According to Micheal O’Shaughnessey and Jane Stadler in “Stars and Celebrities,” to understand a star’s textual presence and its place in society one must look into “how stars operate as a financial and ideological system within the film and entertainment industries” (423). Therefore, understanding how celebrities construct and change their image to the public can help one understand the reason for Lady Gaga’s transformation. From music to acting, this became a gateway to reinvent her star text. Lady Gaga’s calculated transformation from pop-heavy “manufactured” celebrity persona to an accredited and conventional artist has helped her effectively reflect her true identity.
To cultivate a loyal, supportive, and loving body of followers doesn’t come easy nowadays to most celebrities. And like many other pop sensations, Lady Gaga’s rise to fame did not come in two days. Gaga’s love for music started at an early age of four when “she learned to play songs on …show more content…
To do this, she does something that not many artists can do. She reinvents her music. Lady Gaga’s master reinvention began with an unlikely companion, Tony Bennett. The singer finds herself singing jazz music. She “[releases] an album of jazz duets with Tony Bennett (for which she won a Grammy)” in which she crafts music delicately and professionally (D’Addario 3). “Cheek to Cheek, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the fall of 2014” (Martins 3). We begin to see Gaga draw back from press attention and begins to showcase her talent in other ways, therefor reinventing her star text. Tony Bennett also acknowledges the change in her star text in an interview published in the Rolling Stones, Tony Bennett says: “She’s very strong. I know it sounds way out, but she could become America’s Picasso if they leave her alone and let her just do what she has to do” (Appleford 7). Ashley Lee’s concert review article compares Gaga to well-known jazz singers. She reviews Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett’s performance, and argues that Gaga has reacted to her new and evolving star text by saying: "It 's a wonderful break for me to play with real musicians" (6). In essence, the pop heavy “persona” she used to be identified for seems distant as she pushes the masses to understand her new