Maybe you saw her recent performance at the Grammy’s, or maybe you remember when the Poker Face music video dropped on VH1, changing the game in the pop music industry. Either way, just about every American knows Lady Gaga at this point. She has had a strong 10+ year run with her pop music career and has kept the public on their toes, waiting to see what she will do next. Gaga hit the industry fast and hard, blowing them away with her new inventive ideas that easily made news. Yet, something people tend to skip past with Lady Gaga is how she has utilized her platform to share her voice and spark change in the United States.
As a performer, I admire Gaga not only for all of her talent, but how she goes about using her art to send a message to the public. The day Trump got elected, Lady Gaga rode around in front of Trump Tower with a sign reading,”Love Trumps Hate.” She’s been a strong supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and has displayed that in several ways with her platform. Her album and tour, ARTPOP, talked all about equality, landing her the spot as a primary leader in the equality movement. So, are her opinions appropriate in her music and performing? Should she be displaying how she feels about politics while dancing on stage?
Recently, Fox News host Laura Ingraham reported about an interview where Lebron James discussed his views on Donald Trump. She explained how she did not believe that he should share his views on politics in the first place. She coined the phrase,”shut up and dribble,” which soon became the name of the controversy. Lebron responded to her statements by displaying how he feels that everyone is allowed an opinion, no matter what industry you work in. While I don’t agree with Lebron’s lazy and controversial diction that he utilized in his interviews, I do agree with his opinions. We have the freedom of speech for a reason. Politicians are not the only ones allowed to have opinions on politics. Nobody is out here saying that basketball players are the only people allowed to have opinions on basketball. The form of thinking that Ingraham utilizes in her statement is ridiculous. I am a firm believer that if you have an opinion, let it be heard. If you are an influencer of any kind with a large following, that helps! While great power comes with cult-like followings, how that power is used in the hands of that influencer is their decision in the end. They earned it, whether they deserve it or not!
I discussed Lady Gaga earlier for a good reason. She is the perfect example of what good can come with influencers taking their platform and using it to spread change. Gaga helped a movement succeed and the LGBTQ+ has gotten more accomplished in recent years than they have within the rest of history. I’m not saying she’s the reason for their success by any means, but by her spreading awareness, she contributed to the newfound success of it in some way and helped normalize all the different types of sexualities in modern American society.
Image Courtesy of US Weekly