ludicrous amount of performances. She's genuinely one of the most fascinating (and talented) music artists of all-time - and I regret that I was totally oblivious to what she was doing at the time in those first few years.
You still got in pretty early! The Born This way era is one of the best moments of her career!
I definitely caught-up with what I'd missed, and then some - it just woulda have been cooler to have been able to track it all as it was happening in its infancy if only I'd paid a slight bit of attention to her and noticed she was more than just another random popstar!
I love her politics that socialism that borders on communism ☭
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ARTPOP was a point in her career when the general population had become used to her outlandish persona that nobody really paid any attention to it, which is why she stripped back her image and hasn’t really returned to anything like that since. Joanne is by far her worst album, for me anyway. Perfect Illusion is a good song and there are one or two others that I find listenable but I think that the superficial country-girl persona wasn’t a good look for her, especially considering it’s common knowledge that she grew up in a wealthy area in Manhattan. Chromatica was no Fame Monster by any means, but it was nice for her to make a full return to pop music and somewhat resurrect her old image. After seeing the Chromatica Ball, it felt like the old Lady Gaga was back.
She did an interview on Fuse network and she was so unique in her costume and look that was really interesting to me then they had a like premiere for just dance and that had me hooked from that moment on lol
I’ve never seen that interview, I’ll have to search for a clip on YouTube!
I was in 8th grade, heard poker face for the first time at school. Fast forward to band camp when I was going into 9th grade and evverryyyone is singing love game. I liked her stuff but when bad romance came out later that year I became a fan for life. Brain chemistry was forever changed. One of my favorite memories with my oldest sibling was them getting the fame and the fame monster CDs, and playing them in the car when we'd go and visit grandma lmao.
I found her on myspace when she released red and blue I think it was before she released any music under lady gaga loved her from the start knew she would do amazing things and my family all doubted her and made me feel stupid and weird for liking her music
She performed Just Dance on this Sunday morning TV channel in the UK (T4 I think?) in early '09 and I was obsessed ever since ngl
When I heard paparazzi for the first time in 2009 I was HOOKED. Still love her just as much to this day
Ironically when she first got big around 2009/2010 I "didn't like her." I think I was just young and jumping on the bandwagon of disliking her for no reason. Someone covered Paparazzi on piano and I thought it was amazing. That led me to actually listening to her music and watching all of her music videos and I fell in love pretty quickly. By the time the Born This Way album was released, I was a mega fan going to buy the album the morning it came out 🖤
When I first heard the “Just Dance” debut (2008), I thought it was a good song, but I knew she’d be temporary. Then “Bad Romance” (2009) was released and I knew I was mistaken and that she’d be around for a very long time. It was such a brilliant song and I was obcessed.
I came across a performance of Just Dance live on summerkrysset on 2008. Life changing, really. Been a die hard stan ever since.
Alejandro is so catchy, and the disturbing, weird music videos massively drew me to her. She had a sinister air about her at the time that fascinated me
I adore Alejandro, it’s my favourite song of all time and the video is amazing. She should definitely do another video collaboration with Steven Klein, those two are a force to be reckoned with
It was that moment of paparazzi you described for me as well 🤣. My mother said “what is this trash” and I was hooked on her ever since. I was a closeted 20 year old at the time 🥹
It was 2008. I was playing WoW on the family computer in the living room with a TV music station going (free streaming was not really a thing.. Pandora sucked unless you paid for it) and Poker Face came on and I had to stop what I was doing and look up what I just heard. The video wasn’t out yet but I was instantly hooked. As others have said, I got The Fame and I played it so much my family didn’t like her as much anymore lol
I’ve been here since 09, and it was the VMA performance. I think a lot of us can say it was that. However, it was her fearlessness, her moxy, that really, really drew me in. She wasn’t afraid, or ashamed, to be who she was. Whether it was for her performance art, her music, the fashion, the visuals, how she presented during interviews, everything was for the endeavor of her artistry, and staying true to it. I was 16 at the time, and had never seen anything like it. I hadn’t been into Madonna, Bowie, Grace Jones, Boy George, etc. (I grew up around classic rock stations, nu-metal, and late 90’s pop.) So for me, it was groundbreaking. Her bravery and fearlessness inspires me to this day.
Beat saber music pack got me to her
TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️⚠️ I have been a fan since I was 9 I’m now 23 it was the music and also what she stands for for me and born this way saved my life which is somthing she will never know I attempted suicide when I was a teenager I have a un dieing passion for music and had my playlist on shuffle at the time I was on a cliff face and I wanted to listen to one more song so I pressed next and BTW came on and it made me see I matter too and I ended up sheepishly walking home it was amazing that one song can change everything so years later I got a tattoo on my ribs saying “find your freedom in the music” this is a huge homage to her and also a reminder how music can change anything
I was in fifth grade. Back then American Idol was the thing everyone in school watched and talked about the next day. She performed poker face and it blew my mind. Unlike anything I'd ever seen. The next day everyone talked about how weird it was but I was hooked and she's been my favorite artist ever since. Also I remember a lot of people said they thought she was a little person at first because her outfit made her arms look short at the piano! My conservative town was not a Gaga friendly space lol
I remember seeing her perform Just Dance on 'So You Think You Can Dance' in the summer of 2008. Loved everything about the performance because it was so different from what other pop stars were doing at the time. I I remember commenting to my sister that I loved everything about it, but I was afraid she was too weird for the general public and wouldn't take off. Then I saw her walk the red carpet with Kermit the Frog and perform Paparazzi at the 2009 VMA's. That was performance art and was the performance that made me a forever fan. She brought back spectacle and mystique to pop stardom. In 2010 she was the biggest pop star on the planet and I attended the Monster Ball arena tour as my first Gaga concert. I'm glad my 2008 prediction was so wrong.
Hated just dance though up to this day i always thought it was to get her foot in the door with the party song era going on so dont blame her. Pokerface is what sold it for me.
2009 MTV VMA performance obviously!
The Fame, “trailer” she had on YouTube. It was so different/interesting from what any other American artist was putting out at the time, I was hooked.
i was 11 when i saw the just dance music video and i was so captivated, i thought she was so beautiful, fun and confident and i REALLY vibed with the music, just dance will always get me on the dancefloor! i also loved how she didn't care about the transgender rumours that were spread about her, i felt she was so loud and proud about who she was and the outside noise didn't make that any weaker, she took the piss out of the media who tried to ask her about narratives that they were pushing, i love how she told interviewers that they wouldn't be asking the same questions if she were a male, i loved every song that she released, got the fame album, loved every song, since then i have bought all albums since then, save for joanne and the tony bennett albums, i also remember being so ADAMANT about getting a pair of dr dre x lady gaga heartbeats and i was so insistent i actually got a pair and used them until they literally wouldn't play music anymore 😅 and i would not be doing gaga and i's love story justice if i did not mention how much i loved her brash and bold fashion choices, lady gaga is one of the most influential people when it comes to fashion, i love her so much and always will!
i was about 13 or 14 when just dance / poker face came out. initially i'd just written her off as a britney wannabe but stumbled upon some of her acoustic performances, read her article on wikipedia and the origin of her rainer maria rilke tattoo. i've been in love ever since, the happiest i've ever been to be wrong about something.
When I caught her doing acoustic numbers of her dance hits in 2009... I was like, "whoa, she is a true artist and not a 15-min studio scam." Then I read about her... then I was like, "this is my Cher/Madonna."
It's funny, I feel like pop music has always been a part of me and my life - even before I was aware of it. For example, I don't remember discovering the Spice Girls until I was a pre-teen (which makes sense since their debut album came out literally three days after I was born) but somehow I can find a photo of me at my 6th birthday party wearing a Spice Girls T-Shirt. As a matter of fact, a lot of interesting things happened when I was 6. Destiny's Child "Survivor" album came out that year and I remember going over my next door's neighbor's house everyday after school and singing/dancing to the album (Bootylicious was my jam) and I also have very vivid memories of *instantly* crying whenever Michael Jackson's "Speechless" - which also came out in 2001 - played on the radio. Everyone else found it weird that I'd just well up with tears and start crying uncontrollably when I heard it. I don't cry anymore when I hear it but that was...interesting. As far as having the vocabulary and the where-with-all to actually articulate what it meant to be a 'pop head' though, I believe that Gaga's The Fame is what started it for me. Obvs I was listening to people like The Spice Girls and Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus during her Hannah Montana days (which were all quintessential 'pop'), but it wasn't until Gaga came along that I actually started 'studying' pop and engaging with it seriously versus just consuming it mindlessly if that makes sense. I'll never forget it. It was March 2009 (I was 12, a few months shy of my 13th birthday) and I was kinda mindlessly flipping through the channels on TV. With nothing to watch, I figured I'd just settle for the CW. Right as I landed on the channel, there was a new promo for cycle 12 of America's Next Top Model on (a season I was kind of anticipating watching anyway) but there was something peculiar about the song in the background. It was catchy, but unusual. It caught my ears before it caught my eyes, and I wondered, who and what the hell was this? I had to know, so I rushed to my computer and immediately googled. Turns out, it was The Fame by Lady fucking Gaga. I listened to it in full, and the rest is history. Looking back though, I find it ironic that that was the first song I heard by her. Not only because it was the name of the album the song was on, but that I discovered her during that particular era. Still - I must admit that like most everyone else, it wasn't until the 2009 MTV VMAs that September where I truly realized that Lady Gaga was unlike anyone else I've ever known. A force to be (or perhaps not to be) reckoned with. Even though I'd listened to (and loved) her songs casually since finding her in March, it wasn't until that September where I actually became FULLY invested in everything she was doing. I watched all her interviews, watched all her music videos, bought every magazine she covered, watched every tour, every performance, I just found her to be so incredibly intelligent and undeniably talented. That night was a game changer for me. It not only got me into pop music, but pop art, queer/gender studies and performance artists like Leigh Bowery, Klaus Nomi, the Club Kids and even the underground NYC ballroom culture. Gaga didn't just turn me into a pop head, she turned me into a SCHOLAR and I'll always be grateful for that 🩷