Religion Within The World Of Gaga

Religion Within The World Of Gaga

Theodor Adorno famously stated in his paper “On Popular Music” that there are “the two spheres of music”, being that of “serious music” [non-standardized] and “popular music” [standardized].[1] He believed that popular music was standardized for that very reason, it was being given to the masses there-for it couldn’t possibly be complex, as people wouldn’t understand it. However, within popular music the very themes that some of its artists, such as Lady Gaga challenge are complex and should there-for beg the question, can popular music also be serious music?

One of these complex themes is recurring throughout Lady Gaga’s work, and is that of religion and through certain songs on The Fame Monster it was a motif explored with great intention of causing debate.

 

Don’t say I hate institutionalised religion – rather than saying I hate those things, which I do not, what I’m saying is that perhaps there is a way of opening more doors, rather than closing so many.

Lady Gaga (2011)

 Despite being from a strict Italian Catholic upbringing, and studying at a Catholic school in Upper West Side, New York when she was younger, Lady Gaga appears to have mirrored that of her predecessor Madonna, in the “Catholic Girl, Gone Bad” image, and continues to challenge religious sentiment throughout her work, noticeably within Alejandro from The Fame Monster. Gaga has stated the song derives from her “fear of men” [2], however, within the music video for this song she used some questionable religious influences, and combining those with dark and chilling militant imagery, it seems Lady Gaga was using more than relationships as inspiration for this piece.

The main moments that appear to reference that of war begin at the start of the video, in which the camera shows numerous men, sitting at tables, dressed in full length, dark militant jackets and hats, reminiscent of Nazi Soldier attire and shortly afterwards we see these same men, dressed in very little, chanting and marching towards the camera. At one point shortly after this it also shows a man, again wearing very little, but this time wearing a soldiers hat, attached to strings, like that of a puppet. The strings could represent a number of things including, the relationship story within the video as the female involved is trapped and being controlled by the male she is with and they could also represent Gaga’s commentary on those in the military being controlled by those above them and acting on command, not thought.

The militant theme throughout this video hasn’t gone unnoticed by other viewers, Montgomery (2010) stated, “[Alejandro] is influenced by the smoky, darkly decadent art and fashion of Weimar Germany. [The] economically difficult era that preceded Hitler’s rise to power,” and although the era in which Montgomery mentioned is pre World War Two, it appears the imagery used also has the capability to reference that of the disciplined and conformist landscape that was Nazi Germany in the early 1940’s.

This music video cleverly combined these themes with that of religious symbolism, but in a rather more risqué way. At the 5.15 mark in the video, between shots of Lady Gaga in a nun outfit being lifted up and down by the group of the before mentioned soldiers, she is shown to the viewer in a nuns habit, swallowing a set of rosary beads, arguably eating religion itself. These images caused a backlash in both the religious community and social media, with Katy Perry posting on twitter, shortly after the video was released, stating; “Using blasphemy as entertainment is as cheap as a comedienne telling a fart joke”[3] and the Catholic League president, Bill Donohue, in an interview stated, “Lady Gaga is playing a Madonna copy cat, squirming around half naked, abusing Catholic symbols. [She] has now become the poster girl for Catholic bashing,”[4]

By bringing all these issues to the attention of her audience and beyond, Lady Gaga appears to have reached out to the more unlikely of people, as in the Lous Theroux 2011 documentary in which the journalist is following the highly controversial West Borough Baptist church, the audience can see the members of this group dancing, singing and preaching to “Telephone” by Lady Gaga. Naturally they have changed the lyrics of the song to suit their own religious agenda, but the very fact this closed off, right-wing group, are even aware that this artist exists suggests she has become a part of culture itself, achieving far more than the regular artists of today whom are receiving number one hits one day, and checking into the Celebrity Big Brother house the next.

[1] Hird, L. (2011). Theodor Adorno – On Popular Music. Available: https://lucyhird.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/theodor-adorno-%E2%80%93-on-popular-music/. Last accessed 15th April 2015.

[2] Fuse, 2012. Lady Gaga’s Quest For Fame, Humour In Music, Anti-Bullying, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ5UQOMlEQo. Last accessed 12^th April 2015.

[3] Roberts, S. (2010). Katy Perry suggests Lady Gaga’s ‘Alejandro’ music video uses blasphemy for cheap entertainment. Available: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/katy-perry-suggests-lady-gaga-alejandro-music-video-blasphemy-cheap-entertainment-article-1.181860. Last accessed 16th April 2015.

[4] Catholic News Agency. (2010). Lady Gaga dismissed as ‘Madonna wannabe’ for ‘Catholic bashing’ music video. Available: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/lady-gaga-dismissed-as-madonna-wannabe-for-catholic-bashing-music-video/. Last accessed 16th April 2015.

 

The Reason Young Superstars “Can’t Stop”

Following the recent backlash of young musicians actions, such as Miley Cyrus’ infamous performance at the VMA’s and Justin Bieber’s decision to spit at his fans over a hotel balcony, I decided to write a short article about these issues. I want to also say that I’m not pointing the finger at anyone in this article, merely trying to get people to realise these news stories we read aren’t as simple as “another child star has gone off the rails”.

 Is it their own fault?

 Are these young singers just acting like spoilt brats? The common belief is that after all this money is being thrown at them and the waves of people have told them “you’re amazing” over and over again, it’s all gone to the youngsters heads. But can you blame them? I’m pretty confident the majority of people would get a big head if they had people telling them they’re number one 24 hours a day, and flocks of fans outside their window screaming their name. I’m not defending certain actions of certain stars, as I believe people do have a moral compass of what right and wrong is, however, I do also think that if the people around them aren’t saying to them “that’s a step too far” how can we expect them to have their own personal limitations? It’s the equivalent of handing a child a permanent marker and saying “go and draw on what you like” and then being surprised when you have pictures scrawled across your bedroom wall.

Is it the record labels fault?

Charlotte Church recently gave a lecture for BBC radio discussing the “sexualisation of women” in the music industry, and she discussed whilst going through the awkward “child singer” to “serious adult artist” phase, one that many singers go through, she was often told by older record label executives that she should “show off more cleavage” as it would increase her record sales and broaden her audience. The fact anyone said this to a young female artist, I find to be shocking and it worries me that this is still going on within record labels today. It is sending a superficial view to young artists that the only way an audience will care about their music is if they show off their bodies. I’m not a naïve individual, and I do realise that a big part of media industries is how people look and portray themselves, but at the same time, a singer as young as 13 should not even be considering showing off their body for more attention, as they are not old enough to understand the consequence of that sort of behaviour.

A perfect example of this is when Britney Spears released the video for “Baby One More Time” she was 17 years old. Although 17 isn’t quite 13, it is still questionable that she was asked to dance around in a school girl outfit, with pigtails, in the music video accompanying the single. Why did no one at the record label say “don’t you think this is a bit much for a young singer?” or “is this really necessary?” as I personally feel that regardless of the video content, the song would have been a huge hit anyway because it had everything 90’s pop audiences wanted, a catchy, cheesy chorus and a beat to dance to.

 Is it their guardian’s fault?

When Charlotte Church was being told to show more body, why was there no one close to her, family or otherwise, stepping in and saying “I won’t allow this”? I don’t want to cut down other people’s family dynamic or beliefs, but I do think guardians should hold some responsibility when it comes to their youngsters when they’re being thrown into the public eye. I feel that if they step in sooner, perhaps certain issues could be avoided. For example, if someone close to Miley Cyrus had stepped in when she did nude photos for Vanity Fair in 2008 [at the age of 15] perhaps she wouldn’t be “twerking” and dancing with a transvestite five years later at the VMAs. Interestingly enough, during the Vanity Fair photo-shoot her father [Billy-Rae Cyrus] was present during some of the photos.

Do with that what you will.

What I’m trying to get at is that it’s not simply down to one person’s silly actions. Realistically if you put a camera in the majority of teenagers homes you’d see them doing much the same thing as these child stars are doing, so who are we to point the finger and take the moral high ground?

In a documentary I once watched about Britney Spears there was one unforgettable scene that showed Spears sat on a street floor, crying and surrounded by paparazzi, and she is asking them to leave her alone. I can’t help but feel that if someone close to her, or someone in the record label had put their foot down years earlier perhaps that moment could have been avoided.

If record labels and guardians alike don’t start making a change, and setting boundries for these young stars, there will continue to be broken superstars sat on the street, staring wide eyed at the lens of a camera, begging to be left alone.