Gender According to GaGa

Modern pop music has been littered with a variety of teen friendly genres featuring flared jeaned buxom blonds projecting their broken hearts to all the distressed 14 year old girls around the globe, but none have taken an active stance to challenge hetero-normative gender ideology as that of Lady GaGa. While partaking in her show on September 28^th, I was able to witness her varying transgressions as it pertains to challenging gender norms. While this is nothing new (the women’s liberation movement, bra burnings, and women’s slacks) Lady GaGa takes a particularly interesting approach to challenge gender through her art, music, and adherence to the queer community.

During the concert I was able to witness all of these in a dizzying array of technological gender empowerment that often left me in complete amazement. First I will take her art and physical appearance from the show to demonstrate her disrupting refusal of hetero-normative gender ideals. After a masterful introduction that was quite reminiscent of a Warhol-esque installation piece, she violently appears, encased in what could be described as no less than a “disco volcano” contraption that hid the majority of her body. Once she made her exit from this prop, she appears in a meticulously constructed dress that presents her bosom in such a fashion that begs your eye to wonder, and a hemline that follows suit. Herein lies the interesting form in which her personal gender identification takes its shape. While she celebrates her female form with ever lowering necklines, she also seeks a refusal of gender through the shape these outfits take. The aforementioned introductory dress also distorted the shape of her body in such a manner that left her exposed bosoms the only indicator of her physical sex. While she may draw your eye to a pantless form, she also toys with your perception of the female figure through a number of the outfits she dawns throughout the show. Another example of this would be her bubble bodysuit that she wears for the acousitic performance later in the show. Again, while her female genitalia rests in clear sight, she toys with the feminine figure by enveloping and contorting her shape with the appearance of bubbles escaping her human form.

The next avenue in which our Lady GaGa takes in order to alter our perception of gender is through the lyrics of her songs. During the concert she performed her countless number one hits such as Pokerface, Just Dance, and Paparazzi, each of which delivered its own prescribed level of sexual innuendo…directed at men…AND women. During much of her performance she would gesticulate in a masturbatory fashion to her countless fans, which elicited quite a rousing response (from me, as well). This is what I find most surprising about her lyrics/music. While most songs refer to “showing HIM what I got” and delivering her signature “pokerface” to that of a male counterpart, she is still able to incorporate a sizeable amount of gender-preference ambiguity into her performance. Thus inviting all onlookers (male and female) to be inside her…and her music in a sense that is quite sexual but not offensively so.

Lastly, it is her allegiance to the queer community that serves as the final blow to the conventionally accepted notion of gender. This community has historically found itself blurring gender roles, gender titles, and gender performances. Lady GaGa openly speaks about the role of the queer community as the driving force behind most, if not all of her work. Her strength to defy our gendered logic is in part derived from the community’s own refusal of western ideologies on this matter. Throughout the show she would continually reach out to her queer fans by asking, “WHERE ARE MY GAY BOYS?” and thanking the queer community for coming to her performance. This is quite common during her performances because it is usually those who identify with the queer community that deliver the highest levels of dedication to their appearances for her concerts.

With all of these parts, it is the entirety of the GaGa experience that seeks to challenge, intrigue, poke fun at, and inspire all to share in this greater perspective of gender, sexuality, and the human experience

through some great tunes, and a whole lot of glitter.

(all images were from the concert I attended. We had amazing seats)

Goo Goo for GaGa!

The lights dimmed. The crowd goes wild. A concert set to start at 8:00 pm pushed back to 8:45 pm at the Landmark Theater in Richmond had the patrons anxiously awaiting the arrival of the guest of honor: Lady Gaga. She came with a vengeance and had the audience under her “disco stick” until the last song. She brought her soul, her heart, her everything to Richmond, Virginia on September 28,2009.

The audience was a grab bag. Lady Gaga doesn’t bring your ‘regular’ concertgoers. Lady Gaga’s music and personality embraces individual expression beyond belief. Everyone who is into media these days can look for an example of Gaga’s fashion. The audience was no different. There were people dressed in skinny jeans, dresses, wigs; it was a regular circus. My roommates and I went all out for the concert with original outfits designed and created by Brendan Tufts ’11. The audience loved the atmosphere of the concert. Before the concert started they played upbeat techno music to get the audience pumped and there was a quite an anxious, but timid dance party that broke out to ease the desire to see Gaga herself.

I was in the second row outside of the ‘pit’ that had two rows of fold out chairs. So I was very, very close. When the lights dimmed you could feel the energy in the concert surge. The curtain fell and Gaga was on stage inside what would look like a volcano. She stormed the staged after an epic high-energy intro ready to take Richmond on.

Her musical style embraces a sound of its own. A little rock, a little pop, a little GAGA! Her vocals at the concert were SUPERB. This was no Britney Spears concert of strong ‘back up vocals.’ Gaga sang with a live mic through dance moves, picks ups, and flashing lights. Her vocals were gritty and full of energy. She had a falsetto that made my hairs on my neck stand on end. The one very important thing about this concert that made it good and kept the audience going wild was her variation. She varied her music. Gaga didn’t get on stage and sing her songs straight as you would here them on the CD. She fused techno remixes of her songs, acapella versions, and video versions of her songs.

Two songs embraced this idea: “Poker Face” and “Love Game.” These are two of Gaga’s biggest hits right now and she didn’t give the basic track from the CD she gave us so much more. During “Lovegame,” after revealing her infamous “Disco Stick” and performing a very high-energy version of the song she cut to a musical breakdown and cut to her ChewFu Ghettohouse Remix of the song. Not only is that mix one of my favorite techno mixes of the song, but also it sent the crowd wild. Then, later she flipped the high-energy song “PokerFace” on its back and performed it acapella with only a piano adding new fun, crowd-pleasing lyrics. During this song she got gritty and had hard hitting moments like Gaga standing banging some of the notes with her high-heeled foot. Awesome!

Back to the concept of fashion at the concert, as discussed in class, Ziggy Stardust broke down gender norms with a very gender-neutral ambiguity of his music sound and style. Gaga is no exception. Gaga entered the stage with a futuristic, silver, shiny dress that look liked it was straight out of the Jetsons. Then she transitioned to a jean jacket with huge pointed shoulder pads on it that would send any headmistress to the mall for a new look. Nothing was better than her entrance in a nude body suit wearing a clear jacket made out of solid bubbles. It was bold, it was new, and it was Gaga.

Last thing to note was the lighting and band. Bright strobe lights and fog added a great addition to this concert. Strobe lights would blind the audience at times for effect. The lights went right with the music. Gaga’s band was a special guest called “Kids.” Kid's awesome guitar rifts and drumming added a live and awesome effect to the concert.

She came with a vengeance! She wowed, she awed, and she is changing the future of music. She is an innovator, creator of fantastic music, and an idol. Gaga breaks down gender stereotypes of heterosexuality and normativity. Gaga loves one and all and it was apparent in this concert. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED GAGA!