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Thread started 09/11/14 7:24pm

HAPPYPERSON

Lady Gaga Almost Quit Music Ahead of Tony Bennett Album

Lady Gaga and Taylor KinneyLady Gaga has been dating boyfriend Tayler Kinney since 2011. Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Samsung

Typically the choice to have children is that of the parents-to-be, but in Lady Gaga’s case, jazz legend Tony Bennett had a significant role in her decision not to reproduce right now.


“I thought I did [want kids immediately], because I was feeling kind of finished with all of the chaos of my life,” she told Parade. “But then I started to spend a lot more time with Tony, and everything just became simpler, more pure, and more perfect. Now I think I’m going to take a lot more time before I have kids and settle down. I just want to sing.”

Gaga, 28, who has been dating Chicago Fire star Taylor Kinney since 2011, recently went through a rough patch in her career — namely, poor critical and commercial reception to her third studio album ARTPOP — and even considered giving up on music all together.

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett opened up in Parade Magazine about their collaboration.
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett opened up in Parade Magazine about their collaboration.
Credit: Ben Baker for Parade

“Six months ago I didn’t even want to sing anymore,” the “Applause” singer explained. “The other day, Tony said, ‘I’ve ­never once in my career not wanted to do this.’ It stung. Six months ago I didn’t feel that way. I tell Tony every day that he saved my life. I was so sad. I couldn’t sleep. I felt dead. And then I spent a lot of time with Tony. He wanted nothing but my friendship and my voice.”


Together the new duo, who call themselves Tony and Lady, are preparing for the release of their jazz album Cheek to Cheek, which is set to be released on Sept. 23.


“I just love what she did on this album,” Bennett, 88, said. “She’s up there with Ella Fitzgerald, who was the greatest singer in the world.”
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Reply #1 posted 09/11/14 9:14pm

lazycrockett

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The Most Important Thing In Life Is Sincerity....Once You Can Fake That, You Can Fake Anything.
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Reply #2 posted 09/12/14 6:24am

MotownSubdivis
ion

So one of the reasons Gaga was intent on giving up on music was because "ArtPop" was a failure? She planned on not making music anymore because one album wasn't well received critically and had not done good commercially...


If every artist had that attitude...
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Reply #3 posted 09/12/14 6:37am

BlackCat1985

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MotownSubdivision said:

So one of the reasons Gaga was intent on giving up on music was because "ArtPop" was a failure? She planned on not making music anymore because one album wasn't well received critically and had not done good commercially...


If every artist had that attitude...


Her whole persona is fake! That's why it's so easy for her to want to give up. Real artist love what they do. She got use to being at the top and couln't deal with that flop album. I'm glad I was never a fan because I would have been disappointed to hear this from an artist that I liked so early on in her career.
[Edited 9/12/14 6:37am]
BlackCat1985
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Reply #4 posted 09/12/14 6:52am

MotownSubdivis
ion

BlackCat1985 said:

MotownSubdivision said:

So one of the reasons Gaga was intent on giving up on music was because "ArtPop" was a failure? She planned on not making music anymore because one album wasn't well received critically and had not done good commercially...


If every artist had that attitude...


Her whole persona is fake! That's why it's so easy for her to want to give up. Real artist love what they do. She got use to being at the top and couln't deal with that flop album. I'm glad I was never a fan because I would have been disappointed to hear this from an artist that I liked so early on in her career.
[Edited 9/12/14 6:37am]
Totally. That's a fair weather mindset to have. What if Prince quit music because ATWIAD wasn't as commercially successful or as well received as Purple Rain? Based on this it sounds like music wasn't her prerogative in the first place or she let all the fame and money take precedence.
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Reply #5 posted 09/12/14 9:26am

SoulAlive

MotownSubdivision said:

So one of the reasons Gaga was intent on giving up on music was because "ArtPop" was a failure? She planned on not making music anymore because one album wasn't well received critically and had not done good commercially... If every artist had that attitude...

Yeah,that's crazy.It shows that she's not as strong and resilient as she pretends to be.Every artist is going to have some albums that don't do well.It's not the end of the world....you just deal with it,move on to the next album!

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Reply #6 posted 09/12/14 9:52am

ginusher

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.

Well, don't be too hard on her. Some artists can be very, very, VERY sensitive about their work. When Gaga first broke onto the scene and was promoting The Fame in interviews and the like, I was surprised at how very humble she came across most of the time. I think both that initial humility, and her reaction to the Artpop criticism and lackluster sales, could be indicative of a fear of failure and a shaky self-confidence.

.

I don't think it could all be attributed to a greed for stardom and money, and taking no satisfaction with anything less than a repeat of The Fame Monster's success. At the end of the day, there have been pop artists who have a highly successful first album, then release a sophomore album that no one notices, and just quit because they're disappointed that their 15 minutes are up. Those are the ones that truly lack artistic integrity. I think it's more complicated with Gaga.

.

I don't want your rhythm without your rhyme
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Reply #7 posted 09/12/14 9:54am

LiveToTell86

MotownSubdivision said:

So one of the reasons Gaga was intent on giving up on music was because "ArtPop" was a failure? She planned on not making music anymore because one album wasn't well received critically and had not done good commercially... If every artist had that attitude...

It's her second failure though, Born This Way was ultra-hyped, frontloaded and fizzled out quickly and was not well received by the general public bar 2 singles.

Didn't British singer Duffy quit music because her sophomore effort was a complete flop after her huge selling debut? Supposedly she never really wanted a music career but she was made into a product. Gaga is hardly dissimilar...

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Reply #8 posted 09/12/14 10:22am

MotownSubdivis
ion

LiveToTell86 said:



MotownSubdivision said:


So one of the reasons Gaga was intent on giving up on music was because "ArtPop" was a failure? She planned on not making music anymore because one album wasn't well received critically and had not done good commercially... If every artist had that attitude...


It's her second failure though, Born This Way was ultra-hyped, frontloaded and fizzled out quickly and was not well received by the general public bar 2 singles.



Didn't British singer Duffy quit music because her sophomore effort was a complete flop after her huge selling debut? Supposedly she never really wanted a music career but she was made into a product. Gaga is hardly dissimilar...

I fail to see how Born this Way was truly a failure though. It did well commercially, selling over a million in its first week, debuting at #1,and selling 6 million overall and was generally well received critically. It was less successful than her previous effort but was by no means a failure. If anything it just was a signal showing her starpower was beginning to cool off.
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Reply #9 posted 09/12/14 10:28am

LiveToTell86

In the US it sold half of its total in the debut week, the first single was huge due to initial airplay but Judas didn't make an impact, TEOG and You & I were hits but not massive #1s, the era was over by late 2011. Expectations by fans and Gaga herself were high after The Fame/The Fame Monster and BTW was a disappointment, everyone expected her to be bigger and have a run similar to Katy Perry's Teenage Dream with several #1s. There are notable albums that sold well but they failed to match expectations, see Invincible for example.

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Reply #10 posted 09/12/14 10:45am

MotownSubdivis
ion

LiveToTell86 said:

In the US it sold half of its total in the debut week, the first single was huge due to initial airplay but Judas didn't make an impact, TEOG and You & I were hits but not massive #1s, the era was over by late 2011. Expectations by fans and Gaga herself were high after The Fame/The Fame Monster and BTW was a disappointment, everyone expected her to be bigger and have a run similar to Katy Perry's Teenage Dream with several #1s. There are notable albums that sold well but they failed to match expectations, see Invincible for example.

Yes but even so a disappointment/ underperforming album doesn't necessarily mean it's a failure. A better example than "Invincible" is "Bad" when comparing to BTW. Both albums had the unenviable task of following ultra popular and successful albums (well, "Bad" did anyway) and commercially didn't match the magnitude of said previous albums but were still successful in their own right. MJ and LG's cases are different and LG at her peak of notoriety still wasn't close to even being next to the league of starpower MJ was in but the it still applies. MJ considered "Bad" a disappointment because it simply because it didn't match "Thriller's" astronomical sales numbers and the public for the most part considered it to be a bad album for the same reason despite having more #1 hits than "Thriller" did, debuting at #1, and spawning a record breaking international tour. That isn't a failure. BTW had less #1s and impact than "The Fame" but still sold 6 million, debuted at #1, and I believe had a world tour that sold out in most countries if not all of them. That is not a failure.
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Reply #11 posted 09/12/14 11:24am

LiveToTell86

You are rewriting history a bit, The Fame/The Fame Monster was not the glass ceiling for Gaga at the time, everyone expected her to be EVEN BIGGER, it's not the Thriller/Bad or a Jagged Little Pill/Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie situation where it was really impossible to outdo the previous effort and the question was how big the drop would be (we will experience the same with Adele's next album). She only had 2 #1 hits before BTW, so fans were like she was "just starting" and had high hopes, initial airplay and sales of BTW single were a reflection of that but then the project fizzled out. I think it can be considered as a failure since it proved the critics who had said "the only way is down" when there was still a lot of room to improve.

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Reply #12 posted 09/12/14 11:48am

MotownSubdivis
ion

LiveToTell86 said:

You are rewriting history a bit, The Fame/The Fame Monster was not the glass ceiling for Gaga at the time, everyone expected her to be EVEN BIGGER, it's not the Thriller/Bad or a Jagged Little Pill/Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie situation where it was really impossible to outdo the previous effort and the question was how big the drop would be (we will experience the same with Adele's next album). She only had 2 #1 hits before BTW, so fans were like she was "just starting" and had high hopes, initial airplay and sales of BTW single were a reflection of that but then the project fizzled out. I think it can be considered as a failure since it proved the critics who had said "the only way is down" when there was still a lot of room to improve.

I unfortunately wasn't around back then so I can't speak personally but based on what I've heard and seen, people were expecting MJ to be bigger to at least in the sense of album sales hence why many were disappointed with "Bad" because it wasn't flying off record store shelves like "Thriller" did. Back to Gaga, by hits I'm assuming you mean #1 charting US hits in which case you are indeed right and I'll concede. However, while I still disagree that BTW was a failure ("Invincible" was a bigger failure in my opinion though still a great commercial success all things considered), I can see where you're coming from. BTW was a failure in the sense that it failed to capitalize and expand upon the momentum provided by "The Fame" but wasn't a failure in and of itself since it still did decent commercially and was moderately successful.
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Reply #13 posted 09/12/14 12:52pm

mynameisnotsus
an

I think BTW was the beginning of a backlash. I really loved the album but she went a bit darker and the videos got zero play compared to The Fame/Fame Monster, Adele's 21 came out about the same time and really dominated for the next year and a half or so and celebrated for its lack of artifice - something that Gaga couldn't really seem to shift gears out of. And Artpop was really more of the same - and I've actually really grown to love the song 'Applause' but I get why it didn't really become a huge hit. Gaga needs to just strip everything away because she can sing and play. I'm not really feeling that wig she's wearing with Tony Bennett - it just comes across as yet another contrivance.

On a completely different note, her boyfriend is kinda dreamy drool
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Reply #14 posted 09/12/14 1:09pm

bobzilla77

Her whole creative thing is so wrapped up in the idea of Fame and Stardom that if that part of it wasn't working anymore, it really would affect the art.

There's nothing more embarrassing than the lead singer of a band in a bar asking an empty room "HOW YOU ALL FEELIN?" and getting back nothing but crickets and a burp.

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Reply #15 posted 09/12/14 1:24pm

MendesCity

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lazycrockett said:

This. Is. The. Greatest.

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Reply #16 posted 09/12/14 1:28pm

MendesCity

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I just really hope she tones down the whole "gotta top that crazy" game and settles down to write some actual memorable songs that are about, I dunno, something. She really could live up to her "legendary" expectations if she just relaxed and opened up a bit.

[Edited 9/12/14 13:29pm]

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Reply #17 posted 09/12/14 2:05pm

mjscarousal

She needs to hang up the gimmicks and focus on creating artistic music if she truly cares about being an artist. It just lets you know that these current pop stars are not really artists and just want to be popular for the fame, praise and money.

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Reply #18 posted 09/12/14 2:38pm

BlackCat1985

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mjscarousal said:

She needs to hang up the gimmicks and focus on creating artistic music if she truly cares about being an artist. It just lets you know that these current pop stars are not really artists and just want to be popular for the fame, praise and money.


I couldn't have said it better my self! So true!
BlackCat1985
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Reply #19 posted 09/12/14 3:07pm

mynameisnotsus
an

MendesCity said:



lazycrockett said:




This. Is. The. Greatest.



Yeah, it's pretty perfect lol
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Reply #20 posted 09/12/14 3:13pm

CynicKill

Equal parts overly sensitive and bought her own hype.

The ironic thing is that she proudly proclaimed on 60 Minutes that she has studued fame and understands it. Yet had she really understod fame she would've realized that artists come and go and the public is fickle. The only part of fame she seemed to have grasped was how to generate PR.

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Reply #21 posted 09/12/14 4:06pm

MotownSubdivis
ion

I can agree with those saying how Gaga got really big headed from her sudden fame and taking the world by storm and how she took herself much too seriously to the point of pretentious arrogance and maybe even vanity. Even Beyonce never blatantly came out and tried to instill in everyone's heads that she is making "beautiful" art. Gaga was stating the obvious and the only thing more obvious than her naming her album "ArtPop" as though she's some avant garde goddess was her lack of quality music and any sort of structure or direction. It's been like that for her since Day 1 but all the notoriety she received up to that point had put a big magnifying glass-no, a big microscope on her and looking through it, it was easy to see the same gaudy Gaga but in a different gaudy package. People got tired of being offered a hot dog from her and told it was a porterhouse steak. She's talented but it's really amazing how she made it to the level she did relying on stupid gimmicks and how much nothing she actually sings about in her music.
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Reply #22 posted 09/12/14 4:40pm

mjscarousal

MotownSubdivision said:

I can agree with those saying how Gaga got really big headed from her sudden fame and taking the world by storm and how she took herself much too seriously to the point of pretentious arrogance and maybe even vanity. Even Beyonce never blatantly came out and tried to instill in everyone's heads that she is making "beautiful" art. Gaga was stating the obvious and the only thing more obvious than her naming her album "ArtPop" as though she's some avant garde goddess was her lack of quality music and any sort of structure or direction. It's been like that for her since Day 1 but all the notoriety she received up to that point had put a big magnifying glass-no, a big microscope on her and looking through it, it was easy to see the same gaudy Gaga but in a different gaudy package. People got tired of being offered a hot dog from her and told it was a porterhouse steak. She's talented but it's really amazing how she made it to the level she did relying on stupid gimmicks and how much nothing she actually sings about in her music.

Beyonce has made a ton of pretentous comments. She insisted she was going to make another musical genre and takes herself way to seriously. The only pop star that I can honestly say that has never made a pretentious comment is Britney Spears.

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Reply #23 posted 09/12/14 4:55pm

MotownSubdivis
ion

mjscarousal said:



MotownSubdivision said:


I can agree with those saying how Gaga got really big headed from her sudden fame and taking the world by storm and how she took herself much too seriously to the point of pretentious arrogance and maybe even vanity. Even Beyonce never blatantly came out and tried to instill in everyone's heads that she is making "beautiful" art. Gaga was stating the obvious and the only thing more obvious than her naming her album "ArtPop" as though she's some avant garde goddess was her lack of quality music and any sort of structure or direction. It's been like that for her since Day 1 but all the notoriety she received up to that point had put a big magnifying glass-no, a big microscope on her and looking through it, it was easy to see the same gaudy Gaga but in a different gaudy package. People got tired of being offered a hot dog from her and told it was a porterhouse steak. She's talented but it's really amazing how she made it to the level she did relying on stupid gimmicks and how much nothing she actually sings about in her music.


Beyonce has made a ton of pretentous comments. She insisted she was going to make another musical genre and takes herself way to seriously. The only pop star that I can honestly say that has never made a pretentious comment is Britney Spears.

Huh. Never knew that though I wouldn't have put it past Beyonce to make such conceited remarks. I wasn't trying to say that Gaga is the only artist who has been pretentious or takes themselves too seriously but it did have a hand in her plummeting popularity. That and the alleged victim card she plays, particularly with her live show audiences but I won't wonder down that route.
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Reply #24 posted 09/12/14 5:44pm

lezama

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CynicKill said:

Equal parts overly sensitive and bought her own hype.

This.

I feel kinda bad for her though because she is very sensitive. When I saw her at an event a year ago in NY she started crying twice when talking to the audience. I agree with Mynameisnotsusan that she just needs to get rid of all of the contrivances and just focus on making good music.

Change it one more time..
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Reply #25 posted 09/12/14 6:16pm

savagedreams

BlackCat1985 said:

MotownSubdivision said:
So one of the reasons Gaga was intent on giving up on music was because "ArtPop" was a failure? She planned on not making music anymore because one album wasn't well received critically and had not done good commercially... If every artist had that attitude...
Her whole persona is fake! That's why it's so easy for her to want to give up. Real artist love what they do. She got use to being at the top and couln't deal with that flop album. I'm glad I was never a fan because I would have been disappointed to hear this from an artist that I liked so early on in her career. [Edited 9/12/14 6:37am]

.

exactly.. real artists deeply love what they do. which can also mean an extreme reaction if things dont turn out how you think they should or you get a bit lost in your direction, which can then lead to frustration and just wanting to give up. it can happen to any artist, doesnt mean they make those feelings public.

[Edited 9/12/14 18:17pm]

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Reply #26 posted 09/13/14 2:16am

whitesockedfun
k

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Bennett, 88, said. “She’s up there with Ella Fitzgerald, who was the greatest singer in the world.”

eek

Just like the white winged dove...
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Reply #27 posted 09/13/14 4:08am

millwall

Wish she would. Never lived up 2 her potential she took herself 2 serious sad
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Reply #28 posted 09/13/14 4:56pm

phillymonster

I thought I would give her a Jazz album a chance. The stuff I listened to so far is awful. It sounds like she is trying WAY too hard and screaming. Tony Bennett sounds like he is about to die of a heart attack. Let's face it, this pairing is all corporate. They don't have an ounce of chemistry together.

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Reply #29 posted 09/13/14 5:21pm

CynicKill

whitesockedfunk said:




Bennett, 88, said. “She’s up there with Ella Fitzgerald, who was the greatest singer in the world.”

eek

>

I was hoping nobody else saw that blurb.

But I'm going to check out the album. I think they sound good. There might not be chemistry between the two, and Gaga might not know the meaning of the word subtlety, but the production sounds lovely. One day Gaga will grow into a very good jazz singer.

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