For someone who's achieved so much as quickly as Lady Gaga, she's also had some serious low points. She's openly talked about dealing with drug addiction and the pressures of fame, and after the relative commercial failure of her last studio album, she took a break from her pop career and kept things under-the-radar.
But the artist otherwise known as Stefani Germanotta seems more self-assured now. She recently stopped by Yale to give a talk about her personal doubts and how she found happiness again. The speech is a little all over the place, in typical Gaga fashion, but it makes for some sobering life advice. Here's what she had to say:
"I have had to make decisions like, why am I unhappy? Okay, Stefani/Gaga hybrid person, why are you unhappy? Why is that you want to quit music, a couple years ago? I was like, well I really don't like selling these fragrances, perfumes. I don't like wasting my time spending days just shaking people's hands and smiling and taking selfies. It feels shallow to my existence. I have a lot more to offer than my image. I don't like being used to make people money. I feel sad when I'm overworked and I just become a money-making machine and my passion and creativity take a backseat. That makes me unhappy. So what did I do? I started to say no. I'm not doing that. I don't want to do that. I'm not taking that picture. I'm not going to that event. I'm not standing by that because that's not what I stand for. And slowly but surely, I remembered who I am, and then you go home, and you look in the mirror, and you're like, 'Yes, I can go to bed with you every night.' Because that person, I know that person. That person has balls, that person has integrity, that person has an opinion. That person doesn't say yes. That person doesn't get a text from somebody and say, 'Oh my God, they wrote this, and they sent this emoji, should I write this back? What do you think? Is that okay to say? Are they going to like me if I say that? Should I say something different? This is the age that we live in. We're not actually communicating with each other. We are unconsciously communicating lies."
Watch video of the speech below:
Stefani on almost quitting music and getting back to herself.
Posted by Lady Gaga Georgia on Tuesday, October 27, 2015
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