Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influential figure in popular music. With estimated sales of 124 million records, she is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Publications such as Billboard and Rolling Stone have ranked her among the greatest artists in history.
After signing with Interscope Records in 2007, Gaga achieved global recognition with her debut album The Fame (2008) and its reissue The Fame Monster (2009). The project produced several successful singles, including “Just Dance,” “Poker Face,” “Bad Romance,” “Telephone,” and “Alejandro.” Her second studio album, Born This Way (2011), explored electronic rock and techno-pop and sold more than one million copies in its first week in the US. Its title track became the fastest-selling song on the iTunes Store, with over one million downloads in less than a week. Following her electronic dance music–influenced third album, Artpop (2013), she…
She pursued jazz on the album Cheek to Cheek (2014) with Tony Bennett, and explored soft rock on the album Joanne (2016). Gaga also ventured into acting, earning praise for her leading roles in the miniseries American Horror Story: Hotel (2015–2016) and the films A Star Is Born (2018) and House of Gucci (2021). Her contributions to the A Star Is Born soundtrack, which included the chart-topping single “Shallow,” made her the first woman to win an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Grammy Award in the same year.
Gaga returned to dance-pop with her album Chromatica (2020), which produced the number-one single “Rain on Me.” She reunited with Bennett for their second and final collaborative album, Love for Sale (2021), and revisited her early pop sound on Mayhem (2025), which features the chart-topping singles “Die with a Smile” and “Abracadabra.”
Gaga has amassed six number-one studio albums and six number-one songs on the US Billboard 200 and Hot 100 charts, respectively, and is the only female artist with four singles that have each sold at least 10 million copies globally. She also holds the record for the most-attended concert by a female artist. According to Forbes, she was the world’s highest-paid female musician and the most powerful.
She was the world’s highest-paid female musician and the most powerful celebrity in 2011, while Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010 and 2019. Her accolades include 14 Grammy Awards, a Sports Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, 22 MTV Video Music Awards, and recognition from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Gaga’s philanthropy and activism focus on mental health awareness and LGBTQ rights. Her business ventures include the vegan cosmetics brand Haus Labs and the non-profit organization, the Born This Way Foundation, which supports the wellness of young people.
Influences
Gaga grew up listening to artists such as Michael Jackson, the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Whitney Houston, Elton John, Prince, En Vogue, TLC, Christina Aguilera, Janet Jackson, and Blondie, who have all influenced her music. Gaga’s musical inspiration ranges from dance-pop singers such as Madonna and Michael Jackson to glam rock artists such as David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, as well as the theatrics of pop artist Andy Warhol and her own performance roots in musical theater. She has been compared to Madonna, who has said that she sees…
She has said that she sees herself reflected in Gaga, while Gaga has expressed her desire to revolutionize pop music the way Madonna did. Gaga has also cited heavy metal bands as an influence, specifically Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson. She has credited Beyoncé as a key inspiration to pursue a musical career. Her other inspirations include Grace Jones, Duke Ellington, and Carole King.
Gaga was inspired by her mother to be interested in fashion, which later became a major influence and integrated with her music. Stylistically, she has been compared to Leigh Bowery, Isabella Blow, and Cher; she once commented that as a child, she absorbed Cher’s fashion sense and made it her own. Gaga became friends with British fashion designer Alexander McQueen shortly before
His suicide in 2010 deeply affected Gaga, who had become close friends with the British fashion designer and was widely recognized for wearing his bold and avant-garde creations, particularly his towering armadillo shoes. She has also referred to fashion designer Donatella Versace as her muse, while Versace has described Gaga as “the fresh Donatella.” Additionally, Gaga has long been influenced by Princess Diana, whom she has admired since childhood.
Gaga has called the Indian alternative medicine advocate Deepak Chopra a “true inspiration“,and has also quoted Indian leader Osho’s book Creativity on Twitter. Gaga said she was influenced by Osho’s work in valuing rebellion through creativity and equality.
Videos and stage
Featuring constant costume changes and provocative visuals, Gaga’s music videos are often described as short films.The video for “Telephone” earned Gaga the Guinness World Record for Most Product Placement in a Video.According to author Curtis Fogel, she explores bondage and sadomasochism and highlights prevalent feminist themes. The main themes of her music videos are sex, violence, and power. She has called herself “a little bit of a feminist” and asserted that she is “sexually empowering women”.Billboard ranked her sixth on its list of
“The 100 Greatest Music Video Artists of All Time” in 2020 stated that the name Lady Gaga will forever be synonymous with culture-shifting music videos. Regarded as one of the greatest living musical performers by Rolling Stone, Gaga has called herself a perfectionist when it comes to her elaborate shows. Her performances have been described as highly entertaining and innovative; the blood-spurting performance of “Paparazzi” at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was described as eye-popping by MTV News and ranked among the best MTV VMA performances of all time by various publications.
She continued the blood-soaked theme during The Monster Ball Tour, causing protests in England from family groups and fans in the aftermath of the Cumbria shootings, in which a taxi driver had killed 12 people, then himself. At the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga appeared in drag as her male alter ego, Jo Calderone, and delivered a lovesick monologue before performing her song “You and I”.
She stated that she created the character to explore “what I was looking for in men, and also what I was maybe lacking in myself.” When asked about the persona in 2025, she said that Calderone was “no longer with us.” As Gaga’s choreographer and creative director, Laurieann Gibson provided material for her shows and videos for four years before she was replaced by her assistant Richard Jackson in 2014.
Activism
Philanthropy
After declining an invitation to appear on the single “We Are the World 25 for Haiti” because of rehearsals for her tour, to benefit victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Gaga donated the proceeds of her January 2010 Radio City Music Hall concert to the country’s reconstruction relief fund. All profits from her online store that day were also donated, and Gaga announced that $500,000 was collected for the fund.
Hours after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, Gaga promoted Japan Prayer Bracelets. All revenue from a bracelet she designed in conjunction with the company was donated to relief efforts, raising $1.5 million. In June 2011, Gaga performed at MTV Japan’s charity show in Makuhari Messe, which benefited the Japanese Red Cross.
In 2012, Gaga joined the campaign group Artists Against Fracking. That October, Yoko Ono gave Gaga and four other activists the LennonOno Grant for Peace in Reykjavík, Iceland. The following month, Gaga pledged to donate $1 million to the American Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Gaga has also contributed to the fight against HIV and AIDS, focusing on educating young women about the risks of the disease. In collaboration with Cyndi Lauper, Gaga joined forces with MAC Cosmetics to launch a line of lipstick under their Viva Glam line. Sales have raised more than $202 million to fight HIV and AIDS.
In April 2016, Gaga joined Vice President Joe Biden at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to support his It’s On Us campaign as he traveled to colleges on behalf of the organization, which has seen 250,000 students from more than 530 colleges sign a pledge of solidarity and activism. Two months later, Gaga attended the 84th Annual US Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis, where, together with the Dalai Lama, she talked about the power of kindness and how to make the world a more compassionate place.
In April 2020, Gaga curated the televised benefit concert One World: Together at Home, a collaboration with Global Citizen to benefit the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. The special raised $127 million, which was considered on par with other legendary fundraisers, such as Live Aid, as one of the highest-grossing charity concerts in history. In recognition of her activism for the Black Lives Matter movement during the 2020 George Floyd protests, Gaga received the Yolanda Denise King High Ground Award from the King Center’s Beloved Community Awards in January 2021. In her acceptance speech, she denounced racism and white supremacy and addressed her social responsibility as a high-profile artist and white woman.
Born This Way Foundation
In 2012, Gaga launched the Born This Way Foundation (BTWF), a non-profit organization that focuses on youth empowerment. It has been named after her 2011 single and album. Oprah Winfrey, Deepak Chopra, and US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius spoke at the foundation’s inauguration at Harvard University.
The foundation’s original funding included $1.2 million from Gaga, $500,000 from the MacArthur Foundation, and $850,000 from Barneys New York. In July 2012, the BTWF partnered with Office Depot for a series of limited edition back-to-school products, with 25% of its sales going towards the foundation, for a guaranteed donation of $1 million. The foundation’s initiatives have included the “Born Brave Bus,” which followed Gaga on tour as a youth drop-in center as an initiative against bullying.
In October 2015, at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Gaga joined 200 high school students, policymakers, and academic officials to discuss ways to recognize and channel emotions for positive outcomes. In 2016, the foundation partnered with Intel, Vox Media, and Recode to fight online harassment.
The sales revenue of a magazine issue featuring Gaga and Kinney was donated to the foundation. Gaga and Elton John released the clothing and accessories line Love Bravery at Macy’s in May 2016, with 25% of each purchase benefiting the BTWF and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Gaga partnered with Starbucks for a week in June 2017 with the “Cups of Kindness” campaign, where the company donated 25 cents from some beverages sold to the foundation. She also appeared in a video by Staples to raise funds for the foundation and DonorsChoose.org.
On the 2018 World Kindness Day, Gaga partnered with the foundation to bring food and relief to a Red Cross shelter for people who had been forced to evacuate their homes due to the California wildfires. The foundation also partnered with Starbucks and SoulCycle to thank California firefighters for their relief work during the crisis. Gaga had previously evacuated her own home during the Woolsey Fire, which spread through parts of Malibu.
In March 2019, she penned a letter to supporters of the BTWF, announcing the launch of a new pilot program for a teen mental health first aid project with the National Council for Behavioral Health. Gaga revealed her personal struggles with mental health in her letter and how she was able to get support, which saved her life: “I know what it means to have someone support me and understand what I’m going through, and every young person in the world should have someone to turn to when they’re hurting. It saved my life, and it will save theirs.”
In September 2020, Gaga released an anthology book, Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindness and Community, featuring fifty-one stories about kindness, bravery, and resilience from young people all over the world collected by the BTWF, and introduced by herself.She promoted it with a 21 days of kindness challenge on her social media, using the “BeKind21” hashtag.
In 2021, Gaga collaborated with the Champagne house Dom Pérignon to benefit the BTWF by releasing a limited edition of Rosé Vintage 2005 bottles along with a sculpture designed by her. The 110 exclusive pieces were sold at private sales, and the profit of $570,000 was donated to the foundation.On the 2021 World Kindness Day, Gaga released a 30-minute special, titled The Power of Kindness, as part of the foundation’s Channel Kindness program, in which together with a mental health expert and a group of eleven young people, she explored the connection between kindness and mental health.
LGBTQ advocacy
A bisexual woman, Gaga has been actively supporting LGBTQ rights worldwide. She has attributed much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered a gay icon. Early in her career, Gaga had difficulty getting radio airplay and stated: “The turning point for me was the gay community.” One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by an LGBTQ television network.
Gaga spoke at the 2009 National Equality March in Washington, D.C., to support the LGBTQ rights movement. She attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four gay and lesbian former members of the United States Armed Forces who had been unable to serve openly under the US military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which banned open homosexuality in the military. Gaga urged her fans via YouTube to contact their senators in an effort to overturn the policy. In September 2010, she spoke at a Servicemembers Legal Defense Network rally in Portland, Maine. Following this event, she was recognized as a “fierce advocate” for gays and lesbians.
Gaga appeared at Europride, an international event dedicated to LGBTQ pride, in Rome in June 2011. She criticized the poor state of gay rights in many European countries and described gay people as “revolutionaries of love.” Later that year, she was referenced by a teenager in the hours prior to his death. His suicide prompted Gaga to meet with then-President Barack Obama to address anti-gay bullying in American schools. She later endorsed him during the 2012 US presidential election. In 2011, Gaga was also ordained as a minister, allowing her to officiate the wedding of two female friends.
In June 2016, during a vigil held in Los Angeles for victims of the attack at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Gaga read aloud the names of the 49 people killed in the attack and gave a speech. She also appeared in a tribute video to the victims of the attack. Gaga was one of nearly 200 musicians and music industry executives to sign an open letter on gun violence, demanding that Congress enact universal background checks on all gun buyers.
She subsequently supported the 2018 March for Our Lives gun-control rally in Washington, D.C. Gaga opposed the presidency of Donald Trump and his military transgender ban. She supported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. In 2018, when the Trump administration sought to change the legal definition of sex to exclude transgender Americans, Gaga condemned the move and spread the #WontBeErased campaign to her Twitter followers.
In January 2019, during one of her Enigma shows, Gaga criticized Vice President Mike Pence for his wife working at an evangelical Christian school where LGBTQ people are turned away, calling him “the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian.” Gaga also stated: “I am a Christian woman, and what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice, and everybody is welcome.”
Gaga made a congratulatory speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the LGBTQ community’s accomplishments at WorldPride NYC 2019 outside the Stonewall Inn, birthplace of the modern gay rights movement. Following the 2024 US presidential election, in which Gaga endorsed Kamala Harris, she voiced her support for the transgender community after the rollback of their protections.
Legacy
Gaga was named the “Queen of Pop” in a 2011 ranking based on record sales and social media metrics. In 2012, she ranked fourth in VH1’s Greatest Women in Music and became a feature of the temporary exhibition The Elevated. From the Pharaoh to Lady Gaga, which marked the 150th anniversary of the National Museum in Warsaw.
Gaga has often been praised for using controversy to bring attention to various issues. She—who wore a meat dress to highlight her distaste for the US military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy—influenced protest dressing on the red carpet. Billboard named her “the Greatest Pop Star of 2009,” asserting that “to say that her one-year rise from rookie to MVP was meteoric doesn’t quite cut it, as she wasn’t just successful, but game-changing—thanks to her voracious appetite for reinvention.” Because of The Fame‘s success, Gaga has been credited as one of the musicians that popularized synth-pop in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Lady Gaga blazed a trail for truculent pop stars by treating her own celebrity as an evolving art project. Including Born This Way as one of the best female albums of all time, it is hard to remember a world where we didn’t have Gaga, although it was probably a lot more boring. In 2015, it was noted that Gaga had practically invented the current era of pop music as spectacle.
A decade later, the influence of Gaga’s sense of spectacle on the next generation of artists was observed, calling her “a pop star’s pop star.” Sabrina Carpenter’s use of self-parodying and ultra-glam camp in her performances, Billie Eilish’s incorporation of grandeur into her shows, and Chappell Roan’s “drag-inflected let’s-put-on-a-show spirit” and “eagerness to use costumes and makeup to help tell her stories” all came from watching the video for “Bad Romance” in their childhoods.
A 2017 journal studying structural patterns in melodies of earworm songs compiled lists of the catchiest tracks from 3,000 participants, in which Gaga’s “Bad Romance”, “Alejandro”, and “Poker Face” ranked number one, eight, and nine, respectively. In 2018, she was recognized as the second most influential female artist of the 21st century, called “one of the first big artists of the Internet age.” Billboard also placed Gaga fifth on its 2024 “Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century” list, and sixth on the 2025 “Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century” list.
She and her work have influenced various artists including Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Ellie Goulding, Halsey, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Nick Jonas, Sam Smith, Noah Cyrus, Katherine Langford, MGMT, Allie X, Greyson Chance, Cardi B, Rina Sawayama, Blackpink, Madison Beer, Ren of NU’EST, Slayyyter, Bebe Rexha, Bree Runway, Celeste, Kim Petras, JoJo Siwa, Pabllo Vittar, Ava Max, Doja Cat, Chaeyoung of Twice, Kanye West, Rachel Zegler, SZA, Raye, Rebecca Black, Grace Gaustad, Laufey, and Chappell Roan.
