Days after the 91st Academy Awards we are all still living for the memes and GIFs that have graced our existence with their popular culture relevance. The night was a first for many, including award winner Lady Gaga who was nominated for numerous awards including Lead Actress for role as Ally in the remake of A Star is Born and Song of the Year for Shallow.
Gaga ultimately lost to a very deserving Olivia Colman from The Favourite, but she did not leave the awards ceremony empty handed as she snagged the Oscar for the Song of the Year, a prediction that everyone made early on.
During her heartfelt speech, as she choked up with emotion, mother monster said:
To my sister, my soulmate, I love you. My family’s here, I love you, Mom and Dad. Bradley, there is not a single person on the planet that could’ve sang this song with me but you. Thank you for believing in us. Thank you so much. And if you are at home, and you’re sitting on your couch and you’re watching this right now, all I have to say is that this is hard work. I’ve worked hard for a long time, and it’s not about, you know…it’s not about winning. But what it’s about is not giving up. If you have a dream, fight for it. There’s a discipline for passion. And it’s not about how many times you get rejected or you fall down or you’re beaten up. It’s about how many times you stand up and are brave and you keep on going. Thank you!
Now, many might feel that Lady Gaga is ungenuine or putting on airs as a lead actress all the time, but whatever your opinion of Stefani Germanotta may be, it’s not stopping her. She is doing the damn thing and she’s snatching awards and recognition in spite of all the haters.
What resonates the most in Gaga’s acceptance speech is the hint at rejection and failure that we can all relate to. Gaga has been very open with sharing that she was bullied and belittled by her peers and others in the industry for very long. Her appearance, for one, has always been a topic of conversation that she feels almost interfered with her success.
But in her success, as a musician and an actress, fans have reminded us that there was a time when the awkward singer was a student and wasn’t very popular.
In case you didn’t know, a private Facebook group called Stefani Germanotta, you will never be famous was created by her peers prior to the singer’s career.
Must have been somewhere around here:
Or do we forget she was also on MTV’s Boiling Points:
She was just a student, trying to navigate through life as many of us do while we are in college or chose a different path—but people hated her. Was it that she was so talented that they envied her? Did they think she was self-absorbed or conceited? Whatever the case, they used the platform, which was still a very new form of communication in 2005, to bully and berate a young woman because of her overzealous desire to get ahead in the industry.
A post from a few years ago surfaced from a former classmate of Lady Gaga’s at NYU:
Lauren Bohn who gives details of the group describes how she wishes she would have stood up for Stefani during those times.
In an interview with Google back in 2011, Lady Gaga shared:
Bullying really stays with you your whole life. And it really, really never goes away. And I know you’re using words like ‘superstar’ and ‘most-Googled’ and ‘billions of YouTube [views].’ But I was never the winner. I was always the loser. And that still stays with me. And do I want to stick it to anybody? No. I just wanna make music.
This is stuff that I’m sure Lady Gaga deals with at this stage in her life. And now, with all this closeness and coziness next to Bradley Cooper during their Shallow performance at The Oscars—I’m sure Gaga will have tons more haters calling her out of her name. If I were next to Bradley I’d also be giving him that come hither look.
May Lady Gaga be proof that we should let comments and opinions of others, especially those who wish you ill will, fall on deaf ears. Perseverance and commitment to your goals and dreams will get you where you want to go.
To quote RuPaul’s mother: “Unless those bitches payin’ yo bills, pay them bitches no mind.”
All I have to say is like it or not, with 34.1 million followers, an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and 9 Grammys–Stefani Germanotta, you are DEFINITELY famous.
h/t: Google
This opinion post was created by a contributing writer and does not reflect the opinions or ideas of Instinct or any of its other writers
