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Can Lady Gaga dethrone Madonna as the Queen of Pop?

Can Lady Gaga dethrone Madonna as the Queen of Pop
Can Lady Gaga dethrone Madonna as the Queen of Pop?
Can Lady Gaga dethrone Madonna as the Queen of Pop?

“I don’t think she lives it, because it’s all artifice. It’s all image with no meaning behind it. You can’t sink your teeth into it. It’s a sound bite. It’s very of this age, because that’s what people want. They want a Twitter line, a jpeg, an MP3.”

Jack White criticizing Lady Gaga in an interview with Esquire UK

(Jack White is one of the most admired guitarists of the early 21st century; he helped restore the popularity of punk-blues as the frontman of the White Stripes.)

Human Behavior Expert and Celebrity Life Coach Patrick Wanis, PhD, answers a reporter’s in-depth questions about Lady Gaga, Madonna and the social and artistic impact each one has had.

Natalia: For a long time now, ever since Lady Gaga came out in 2008, she has been compared to Madonna, and she has been referred to as “The New Madonna,” “The Groundbreaking Girl.” But is it really possible for her to dethrone Madonna who has been considered the “Queen of Pop”, and not even Britney Spears, when she was at her height could do it. Does Lady Gaga have a shot now?

Patrick: I don’t think anyone will ever dethrone Madonna because has been around for 30 years. So the first thing is Madonna has been around a lot longer than Gaga. The second thing is Madonna had a different impact in music compared to Lady Gaga. Yes, Lady Gaga has shocked audiences. She has tried to break the boundaries. She has tried to create a whole new theatrical way of performing, including her videos. That is very different with what Madonna has ever done. Madonna tried to break certain sexual boundaries, and I think for that reason Madonna had a greater impact.

Their backgrounds are very different too. Madonna was a dancer, so Madonna came from more of a performance background even though Lady Gaga is much more theatrical than Madonna. But Lady Gaga has succeeded because number one, she was great at shocking people. Number two, she “went against the grain.” That means she just went over the top, extreme, extravagant, loud, in your face, shocking right from the beginning, whereas Madonna started with an innocent image and then people grew up with her.

So Madonna did evolve. She didn’t come straight away and shock everyone. If you remember her early hits, they were pop songs like “Holiday.”

Natalia: When you say that Madonna came out as an innocent, like an innocent kind of girl, pretty much like for example Britney Spears at first showed herself, are you talking about her very early days with her band The Breakfast Club or when she was out as a solo singer?

Patrick: Well, when Madonna first started, if you look at her solo hits, “Holiday,” they were very innocent songs. It wasn’t until later, quite a few years later, that she started doing songs like “Papa Don’t Preach.”

“Papa Don’t Preach” was a very powerful song because she was saying to him, “Don’t be a hypocrite.” It wasn’t just a girl rebelling. Look at those lyrics, and if I recall correctly, it was more about her saying to her dad, “Don’t preach. You’re not perfect, so don’t tell me what to do,” particularly if you look at the video.

So Madonna had social commentary. She had a message that was relatable to every single girl.

Now, Lady Gaga has tried to do the same thing on a big scale. She has tried to tackle social issues on sexuality. I don’t recall the others but I know she has tried to tackle those social issues. But Lady Gaga isn’t consistent. She contradicts herself.

Natalia: How? How does she do that?

Patrick: She’ll say one thing then she’ll go and do something else. She promotes self love when she sings “There’s nothing wrong with loving who you are” and “I’m beautiful in my way ’cause God makes no mistakes” but does Lady Gaga really accept herself and her body or does she fear rejection and is giving into the public’s expectations of her?  She tweeted once “Just killed back to back spin classes. Eating a salad dreaming of a cheeseburger,’ followed by hashtag “#PopSingersDontEat #IwasBornThisWay.” As I told Foxnew.com her actions reveal that she’s not only hypocritical, but also disingenuous. “Lady Gaga has often spoken out about hot topics such as bullying, same-sex marriages and body image issues, but her tweets reveal that she is possibly insincere and will simply do anything to get attention,” Wanis told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “She cannot accept the way she was born and still wants to hide behind the mask, hiding her fear of rejection and longing for everyone to see her as physically perfect.” https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/04/16/experts-call-lady-gaga-controversial-diet-tweets-hypocritical-and-cary/ And she has had eating issues in the past.

Also, if I recall correctly, she was criticized because she was wearing fur.

Natalia: She had said before that she would never do that.

Patrick: And then she went and did it. So sometimes she does it just to shock people. I don’t know how sincere she really is and how much she does just to shock everyone.

Also, the average person thinks that Lady Gaga is completely original. “Oh, she’s so original and she does what she wants and she has her own style.” And that’s not true, because only people that understand the music industry know how someone like Lady Gaga even occurred, how she happened.

Click here for Part 2 of the interview –  How famous artists like Lady Gaga got their look? https://patrickwanis.com/blog/how-famous-artists-lady-gaga-got-their-look/

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