When it comes to the modern pop music landscape, it could easily be argued that Lady Gaga is the most fascinating performer by far. After all, there is no doubt that Gaga has recorded many songs that have gone on to mean the world to the masses. On top of that, Gaga has some abnormal ideas and unlike a lot of her peers, she isn’t afraid to express herself.
As a result of all that she has accomplished and the amazing legacy she appears to be cementing, it can be easy to ignore the long journey that Lady Gaga went on to find success. After all, at one point, Gaga was just an unknown performer looking for her big break. On top of that, even after Gaga became an internationally recognized star, she once went broke for an amazing reason.
A Money-Making Machine
On Wikipedia, there is an article dedicated to the best-selling music artists of all time. If anyone takes a look at that article, they will quickly notice that the majority of performers who are listed there have been around for decades at this point. Amazingly enough, however, according to Wikipedia, Lady Gaga has sold almost as many units as a legendary group like Metallica and her numbers have surpassed others like Fleetwood Mac and the Bee Gees.
Based on her album sales alone, Lady Gaga has had a pretty mind-blowing career that would have resulted in her becoming wealthy enough to enjoy a lavish lifestyle until she dies. Of course, that is so say nothing about all of Gaga’s business deals, her acting gigs, and all of the cash she has made from the people who’ve come to see her perform live in concert. With all of that in mind, it is pretty clear that Gaga can afford to make some strange purchases these days.
Expressing Herself
Throughout Lady Gaga’s time in the spotlight, there has been one main thing that her fans have been able to depend on, her ability to keep people guessing. For example, thinking of most music stars showing up to a major event populated by other stars wearing a dress made out of meat is so out of the question that it is hard to fathom. Yet, when it comes to Lady Gaga, it is only one part of her legacy as an artist.
Of course, there have been plenty of performers who seemed to go out of their way to shock the masses over the years. With that in mind, it could be easy to chalk up much of Gaga’s choices to nothing more than publicity stunts. However, once people take a closer look at Gaga’s career, it seems much more clear that she does the things she does for artistic reasons.
After rising to the top of the music world for a pretty well-defined style of music, Lady Gaga suddenly decided to work with Tony Bennett. When Bennett was at the height of his career, opting to work with him could have been considered a calculated move of career advancement. After all, Bennett is considered a music icon for good reason. However, it has been decades since Bennett has been as relevant as Gaga was when they worked together so it seems abundantly clear that she agreed to their duets for artistic purposes. With that in mind, it doesn’t seem overly shocking that Gaga would put her finances on the line for artistic reasons.
Going Broke
In 2008, Lady Gaga released “The Fame”, the album that would turn her into a star thanks to songs like “Just Dance”, “Poker Face”, “LoveGame”, and “Paparazzi”. As a result, Gaga developed a loyal fan base that was all too happy to support her later albums and go out to see her perform live in concert.
Early on in Lady Gaga’s career, she headlined The Monster Ball Tour. As anyone who went to see a performance from that tour will already know, those concerts included an elaborate stage setup that cost a fortune to produce. As she explained when she was interviewed for the documentary Who The F*** Is Arthur Fogel?, Gaga paid to have her stage built which put her in serious financial strife.
"I had three million dollars in the bank to my name and I threw it all in to make my stage. So I was bankrupt during the show. I remember I went home and I was with my dad and he said, 'I don't understand. Bad Romance is out. You are all over the radio. Everyone is talking about you and you don't have a pot to p*** in'. I said, 'Just let me do this'. Let me just put it on the stage... "
Fortunately for Lady Gaga, later in that same interview for the aforementioned documentary, she reveals that Canadian music producer Arthur Fogel changed her fortunes. "I remember he called me and he said, 'We want to do this.' And he got Live Nation to write me a 40 million US dollars cheque. And it changed my life and the life of my whole family."