Lady Gaga... Fastlane

[livebig]

It sounds like this wouldn't fit in with what we're talking about here at the Fastlane Forum, but I think it fits well.

No matter whether you hate her or worship her (it seems people are polarized about her), Lady Gaga understands process. She's 23 and worth $110 Million dollars. I saw her interview with Barbara Walters a while back, and it somehow clicked with me.

No one can avoid Process to become a success. NO ONE.

Lady Gaga started playing piano at age 4, and sang in nightclubs during her teenage years. She says that burning desire and action got her where she was going mostly.

Take a look at the Barbara Walters interview. It's very interesting.

[video=youtube;uDS0GCQ9cTs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDS0GCQ9cTs[/video]

 

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[Graves]

Wow, is she really 23 ?
She looks so old to me

I don't love her clips/stage persona, but she's a very good singer - I think success in the music industry is very luck-based though

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I'd consider her a big Fastlane success story via both intrinsic value and album sales - both are heavy scale!

Lady Gaga started playing piano at age 4, and sang in nightclubs during her teenage years. She says that burning desire and action got her where she was going mostly.

I wouldn't say I'm a fan ... but I am a FAN of her process and her success. I also listen to her music ... hey wait, I guess that does make me a fan? :smxB:

 

[Bozigian]

She used to be really pretty, that is before she became big.

Her style, the way she dressed is what made her different and stand out. Now niki minaj is copying almost the same style as her well.

 

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[Naja H]

It sounds like this wouldn't fit in with what we're talking about here at the Fastlane Forum, but I think it fits well.

No matter whether you hate her or worship her (it seems people are polarized about her), Lady Gaga understands process. She's 23 and worth $110 Million dollars. I saw her interview with Barbara Walters a while back, and it somehow clicked with me.

Umm, I definitely do not agree with the 23 years old part (as no one tells their true age in the music industry), but I do agree that she is quite fastlane.

She made an appearance in an episode of my favorite television show "The Hills" a year before she was extremely popular and I was thinking to myself "who is this crazy lady in a latex outfit?" Fast forward a year later and everyone knows her.

 

[NHS]

Not my cup of tea but you don't have to enjoy the art to appreciate the artist.

 

[Lights]

I wouldn't say she is the fastlane, as much as I like her. She's a celebrity, and her wealth is brought because of the record companies. She's basically inspired by Madonna, combine with modern music, with her personality infused. And I say she is inspired similar to Madonna, since she was just as hungry... but not for wealth, but for fame. Money doesn't mean much to them, it's just the end result. Lady Gaga and Madonna would be happy if their fame would mean only 10 million or 100s millions. I know Madonna wasn't out for wealth.... she was out to conquer the world.

I study the "how to get famous in music" when I was 16 to 18, so I know for a fact it's way more to it than a plan to get rich. Looking at Lady Gaga's past, it's obvious she had music talent, but she later realized she needed an image. Looking at 2008, at the Just Dance period, she was focusing on mainstream but also the gay people, since she had to go to Logo. She's a bisexual, and she probably was around a lot of gay people so she felt like she fit in. I don't think she was planning on becoming an international superstar, but more a star in her own subgenre.

But in 2007, her image with dark hair and her outfits fit closely to Just Dance. I would guess here is that she just wanted a whole new look when she started out. After her first album she was safe enough to go even more extreme and bizarre, and I don't think she's putting out hits that fit her true personality, but probably what she thinks would be big hits.

Celebrities are not exactly the same as business owners... it's a whole different world.

 

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[Likwid24]

Not too many people know the true Lady Gaga story. I am friendly with a woman who's daughter was lady gaga's best friend and partner. Lady gaga was pretty much just ordinary and her friend was the crazy one who came up with all wacky ideas. Lady gaga just happened to have the better voice. She went on to steal her friends image and just push her to the curb. She stole every idea that her friend had, gave her no credit for it and when she started getting attention, she befriended her. Her friend couldn't take what had happened to her and she wound up taking her life at the age of 18. Most of lady gaga's early songs were written and routines choreographed by this talented young girl. Lady Gaga is a POS IMO.

 

[Lights]

Not too many people know the true Lady Gaga story. I am friendly with a woman who's daughter was lady gaga's best friend and partner. Lady gaga was pretty much just ordinary and her friend was the crazy one who came up with all wacky ideas. Lady gaga just happened to have the better voice. She went on to steal her friends image and just push her to the curb. She stole every idea that her friend had, gave her no credit for it and when she started getting attention, she befriended her. Her friend couldn't take what had happened to her and she wound up taking her life at the age of 18. Most of lady gaga's early songs were written and routines choreographed by this talented young girl. Lady Gaga is a POS IMO.

Really...?

I guess I was kind of right about her image, but I believe this.

Then she shouldn't even be compare to Madonna, since Madonna image is her own look.

 

[Russ H]

For almost 30 years, I did a lot of work for celebs and captains of industry (VCs, a few billionaires, etc).

I worked w/them in their homes. I saw how they lived-- ate dinner w/them at their kitchen tables, hung out w/them and their families.

I don't believe a WORD of the crap I read about them.

For every mega-successful entrepreneur/entertainer/celeb, there are thousands of disjointed and jealous wanna-bes who will do-- or say-- anything to run the other person down.

I was out of the biz before Gaga. But I see many of the same traits in her as some of the folks I worked with.

She's extraordinarily smart-- and has made exceptionally good business decisions w/her career.

Say whatever you want-- that is not easy to do, over and over and over.

We bat around names like Madonna and Oprah-- but seriously-- in a world with billions of women, there are precious few who have achieved this level of long-term notoriety and success.

I think Gaga will be one of those people. Time will tell.

-Russ H.

 

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[Lights]

Lady Gaga hasn't proved herself.

But Madonna is amazing.

What traits do you see in Gaga that are like other singers?

 

[The Intrepid]

Not too many people know the true Lady Gaga story. I am friendly with a woman who's daughter was lady gaga's best friend and partner. Lady gaga was pretty much just ordinary and her friend was the crazy one who came up with all wacky ideas. Lady gaga just happened to have the better voice. She went on to steal her friends image and just push her to the curb. She stole every idea that her friend had, gave her no credit for it and when she started getting attention, she befriended her. Her friend couldn't take what had happened to her and she wound up taking her life at the age of 18. Most of lady gaga's early songs were written and routines choreographed by this talented young girl. Lady Gaga is a POS IMO.

Sounds like Lady Gaga is as ruthless as everyone else who's created immense power or wealth...

She won me over when I saw her Google talk.

 

[Russ H]

I really do not want to post this but I got to...

Lady gaga. looking like a strange dancing hooker and attracting the gay market for some reason, that i do not really understand... Then, She Finds a producer with a huge bankroll who is ready to take a chance on "something different" (Lady GaGa)... they make millions. Her music does nothing for me or anyone I know. Heavy makeup and strange costumes.. oh WOW!... Big deal. The music is nothing special and has that "show tunes" type of sound. I tried to like her but it aint happening, sorry Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, who is lady gaga. Bank it while YOU can because Google read my post and it is going to be potentially read by millions.

Study success, grasshopper, if you want to learn about it.

Doesn't matter than you're not into her tunes. Or her lifestyle. Or her makeup/costumes.

See what she's accomplished, in a very short period of time.

THAT is what we're talking about here.

You can learn about success and viral growth in a lot of different areas. Sure, some may not make any sense to YOU-- but those are the ones you really, really need to look at.

Understand the PROCESS and you understand how to get there.

-Russ H.

 

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[911Carrera]

Lady is not fastlane. She's a talented singer with a unique personality and star power. That's recipe for showbiz riches. I don't listen to Lady Gaga or any females pop singer, not my kind of music but you gotta admit she's super talented.

The true fastlane story in the Lady Gaga saga is Akon. Akon has made more money off of lady Gaga than he's made from his own music. Akon saw the megastar potential in her signed her to his label.

 

[Russ H]

Lady is not fastlane. She's a talented singer with a unique personality and star power. That's recipe for showbiz riches . . .

Have you looked at the definition of a fastlane business?

Something lots of people want, that is scalable (ie, can be grown), and can be automated. Singing can be VERY fastlane if enough people like and download your music. And yes, being the producer or label for the artist is also fastlane.

Sports stars and movie stars can also be fastlane-- but for all of these careers, for every one person who is mega-successful, there are literally thousands who are not (ie, minor league players or small-time coaches, unemployed or struggling actors, and any kind of artist who hasn't found a mass audience or following for their work).

I'll be the first to agree that success through stardom/celebrity is a tough way to go. But unless I'm really misunderstanding MJ's points, any of these careers/choices *can* be fastlane-- but won't be unless the person doing it understands the rest of the process, has a plan, and invests wisely.

-Russ H.

 

[911Carrera]

Have you looked at the definition of a fastlane business?

Something lots of people want, that is scalable (ie, can be grown), and can be automated. Singing can be VERY fastlane if enough people like and download your music. And yes, being the producer or label for the artist is also fastlane.

Sports stars and movie stars can also be fastlane-- but for all of these careers, for every one person who is mega-successful, there are literally thousands who are not (ie, minor league players or small-time coaches, unemployed or struggling actors, and any kind of artist who hasn't found a mass audience or following for their work).

I'll be the first to agree that success through stardom/celebrity is a tough way to go. But unless I'm really misunderstanding MJ's points, any of these careers/choices *can* be fastlane-- but won't be unless the person doing it understands the rest of the process, has a plan, and invests wisely.

-Russ H.

Yes I know the definition of fastlane and Lady Gaga is not fastlane. Stardom can be fastlane but not in Lady Gaga's case. See my explanation above again.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Lady Gaga is not fastlane.

How is selling thousands of songs per second, millions of albums, licensing your content to corporations, singing in front of millions, and having your personal brand leveraged in any venture you want, not Fastlane?

 

[911Carrera]

How is selling thousands of songs per second, millions of albums, licensing your content to corporations, singing in front of millions, and having your personal brand leveraged in any venture you want, not Fastlane?

If you're going to bring this argument on then you can say the same for any popular singer and in that case you are contradicting yourself from your book which I agreed with 90%.

Talented singers are discovered and made popular by record executives / producers who know how to market them. My own fastlane meaning is creating something that can make you millions without needing someone to discover you besides your own consumers. People usually don't like to get behind an artist fully until she's main stream, until the major labels take her on. That is now changing as the Internet platform grows but so is the competition for the spotlight online. Lots of record labels turned down Lady Gaga but Akon saw something in her and signed her. Hadn't Akon signed her, we probably wouldn't be talking about her right now.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

you are contradicting yourself from your book

Not at all because I'm examining her whole body-of-work; fame (singing/acting/athletes) is Slowlane defiance through a leveraged personal brand (high intrinsic value [IV]) which opens up a Fastlane. She definitely didn't start "fastlane" and started like most any other wannabe famous person does. Exploding IV to create a Fastlane is definitely not the easiest, and definitely not the recommended path.

The Fastlane now exists simply because the moment Gaga releases a new single, millions will download it. Need (want), Entry, Scale, Time all exists and now with her new fame, she has more leverage to control over those who stand atop her.

I really couldn't go into this with any depth in my book simply due to space constraints -- the book was too long to begin with.

 

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[raininblack]

I love Lady Gaga. She's intelligent and very talented. She worked her a$$ off and reinvented herself until someone noticed. Maybe she did steal from her peers, as one poster said, but I don't see anything wrong with taking something and doing it better. I do see how people can compare her to Madonna, but at least Gaga can sing.

This is going to induce groans, but hear me out. I think Ke$ha's story is also very fastlane-ish. She had near-perfect SAT scores and was planning on attending Columbia, but decided to work on her dream instead. I'm not a fan of her music, but I think that is quite inspiring.

 

[Limitless]

I also think she is Fastlane. It doesn't matter how she got there, what she did to get there or who discovered her.

The point is she is in a position where she has the power to impact millions. That makes her Fastlane. Her name gets mentioned in the list of the top most powerful and influential women in the world, like Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She is the youngest ever in history to be on this list.

 

[Russ H]

. . .fame (singing/acting/athletes) is Slowlane defiance through a leveraged personal brand (high intrinsic value [IV]) which opens up a Fastlane . . . Exploding IV to create a Fastlane is definitely not the easiest, and definitely not the recommended path.

The Fastlane now exists simply because the moment Gaga releases a new single, millions will download it. Need (want), Entry, Scale, Time all exists and now with her new fame, she has more leverage to control over those who stand atop her.

I really couldn't go into this with any depth in my book simply due to space constraints -- the book was too long to begin with.

Ah... do I smell another book, MJ? (hey, I know how much work you put into the last one, I'm kidding)

Still. . . I'm thinking of a book just dedicated to fastlane celebrities. . .

"Fastlane Cribs"?

Hmmm . . . :smxB:

-Russ H.

 

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[Writertalk]

I like Lady Gaga is beautiful and fabulous! Not only that but she's got real talent, she knows how to market herself and that talent, AND she's into humanitarian pursuits like equality for the GLBT community and other worthwhile projects that help others.

She's one of the best entertainers out there and that's why she's a star. Yes, the music industry is part-luck but remember....luck is almost working your tail off for 20 years and then....one day, you'll get lucky.........

She's a hard worker, who followed her passion that also ended up making money. She's been able to touch MILLIONS and that's why she drives the fastlane!