Lady GaGa, a renowned American singer, and songwriter showed a strong passion for music since childhood. By the age of 4 she had taught herself to play the piano by ear. Her first song was written as a teenager and played in front of public during an open mic night at New York’s Bitter End with a band she formed.
Her performance in the Lower East Side club became the stepping stone of her music career. She found herself to be among singers who wrote the same style of songs. But she succeeded in her experiment of being different, as she became an exhibitionist, theatrical performer. In an interview, she said,
“Everybody did the same s**t, super-boring. I wanted to do something that was original and fresh.”
Gaga’s hard work paid off with her first studio album called “The Fame” released on August 19, 2008. “The Fame” went on selling over 12 million copies worldwide. It was nominated for a total of six Grammys at the 52nd Grammy Awards, including for Album of the Year. It won the Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album and the Best Dance Recording for the single “Poker Face”. Gaga added multiple award honours in 2009 and 2010 including MTV Video Music Awards and BRIT Awards.
The rising star had everything one would have dreamt of. As we all know depression like any other physiological disorder – doesn’t discriminate and is as simple as an imbalance in the chemicals and hormones of your body. It could happen to you, it could happen to anyone, as it happened to Lady Gaga.
She says that she was traumatised and struggled to cope with this fame in the initial phase of her career. She says that she struggled to cope with the success of her debut single “Just dance” in 2008, reports mirror.co.uk.
Gaga said, “I needed a moment to stabilise. When my career took off, I don’t remember anything at all. It’s like I’m traumatised. I needed time to recalibrate my soul. I take medication. I’m not saying I feel good because of the medication, I wouldn’t encourage young people to take anti-depressants or mood stabilisers.”
A research conducted shows that fame changes a person’s life forever, and is felt more as an impact or “overnight” experience, rather than a gradual transition. Developmentally, celebrities often go through a process of: first loving, then hating fame; addiction; acceptance; and then adaptation (both positive and negative) to the fame experience. Becoming a celebrity alters the person’s being-in-the-world. Once fame hits, with its growing sense of isolation, mistrust, and lack of personal privacy, the person develops a kind of character-splitting between the “celebrity self” and the “authentic self,” as a survival technique in the hyperkinetic and heady atmosphere associated with celebrity life.
“I openly admit to having battled depression and anxiety and I think a lot of people do. I think it’s better when we all say: ‘Cheers!’ and ‘fess up to it’,” she added.
Gaga had the courage to go on and fight depression but she did not give up. She claims that turning 30 helped her “calm down”.
“I was like: ‘Thanks, I get it. You’re young, you’re crazy, you’re wild. Goodbye. I find in my 30s, I haven’t actually calmed down. I calm down for periods of time and then I’m actually worse – I’m more wild for a short period of time. It’s a little bit of both.”
Lady Gaga’s sheer will to not allow depression become a hurdle in her career has been an important reason for her success. Lady Gaga is a suitable example for the saying – with age comes wisdom. As she claims,
“But 30 is fantastic because I feel like I have all the wisdom of my 20s.”
