Will the Grammys go ‘Gaga’?
Courtesy whitemoonwatching.blogspot.coom
The Grammys, long heralded as “music’s biggest night,” will be celebrating its 52nd annual awards show this Sunday, Jan. 31st, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
With awards show ratings on the decline in recent years, the Grammys has become more about spectacular musical performances than handing out the awards themselves. One scheduled performer who is sure to entertain is Lady Gaga, a young pop/electronica artist who exploded to the top of the charts early last year and hasn’t left them since. Gaga’s wildly successful album, “The Fame,” has earned her five nominations, including album of the year, song of the year, and record of the year.
Like her music videos, Lady Gaga’s live performances are never without eccentric costumes, modern dance moves, and a fair amount of shock and awe. During her infamous performance at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, for example, Gaga sang her hit “Paparazzi” while fake blood spurted across her body.
But over-the-top performances are not what sets Lady Gaga apart as an artist – Michael Jackson, Marilyn Manson, Madonna, and even Britney Spears have all been known to have creative on-stage antics. Unlike any other artist, Gaga’s reputation for (intended) spectacle also extends to her personal life. She has embraced the fact that part of being a celebrity means being followed and photographed 24-7, so every single public outing (and corresponding outfit) is meticulously planned out by the Lady herself. This behavior has garnered her a mass amount of attention from the press – Gaga has often made the front page of celebrity gossip sites just by meandering around New York in a new costume.
On the flip side, I scoured the Internet for a picture of Stefani Germanotta (a.k.a. Lady Gaga in real life) without make-up or not in costume and could only find four photos from a single afternoon on the beach. Within the public eye, it is as if Lady Gaga is the real individual and Stefani does not exist.
“I dress this way all the time because it inspires my life,” explained Gaga last summer on a German television show. “I dress this way because my whole life is art and my whole life is performance.”
And herein lies the genius behind the transformation into Lady Gaga. Treating one’s entire life like a never-ending performance (or work of art) keeps an artist basking in the spotlight all while keeping his or her personal life entirely under wraps, nay invisible. Without any real personal details for the audience to relate to, the artist seems more like an enigma or superhero than an actual person. In essence, Lady Gaga has turned herself into an all-singing, all-dancing, all-manageable brand. And for a publicist, that is a very nice place for one’s clients to be.
While it may seem ridiculous and tiresome to micromanage a celebrity’s life this way, Gaga’s approach to “the fame monster” is the way of the future. For celebrities – especially music artists who cannot dip in and out of character roles as actors do – one’s personal life and professional life are now one and the same. Long gone are the days where individuals can be celebrities only when they want to be. Information is the name of the game and full disclosure is expected from everyone. Operating one’s entire life as a brand as Gaga does, however – with a single, unwavering message – is a way to cut through the clutter and rocket straight to the top.
I have no clue what to expect from Lady Gaga’s upcoming performance at this Sunday’s Grammys, but I have little doubt that it will be anything short of memorable. I’m guessing her performance will be outrageously over the top and viewers will most likely spend some part of their Mondays discussing it. And something tells me that that’s just how Lady Gaga has planned it.
You can watch Lady Gaga’s performance for yourself when the Grammys air on CBS Jan. 31st at 8 p.m. eastern/7 p.m. central.
Click on the picture gallery below to see some of Lady Gaga’s more notorious fashion statements over the last year.
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