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Lady Gaga is a huge star in the world of music. Born Stefani Germanotta, she got her start in bars and clubs in New York City.
Her first album became a big hit and Gaga became a huge star. The hits kept coming, however, when “Artpop” was released, Gaga’s popularity seemed to be waning. The album didn’t do as well as Gaga’s previous efforts and things were looking grim for the singer.
However, Gaga would slowly but surely get her popularity back and this is how she did it.
The Rise Of Lady Gaga
Gaga’s debut album, “The Fame,” blew up with the release of the single, “Poker Face.” That song helped her first album become the smash hit it turned into. Gaga’s catchy hooks and outrageous public image were being talked about everywhere.
Her sophomore effort, “The Fame Monster,” earned Gaga three more hits, including “Bad Romance.” This only helped Gaga’s fame climb even higher. However, with success also came scrutiny. Many criticized Gaga for being too similar to Madonna and not being as original as she appeared to present herself.
When Gaga’s single “Born This Way” was released, it suffered huge backlash because of its striking similarities to Madonna’s “Express Yourself.” While the song itself was a smash hit, the public discourse about Gaga’s originality was now difficult to escape. Gaga was quite defensive about the similarities, denying they were intentional.
A year later, Madonna was promoting her directorial debut W.E. and was asked about “Born This Way” in several interviews. Madonna confirmed she believed they sounded similar. When Madonna used the word “reductive” to describe the similarities between the two songs, it went viral.
Lady Gaga’s ‘Artpop’ Is Seen As A Flop
Gaga spent most of 2012 on her “Born This Way Ball Tour” outside of America. She mostly traveled to countries she never visited before. During this time, there was no new music from Gaga. There was a guest appearance on The Simpsons, however, it ended up being widely considered one of the worst episodes in the show’s history.
Gaga also suffered a hip injury which required surgery. This meant that the American leg of Gaga’s tour was cut short and most of the concerts were canceled.
Gaga spent most of 2013 recovering from her surgery and announced her single “Applause” in the summer. The song acted as the first single from Gaga’s “Artpop” album. She opened the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards with a performance of the track. While the song was successful, it didn’t do as well as her previous hits.
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Gaga’s “Artpop” album was released later that year, and it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. While this was good news, the album didn’t reach the level of success her previous albums did.
Her next single, “Do What U Want,” featured R. Kelly and that fact alone turned many people off. Gaga removed the song from the album many years later, but it proved to be detrimental to the album’s future in 2013.
Lady Gaga Slowly Builds Her Career Back
Gaga had been working on an album of duets with Tony Bennett, “Cheek to Cheek,” which was released in 2014. The album introduced a less avant-garde, more mainstream side of Gaga that allowed a new demographic to warm up to her.
Their friendship and collaboration was so successful that they did another album, “Love For Sale,” in 2021. Both albums won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
Gaga also spent the next few years after “Artpop” appearing on various award shows. She delivered performances at the Oscars and Grammys, both of which received mixed reviews. She also acted in the series American Horror Story, which earned her a Golden Globe.
This led Gaga to do more acting and she eventually got the part in Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born. Gaga released her next album, “Joanne,” in 2016 and the numbers weren’t any better than “Artpop.”
Still, Gaga performed at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2017 and her performance received praise from the public. The timing was perfect for Gaga and Cooper’s magic to strike when the film was released in 2018.
The film’s song, “Shallow” was a huge hit and won nearly every award it was nominated for, including the Oscar for Best Original Song. Gaga even met up with Madonna at her Oscars after-party and posed for a now-viral photo.
Gaga was riding high and released her next album “Chromatica” in 2020. It was delayed due to the pandemic, but the album received praise for marking a return to Gaga’s dance-pop roots. It also spawned the hit single “Rain On Me,” with Ariana Grande. It became one of the biggest hits of the year and won the two a Grammy Award.
In 2022, Gaga embarked on the successful “Chromatica Ball” and toured the world over the summer. The tour marked the end of an album cycle that was very successful despite being effected by the pandemic.
It showed that Gaga had successfully climbed back up the ladder after falling down with “Artpop” back in 2013.
