toanythingtaboo

What's so exciting about Gaga is that she is an all-round chameleon entertainer. That opens up endless doors for her. She's always got pop music to try new sounds in (dance, r&b, rock, acoustic etc). She's got her music side project of jazz standards that will inevitably end up in her writing originals. She's opened up a new music side project dabbling in film composing. She's then got her film acting career. She'll probably return to TV series as well. She's clearly going to go to Broadway and perform there. She'll also probably write at least one musical herself. That's MULTIPLE careers in one. Each with their own 'peak success' equivalents of a Super Bowl, or an award. (And it's not even including her fashion and beauty work.) So so so so much to see yet.

Being legendary is about staying power, memorability and influence. It's not sales, acclaim or followers. Naturally, there are some exceptions (i.e. "Thriller is the best selling album of all time") but mostly when people talk about someone being a legend, they cite largely intangible sentiments like "___ shaped the industry", "everyone knows ___" etc. Someone cements themselves as a legend when the naysayers are drowned out by the majority opinion over time. Gaga is well on her way there. It doesn't matter what her albums sell, or are rated as. That's not where her validation comes from. There's been a very noticeable shift in aforementioned intangible sentiment on her these past 5 years. From 'fun but flash in the pan pop phenomenon' to 'oh she really is an all-round entertainer like we haven't seen in decades'. What I DO think will move her along in that journey is an acting Oscar. Because that's a symbol of validation that everyone gets. Metacritic etc is niche.

It's the "Gaga can't possibly be a touring force because [insert name] is also a touring force" logic for me.

This is exactly what I suspected from the start. And I'm more than here for it.

I don't really see a world where Wicked is awards bait outside of craft categories. It's too populist/you'd have to really delve deep into the book to make the musical feel more grown up. Wicked's acting noms - if at all- will be for Cynthia's Elphaba as lead and Morrible/Wizard in supporting if they've got veteran actors. G(a)linda isn't really given enough to do. The narrative will be how Cynthia is a star, not Ariana anyway. Meanwhile J:FAD sounds like awards bait from what we've heard considering Joker's success combined with a big artistic swing making it a (seemingly) classic musical movie.

Just to say it, I don't envy Gaga having to let go of Haus members. It's easy for us to call on her to fire them, but she not only (presumably) holds them close because consistent advice for celebs is to keep your pre-fame team around to ground you...but she also has the responsibility of being their provider/employer. That dynamic is incredibly co-dependent. Obviously it's further complicated when the reason to fire them is SA. If she lets them go, it all but confirms the accusations...which would likely ruin her friends reputations in the industry. She/her management also won't want the bad press, so they'd have to have NDAs/payouts to prevent disgruntled ex-friends/employees trying to blow her **** up in revenge for doing the right thing. It's such a lose/lose. Don't say this in defence of the assaulters, btw. Just the frustrating thing here is that she, a woman, is being blamed/held accountable for mens actions again. They should be resigning. But they aren't.

I personally think people are being too literal with it being "a musical". IMO, I'm expecting the music to happen in moments of delusion - all inside Gaga's character's head. Probably because she's seeing her relationship with Joker as an old Hollywood romance story. Which will show she's mentally unhinged and explain why she's in love with him (seeing the good/infatuation etc). That's HQ's story. And it won't be original songs. Hence the use of Cheek to Cheek in the teaser. And I wouldn't be surprised if the end result is tonally a bit like 'By The Sea' in Sweeney Todd (Mrs Lovett's delusional daydream of her relationship with Sweeney, which isn't reciprocated)...but executed in a Chicago meets old Hollywood style. If that's how they do it - I think people will be on board. Critics will probs praise it for being artsy and unexpected. Audiences won't be so appalled it's a musical, because it's not really.

It's deffo right that an English actress plays the part, and I respect the insistence of them being Jewish. But I wouldn't cast this based on them being able to sing like Amy, however speaking like her is essential. Not really seeing it for Marisa tbh - she didn't give us much in Industry (although she was likeable)...and from memory she was more Mediterranean/Middle Eastern looking curvy bombshell than the pale petite and thin look that Amy's best known as. But...presumably she's killing it in the auditions.

The musical element is definitely an unexpected twist, but it's kind of funny how unimaginative folk are with anything out of the box. It's a Joker film. It's obviously not going to be a straight musical. It'll likely be an unhinged fever dream of one. Probably (if she's playing HQ) playing on the innocence/infatuation of a romance story...juxtaposed with the twisted darkness that their relationship has. Like, what if the musical elements are being used to dramatise how HQ views the relationship in her own form of psychosis? A bit like Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd or Audrey in Little Shop.

Few q's on Haus Labs, because I'm clueless on the business of it. Has it been doing well? In comparison to other celeb lines? Presumably it's a good thing for HL to be in Sephora...but how good is it? Expanding to skincare would suggest things are going well?

I think the thing to remember is that Gaga evidently wants to be an all-round entertainment legend. So there's no point in looking at her career through a popstar lens. Her decisions are not designed to get hit/viral singles/streams. She's already got the fanbase, the fame and the catalogue to tour (which is what popstars drive toward - and is where the $ are), and she wisely pivoted/diversified her brand before she got dismissed for not being a cool twentysomething sensation anymore (which is inevitable in an ageist industry). ASIB was very smart. HMH may also be smart. It's essentially swerving radios ageism by having undeniable AC singles to pay attention to - avoiding what most ageing popstars have to deal with (increasingly niche euro dance bops for gay fanbases, that mainstream ignores for being too camp/off-trend). That she's simultaneously pulling off a genuinely rare feat of being a successful/respectable actress (with Oscar noms/buzz) is fantastic for her. It opens so many doors for future success. She could have a few films under her belt, go to Broadway and try her hand at starring/writing there, before returning as an older actress (again, industry is ageist)...and now and then do what Cher and Madonna (and Kylie) did with the occasional hit song to top up the relevancy. You can even say Haus Labs is unassumingly smart because it's opening up a revenue stream that subsidises her purely passion projects (/the fact she won't be able to tour due to her health), so she doesn't need to make $ orientated decisions which could ruin her legit clout (i.e. starring as a TV judge, no shade).

Yeah, I wonder if they were forced to get it out yesterday...so they're just soft launching? Wild. Even if the song was incredible, it wouldn't just get coverage on merit alone. Surely they aren't assuming that?!

I've seen zero coverage of the song on my travels. Idk who's in charge of getting it out there...but...they aren't doing it. Why launch it on MET night? Why release it without the video?

Much like with Trump originally running and (arguably) accidentally winning the Presidency in the first place - he's blustering his way into legal accusations and proceedings for effect...but it's getting out of hand and now his team don't know what to do, so they're just digging the hole deeper. They must know there's no legitimate case, and that it's all to appease his ego/supporters...but there comes a point where you can't be all talk and actually have to push the button. And if he does push that button, he knows he'll just get embarrassed all over again. Lost in popular battle, lost in electoral battle, lost in legal battle. It'd be much more on brand for him to pull out and say he wouldn't get a fair trial from the corrupt system, so he's leaving the swamp etc. However, if he did go for it, I agree with the comments that it'd be disastrous if the SC even entertain it. It's seemingly without any merit. And I just don't see why they would. There's so much more at stake than his hurt feelings. Appeasing President Trump is not the same thing as appeasing former President Trump.

Brit here - following this thread as it's a good daily dose of updates, so thanks all. Question - does it serve Biden much benefit to do the final debate? It feels like it'd give Trump oxygen and allow him to pull stunts out of desperation (namely, a primetime platform to mention the laptop drama that most won't know about, and subsequently would need to be contextualised for viewers by media outlets who didn't cover it before)? Feels like letting him plant the seed of doubt in the heads of people outside of the Trump echo chamber is daft? But, would not doing it allow for a "Biden doesn't care/is scared/whatever" narrative take hold? Given the early voting, I guess it renders a final debate less important anyway. Especially if there are fewer on the fencers this round.