Born This Way: Celebrating Lady Gaga’s Most Iconic Pop Culture Moments

She hopped out of an egg so Chappell Roan could do Divine drag at a festival near you!

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I have been reading a lot about men getting into halls of fame I didn’t know existed, men who have coupled up (yes, I’m watching Love Island) with women old enough to be their granddaughters, or getting a DUI when they can afford a driver, if not common sense (2 of these 3 are Patriot related and I am not invested in football at all but for the related gossip and drama). SPEAKING OF, the greatest football moment of all time was Lady Gaga’s Superbowl half-time show in 2017. Reflecting on the insanity of the headlines I read this week, I have to pivot myself (and you) back to a source of neverending queer joy in the form of chaos disco stick, Lady Gaga. 

I have been so happy for Chappell Roan and the crowds I’ve seen her attract at festivals (so thrilled not to be in those crowds in that heat). Her unapologetic embrace of her own queerness in her incredible drag while singing songs that are explicitly celebrating queerness feels so exciting for queer people who want to see more of themselves in the world. It also feels reminiscent to me of the moment when Lady Gaga hit the mainstream around 2008. I remember feeling a comparable excitement to see what looks she’d wear, what personas or stunts she’d stage at award shows, and of course, the music she’d release. I was obsessed. 

Stepping back in time to my earlier Gaga fandom, and with an homage to Chappell Roan and every queer person currently experiencing their first absolute love affair with queer artists, here are some iconic (to me) moments from Lady Gaga’s career. 

Lady Gaga Pop Culture Hall of Fame Moments

1. Calling out tabloids using fashion. (2009) At a 2009 Sydney concert, Gaga rolled up in an outfit made of critical tabloid stories attacking Princess Diana, Oprah, Michael Jackson, etc. This outfit did more work to expose the toxic power of the press than the last season of The Crown!

2. The Meat Dress (2010)

Source

This look did not impress PETA, but it’s been on display in museums ever since. She wore it to the 2010 VMAs to accept the Video of the Year award for “Bad Romance” from Cher. After asking Cher to hold her meat purse (!), she did interviews where she explained the dress, designed by Franc Fernandez, and constructed from raw meat was a protest of don’t ask, don’t tell (?!?) As she told Ellen in a post-show interview, "If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights[,] pretty soon we're going to have as many rights as the meat on our bones." This is one of those moments when I read a description of an artwork and say “. . . okay!” Maybe I’m not meant to understand everything, but go off bisexual queen! (If you’re wondering, taxidermists preserved the dress as a kind of jerky which is how it has been able to travel among museums ever since). 

I treasure this photo of the crowd seeing her in the meat dress as she approached the stage. The fact that Rihanna looks excited by this look and Katy Perry looks scared tracks. And was Justin Bieber ever that young? 

You can hear Gaga review some other iconic looks here:

3. When she sang “Bad Romance” to Tony Bennett at his birthday party (2017). Someday someone will pay me to write about Lady Gaga’s documentary Five Foot Two  (Wait, are you paying me now?)

   It is unhinged, completely nonsensical, and I could watch it on a loop. Ostensibly, it follows Lady Gaga as she writes, records, and performs her album Joanne (named after her father’s sister who passed from cancer before Gaga was born). It also has a third act about her superbowl halftime show prep I will be addressing further down this list. 

   Every time I watch it, I notice a new moment to fixate on. One of the most iconic moments (to me) is when she sings “Bad Romance” as a jazz song to Tony Bennett at his birthday party. I will never in my lifetime understand the friendship between these two. He is a rat pack acolyte who said his hero was Frank Sinatra (red flag) and once performed with seemingly everyone while pioneering the “duets” model of later-career album releases (he once performed with The Muppets on Muppets Tonight, which I loved). Lady Gaga may be a muppet (as a big muppet fan, this is a compliment). I have to imagine this is a “game respects game” situation, but I always believed their friendship was sincere and I found their relationship inspiring. I don’t know why!

   This leads to the wildest part of this for me, which is the song choice. Why was she performing “Bad Romance” at Tony Bennett? How were these lyrics supposed to land? Can you imagine singing “I want your leather-studded kiss in the sand” to a man who could have been at D-Day?!? He could be her grandpa! Was this a gift? I will never know. I don’t care! I just really love this version of “Bad Romance” and wish she’d release it as a full-length song. 

4. Every time she commits to her bit. Lady Gaga is at times a performance artist moonlighting as a singer. If you saw her 2009 VMA performance of “Poker Face” and “Paparazzi,” you know what I’m talking about. Performing with a mask and white tank top only to slowly get covered in fake blood emerging from said tank top, she is never boring. She gives young Yoko Ono, Marina Abramović, and Madonna in one performance. 

 

5. The Joanne album rollout (2016) Her Joanne rollout was a lot for fans. She seemed to be publicly grieving the loss of an aunt who predeceased her birth (and likely was using it to grieve other things in her life). In one scene of Five Foot Two, we see her visit her grandma and play her the album. Crying at the memory of her aunt, her grandma basically tells her to chill out. It begs the question, Gaga, what was this about for you? Were you grieving the Art Pop backlash, the fallout with your longtime choreographer? Boyfriend? I’d love to know. 

6. Her Superbowl Half-Time Show (2017) No one made me feel more patriotic than Lady Gaga singing “God Bless America” before fake swooping into her own half-time performance. I loved seeing her attention to detail in her doc when she explains that she needs a jacket altered because she can already tell the speed with which her arm will enter the jacket, and impact her overall timing. She’s a professional! She. is. A.  tailor. (She’s not, but I was ready to believe she WAS Joann Fabric at that moment). The ensuing performance was perfect and I loved that she didn’t try to push only new material, but embraced her whole career. She contains multitudes, and so does her catalog. 

7. Emerging from an egg at the Grammys (2011). Fabreche couldn’t handle the threat this posed to their brand. Never have eggs been hotter! 

Arriving on the carpet in the egg:

Emerging from the egg to perform “Born This Way”

 8. Lady Gaga’s acting career. I will be real, I prefer her musical stylings. However, I love watching her find her bliss even if that meant I had to endure the A Star is Born press tour and public friendship with Bradley Cooper. She is good at everything, I just need more albums! The only thing better than her acting is her public discussion of her acting. I live for her descriptions of “losing herself” as Patrizia Reggiani etc. 

9. Her LGBTQIA advocacy. Specifically: “Cuff me Russia! Arrest me!” (2012) Her iconic protest moment in Russia when she advocated for gay rights on stage. To paraphrase Phaedra in The Traitors, Season 2, when it comes to gay rights, Lady Gaga always does too much because everyone else does too little. She also manages to be extremely camp in the process. 

 

10. Joe Calderone (2011). It may be hard for people to remember this, but millennials will note that our celebrities went through a distinct phase where they were all trying on different personas to escape the pressures of fame (or I guess for fun?). Importantly, most did not sacrifice their vanity on the altar of this life choice. Mariah Carey brought us Bianca Storm, her British alter ego who co-starred in the “Heartbreaker” video. Beyonce gave us Sasha Fierce (please come back!) Both offer a different kind of glamour, but still insist on beauty. Then, there was Lady Gaga. For no apparent reason, Lady Gaga showed up at the 2011 VMA’s in drag as a character named Joe Calderone. This is not my Roman empire, but it is a topic that instantly bonds me to anyone who remembers it. Joe Calderone was a cigarette-smoking, greased-hair sleaze who allegedly dated Gaga but attended the awards that night in her place and at her request after a fight. 

    Joe went on to present Britney Spears with an award, and Britney was clearly all of us in trying to make sense of this performance while walking up to receive the award. On stage, she is seemingly attracted to Joe (or just going with the bit), and pretends to almost kiss Joe. What a time to be alive! I love watching the press line trying to understand Joe Calderone. When asked “What does Joe allow you to express tonight that Gaga couldn’t?” Joe responds “I don’t understand the question.” When asked if he would get with Britney, Joe responds “Gaga is my girl, but she’s fucking Britney Spears!” 

    This was an era defined by boy bands and hyper-feminine singers like Britney vying for the top of the pop charts. Lady Gaga attending in drag and not particularly caring if she was attractive or likable hit me then as now as both creative, a risk, and fun. Honestly, we need more of this and STAT. I love it when people aren’t afraid to come off as “weird,” to be themselves, or to explore an idea. I’m into it, and will always be fascinated by this moment in time. 

     

Honorary mention: She made a cameo on The Hills in 2008 with a rude descriptor.*

*WE KNOW WHO SHE IS!

Actually, we didn’t which is why this was a bonus scene on The Hills Season 4 DVD. This cameo occurred in an ep where Whitney and Lauren helped sew up her jumpsuit before a performance and Lauren cried a single black tear for Audrina. Never forget. 

Honorary bonus wish: PLEASE RELEASE TELEPHONE PART 2! 

Please get at me with your own fave Gaga songs, moments, links. 

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Thanks for reading!

This is a free post for subscribers of Landline. Consider subscribing to the paid plan to get my weekly email of recommendations and links, a podcast episode, and more! You can also help me spread the word by sharing it with a friend who would love it. Thank you for being a friend!