My Newfound Respect for Lady Gaga

Over my spring break, my friend offered me a free ticket to a Lady Gaga concert in Anaheim, California. I wasn’t exactly a Lady Gaga fan- I don’t really know any of her songs and I don’t really know much about her at all other than the fact that she wore a meat dress to some event and caused a ruckus. But it was a free ticket to a show I had heard was a must-see. And so I went.

The show wasn’t that different than what I had expected: Lady Gaga danced her ass off, sang her popular songs, wore a lot of impressive outfits, played some mildly repulsive transition videos (involving someone throwing up a sea foam green liquid onto her over and over) and, most importantly, did a whole lot of preaching about donating to LGBT homeless charities and about being liberated because we were all “born this way.” The show was fun. But what really caught my attention was her voice. At one point in the show, Lady Gaga called an “unsuspecting” member of the audience. It was his birthday- go figure. She sang “Happy Birthday” for him- no background music, no flourishes, just singing. It gave me chills. I’d always heard that she “actually has a good voice” but I’d never heard it before. Hearing it live for the first time really had an impact on me. Her voice is truly incredible. And so I was left wondering: why does she not have any songs where she actually sings? My friend who was with me at the show explained that she started out singing “for real” but there are so many good singers out there that she wasn’t really getting any attention. And so the Lady Gaga fame monster was born. I have to give it to her- Lady Gaga is a genius when it comes to winning fame and glory. She does everything right in order to attract attention and devotion. She supports good causes, she repeatedly claims that she hates money, her songs are pretty damn catchy. And while I do respect her for that, I respect her more for the part of the show that came next: Lady Gaga sat down at her piano and played a beautiful, slow song. A song called “You And I” from her latest album, Born This Way. The song has none of the intense, glitz and glittery influences of songs like “The Fame” or “Poker Face” and is instead just a sweet, simple piano ballad with absolutely ridiculous vocals that would make anyone worship this lady. I’m glad that now that she has the world screaming her name, she is able to show off her real talent. I encourage everyone- fans, and especially non-fans- to check out a video of Lady Gaga singing the song live here.