(Originally from
Huntingpost.com)
(Disclaimer: I
do not own this post)
About five years
ago, Lady Gaga burst into mega fame with the force of a shooting star (that
insisted on wearing raw meat to red carpet events). But with her latest
performance largely spotlighting vomit as performance art, it's all too easy to
forget the moment when Gaga first rose into public consciousness, accessorized
by Muppets and often compared to Madonna.
So, what
happened? In just about five years, Gaga reached an unprecedented echelon of
pop stardom, only to lose her mystery to such an extent that puke-for-attention
seems almost standard. (She was puked on, it should be noted, by vomit painter
Millie Brown.) In hopes of mapping the trajectory from fledgling stardom to
bile desperation, we've tracked the rise and fall of Gaga's monstrous brand of
celebrity.
May 19, 2008 - Gaga introduces her eclectic
sartorial choices to the world at the NewNowNext Award, walking the carpet as a
pirate from a future in which there is no cure for glaucoma.
Aug. 19, 2008 - Gaga releases "The Fame"
and it eventually goes platinum, selling over 10 million digital singles and
quickly making her what Rolling Stone would later call "the defining pop star of 2009." The Top-40
quickly becomes 20 percent just Gaga.
Jan. 20, 2009 - In an interview with The Guardian,
Lady Gaga tells Laura Barton that she has "felt famous [her] whole life." Her confidence
in place of feigned surprise over her success is refreshing.
Nov. 18,
2009 - Gaga releases
"The Fame Monster" as an extended play of "The Fame." It
receives a Grammy nomination for Best Album of the Year and eventually wins her
the Outstanding Music Artist Award at the 21st GLAAD Media Awards.
March 2010 - Teaming up with Beyonce, Gaga
releases "Telephone," a mini-movie homage to Quentin Tarantino. It receives skeptical reviews, but succeeds in putting her on
the map as a vaguely serious artist
Aug. 28, 2011 - Gaga appears for her opening
monologue at the VMAs, fully clad in her masculine persona: Joe Calderone. She later explains the character as a New
Jersey Italian man who is "not a f--king guido."
February, 2011 - Gaga covers Vogue, just three years after the marked start of
her career.
Feb. 11, 2011 - Gaga releases "Born This
Way" and quickly hits no. 1.
May 23, 2011 - "Born This Way" (the
album) sells 1,108,000 copies in its first seven days on sale, making
Gaga only the fifth woman to hit a million plus in one week. There is some
controversy surrounding Amazon's decision to sell the MP3 for just 99 cents as
part of a Cloud promo, although 700,000 sales were met at full price.
Dec. 1,
2012 - In a
conversation with fans via Twitter, Gaga reveals that she had already
written "like 50 songs." for the then-forthcoming
"ARTPOP."
February, 2013 - After postponing a number of dates,
Gaga cancels the remaining shows, due to a labral tear in her right hip. She
later admits (in really gruesome detail) that the hip was, in fact, broken.
Nov. 8, 2013 - Gaga says she is
"depressed" after finishing "ARTPOP." "I feel empty
and sad," she says to O2. "I'm no longer the creator, I'm the
performer."